The Devil’s Dictionary · Chapter
K explained
This chapter presents definitions for words beginning with the letter K, including 'Kiss', 'Kleptomaniac', 'Knight', 'Koran', and the letter itself.
What happens
This chapter presents definitions for words beginning with the letter K, including 'Kiss', 'Kleptomaniac', 'Knight', 'Koran', and the letter itself. It also includes a lengthy entry on 'King's Evil' that traces the history of royal touch as a cure for scrofula and satirizes modern handshaking rituals.
Themes in this chapter
Critique of Religion
The entry on 'Koran' dismisses Muslim belief as foolish imposture, while 'King's Evil' satirizes the superstition of royal healing.
Human Folly and Self-Deception
The definition of 'Kiss' mocks the poetic idealization of a simple rite, and 'King's Evil' exposes the folly of faith in royal touch.
Social Class and Inequality
'Kleptomaniac' defines a rich thief, highlighting class-based leniency, and 'Knight' traces the decline of knighthood from warrior to dog.
Characters to notice
- Dr. Snedeker
Cited as the erudite scholar who explains the origin of the letter K's shape.
- Unknown
The lexicographer who provides definitions and commentary throughout the chapter.
Key passages
“Kiss A word invented by the poets as a rhyme for 'bliss.' It is supposed to signify, in a general way, some kind of rite or ceremony appertaining to a good understanding; but the manner of its performance is unknown to this lexicographer.”
Kiss is a term poets created to rhyme with 'bliss'; it vaguely refers to a ritual of goodwill, but the author claims ignorance of how it is actually done.
Satirical dismissal of romantic notions of kissing.
“Kleptomaniac A rich thief.”
A kleptomaniac is simply a wealthy thief.
Critique of class bias in labeling theft as a disorder for the rich.
“Kill To create a vacancy without nominating a successor.”
Killing is the act of making a position empty without appointing a replacement.
Cynical redefinition of murder as a bureaucratic vacancy.
“King's Evil ... The superstition that maladies can be cured by royal taction is dead, but like many a departed conviction it has left a monument of custom to keep its memory green. The practice of forming a line and shaking the President's hand had no other origin...”
The belief that kings could heal by touch is gone, but it survives in the custom of shaking the President's hand, which is a relic of that old superstition.
Satirical connection between medieval royal healing and modern political handshakes.