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Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by Claudius. Who proudly drinks his coffee

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from a mug reading, "World's Worst Uncle."

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Based on its context in the passage, which of the following is the best definition for

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the word "maledictions" in line 43?

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Before we even start analyzing the context of line 43 as the question suggests, we see

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some clues in the word "malediction," itself.

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First of all, the prefix "mal" basically means "bad" and almost always comes before

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a word with a negative connotation.

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For example, malicious means mean, and malformed means badly formed or misshapen.

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In the other half of the word "malediction," we see "edict," which refers to a statement

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or a pronouncement of some kind.

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So put the two halves together, and we know we're looking for some kind of "bad statement."

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Now that we've sorted all that out, we can take a glance at line 43 to see what we can glean from the context.

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Words like "contempt" and "hatred" confirm that we were on the right track earlier

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and give us a sense of just how strong a word "malediction" must be.

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Now that we've got all this background, we can take (C) and (D) out of the running.

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The root word "mourn" might fit in the negative world of "mal words," but it

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expresses sadness and regret—not contempt and hatred.

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Let's take a look at (B) and (A), which both seem to be in the right ballpark.

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Though "complaint" might almost make sense, "curse" strikes us as the better answer.

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Curses fit more with the idea of contempt and hatred, since they usually are spoken

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when somebody wants to totally destroy somebody else. Choice (A) is the correct answer.

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We like to save our maledictions for those who really deserve them...

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