Both Uses of
extortion
in
Candide
- The Abbe sympathised in his trouble; he had had but a light part of the fifty thousand francs lost at play and of the value of the two brilliants, half given, half extorted.†
Chpt 22 *
- …to caress indifferently an old merchant, a lawyer, a monk, a gondolier, an abbe, to be exposed to abuse and insults; to be often reduced to borrowing a petticoat, only to go and have it raised by a disagreeable man; to be robbed by one of what one has earned from another; to be subject to the extortions of the officers of justice; and to have in prospect only a frightful old age, a hospital, and a dung-hill; you would conclude that I am one of the most unhappy creatures in the world.†
Chpt 24
Definition:
-
(extortion) obtaining something by threat
or:
charging unfair prices of someone who has little choice