As a
literary device or
artistic form, an allegory is a
narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughout history in all forms of
art to illustrate or convey complex ideas and concepts in ways that are comprehensible or striking to its viewers, readers, or listeners.
Writers and speakers typically use allegories to convey (semi-)hidden or complex meanings through
symbolic
Symbolic may refer to:
* Symbol, something that represents an idea, a process, or a physical entity
Mathematics, logic, and computing
* Symbolic computation, a scientific area concerned with computing with mathematical formulas
* Symbolic dynamic ...
figures, actions, imagery, or events, which together create the moral, spiritual, or political meaning the author wishes to convey. Many allegories use
personification
Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their b ...
of abstract concepts.
Etymology
First attested in English in 1382, the word ''allegory'' comes from
Latin ''allegoria'', the
latinisation of the
Greek ἀλληγορία (''allegoría''), "veiled language, figurative", which in turn comes from both ἄλλος (''allos''), "another, different" and ἀγορεύω (''agoreuo''), "to harangue, to speak in the assembly", which originates from ἀγορά (''agora''), "assembly".
Types
Northrop Frye discussed what he termed a "continuum of allegory", a spectrum that ranges from what he termed the "naive allegory" of the likes of ''
The Faerie Queene'', to the more private allegories of modern
paradox literature.
In this perspective, the characters in a "naive" allegory are not fully three-dimensional, for each aspect of their individual personalities and of the events that befall them embodies some moral quality or other abstraction; the author has selected the allegory first, and the details merely flesh it out.
Classical allegory
The origins of allegory can be traced at least back to Homer in his "quasi-allegorical" use of personifications of, e.g., Terror (Deimos) and Fear (Phobos) at Il. 115 f. The title of "first allegorist," however, is usually awarded to whoever was the earliest to put forth allegorical interpretations of Homer. This approach leads to two possible answers: Theagenes of Rhegium (whom Porphyry calls the "first allegorist," Porph. Quaest. Hom. 1.240.14-241.12 Schrad.) or Pherecydes of Syros, both of whom are presumed to be active in the 6th century B.C.E., though Pherecydes is earlier and as he is often presumed to be the first writer of prose. The debate is complex, since it demands we observe the distinction between two often conflated uses of the Greek verb "allēgoreīn," which can mean both "to speak allegorically" and "to interpret allegorically."
In the case of "interpreting allegorically," Theagenes appears to be our earliest example. Presumably in response to proto-philosophical moral critiques of Homer (e.g. Xenophanes fr. 11 Diels-Kranz ), Theagenes proposed symbolic interpretations whereby the Gods of the Iliad actually stood for physical elements. So, Hephestus represents Fire, for instance (for which see fr. A2 in Diels-Kranz ). Some scholars, however, argue that Pherecydes cosmogonic writings anticipated Theagenes allegorical work, illustrated especially by his early placement of Time (Chronos) in his genealogy of the gods, which is thought to be a reinterpretation of the titan Kronos, from more traditional genealogies.
In classical literature two of the best-known allegories are
the Cave in Plato's ''
The Republic'' (Book VII) and the story of the stomach and its members in the speech of Menenius Agrippa (
Livy ii. 32).
Among the best-known examples of allegory,
Plato's
Allegory of the Cave, forms a part of his larger work ''
The Republic.'' In this allegory, Plato describes a group of people who have lived chained in a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall (514a–b). The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows, using language to identify their world (514c–515a). According to the allegory, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality, until one of them finds his way into the outside world where he sees the actual objects that produced the shadows. He tries to tell the people in the cave of his discovery, but they do not believe him and vehemently resist his efforts to free them so they can see for themselves (516e–518a). This allegory is, on a basic level, about a philosopher who upon finding greater knowledge outside the cave of human understanding, seeks to share it as is his duty, and the foolishness of those who would ignore him because they think themselves educated enough.
In Late Antiquity
Martianus Capella organized all the information a fifth-century upper-class male needed to know into an allegory of the wedding of Mercury and ''Philologia,'' with the seven
liberal arts the young man needed to know as guests. Also the Neoplatonic philosophy developed a type of allegorical reading of Homer and Plato.
Biblical allegory
Other early allegories are found in the
Hebrew Bible, such as the extended metaphor in
Psalm 80 of the
Vine and its impressive spread and growth, representing Israel's conquest and peopling of the Promised Land. Also allegorical is
Ezekiel
Ezekiel (; he, יְחֶזְקֵאל ''Yəḥezqēʾl'' ; in the Septuagint written in grc-koi, Ἰεζεκιήλ ) is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible.
In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ezekiel is acknow ...
16 and 17, wherein the capture of that same vine by the mighty Eagle represents Israel's exile to Babylon.
Allegorical interpretation of the Bible was a common early Christian practice and continues. For example, the recently re-discovered Fourth Commentary on the Gospels by
Fortunatianus of Aquileia has a comment by its English translator: "The principal characteristic of Fortunatianus’ exegesis is a figurative approach, relying on a set of concepts associated with key terms in order to create an allegorical decoding of the text."
Medieval allegory
Allegory has an ability to freeze the temporality of a story, while infusing it with a spiritual context. Mediaeval thinking accepted allegory as having a ''reality'' underlying any rhetorical or fictional uses. The allegory was as true as the facts of surface appearances. Thus, the Papal Bull ''
Unam Sanctam'' (1302) presents themes of the unity of
Christendom with the pope as its head in which the allegorical details of the metaphors are adduced as facts on which is based a demonstration with the vocabulary of logic: "''Therefore'' of this one and only Church there is one body and one head—not two heads as if it were a monster... If, then, the Greeks or others say that they were not committed to the care of Peter and his successors, they ''necessarily'' confess that they are not of the sheep of Christ." This text also demonstrates the frequent use of allegory in religious texts during the Mediaeval Period, following the tradition and example of the Bible.
In the late 15th century, the enigmatic ''
Hypnerotomachia'', with its elaborate woodcut illustrations, shows the influence of themed pageants and
masques on contemporary allegorical representation, as
humanist dialectic conveyed them.
The denial of medieval allegory as found in the 12th-century works of
Hugh of St Victor and
Edward Topsell's ''Historie of Foure-footed Beastes'' (London, 1607, 1653) and its replacement in the study of nature with methods of categorisation and mathematics by such figures as naturalist
John Ray
John Ray FRS (29 November 1627 – 17 January 1705) was a Christian English naturalist widely regarded as one of the earliest of the English parson-naturalists. Until 1670, he wrote his name as John Wray. From then on, he used 'Ray', after ...
and the astronomer
Galileo
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...
is thought to mark the beginnings of early modern science.
Modern allegory
Since meaningful stories are nearly always applicable to larger issues, allegories may be read into many stories which the author may not have recognised. This is allegoresis, or the act of reading a story as an allegory. Examples of allegory in popular culture that may or may not have been intended include the works of
Bertolt Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...
, and even some works of science fiction and fantasy, such as ''
The Chronicles of Narnia'' by
C. S. Lewis.
The story of the apple falling onto
Isaac Newton's head is another famous allegory. It simplified the idea of gravity by depicting a simple way it was supposedly discovered. It also made the scientific revelation well known by condensing the theory into a short tale.
Poetry and fiction
While allegoresis may make discovery of allegory in any work, not every resonant work of modern fiction is allegorical, and some are clearly not intended to be viewed this way. According to Henry Littlefield's 1964 article,
L. Frank Baum's ''
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', may be readily understood as a plot-driven fantasy narrative in an extended fable with talking animals and broadly sketched characters, intended to discuss the politics of the time. Yet,
George MacDonald emphasised in 1893 that "A fairy tale is not an allegory."
J. R. R. Tolkien's ''
The Lord of the Rings'' is another example of a well-known work mistakenly perceived as allegorical, as the author himself once stated, "...I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history – true or feigned – with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse applicability with allegory, but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author."
Tolkien specifically resented the suggestion that the book's
One Ring, which gives overwhelming power to those possessing it, was intended as an allegory of
nuclear weapons
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...
. He noted that, had that been his intention, the book would not have ended with the Ring being destroyed but rather with an
arms race
An arms race occurs when two or more groups compete in military superiority. It consists of a competition between two or more states to have superior armed forces; a competition concerning production of weapons, the growth of a military, and t ...
in which various powers would try to obtain such a Ring for themselves. Then Tolkien went on to outline an alternative plot for "Lord of The Rings", as it would have been written had such an allegory been intended, and which would have made the book into a
dystopia
A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
. While all this does not mean Tolkien's works may not be treated as having allegorical themes, especially when reinterpreted through postmodern sensibilities, it at least suggests that none were conscious in his writings. This further reinforces the idea of forced allegoresis, as allegory is often a matter of interpretation and only sometimes of original artistic intention.
Like allegorical stories, allegorical poetry has two meanings – a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.
Some unique specimens of allegory can be found in the following works:
*
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of ...
– ''
The Faerie Queene'': The several knights in the poem actually stand for several virtues.
*
William Shakespeare – ''
The Tempest'': an allegory of the civilisation/barbarism binary as it pertains to colonialism
*
John Bunyan – ''
The Pilgrim's Progress'': The journey of the protagonists Christian and Evangelist symbolises the ascension of the soul from earth to Heaven.
*
Nathaniel Hawthorne – ''
Young Goodman Brown
"Young Goodman Brown" is a short story published in 1835 by American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story takes place in 17th-century Puritan New England, a common setting for Hawthorne's works, and addresses the Calvinist/Puritan belief tha ...
'': The Devil's Staff symbolises defiance of God. The characters' names, such as ''Goodman'' and ''Faith'', ironically serve as paradox in the conclusion of the story.
*
Nathaniel Hawthorne – ''
The Scarlet Letter'': The letter represents self-reliance from America's Puritan and conformity.
*
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...
– ''
Animal Farm
''Animal Farm'' is a beast fable, in the form of satirical allegorical novella, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to crea ...
'': The pigs stand for political figures of the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
.
*
László Krasznahorkai - ''
The Melancholy of Resistance'' and the film ''
Werckmeister Harmonies'': It uses a circus to describe an occupying dysfunctional government.
*
Edgar Allan Poe – ''
The Masque of the Red Death'': The story can be read as an allegory for humans' inability to escape death.
*
Arthur Miller – ''
The Crucible'': The
Salem witch trials are thought to be an allegory for
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner.
The term origin ...
and the
blacklisting
Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...
of
Communists in the
United States of America.
*
Shel Silverstein – ''
The Giving Tree'': The book has been described as an allegory about relationships; between parents and children, between romantic partners, or between humans and the environment.
Art
Some elaborate and successful specimens of allegory are to be found in the following works, arranged in approximate chronological order:
*
Ambrogio Lorenzetti – ''
Allegoria del Buono e Cattivo Governo e loro Effetti in Città e Campagna'' (c. 1338–1339)
*
Sandro Botticelli – ''
Primavera'' (c. 1482)
*
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...
– ''
Melencolia I'' (1514)
*
Bronzino
Agnolo di Cosimo (; 17 November 150323 November 1572), usually known as Bronzino ( it, Il Bronzino ) or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italian Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, ''Bronzino'', may refer to his relatively dark skin or reddis ...
– ''
Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time'' (c. 1545)
*
The English School's – ''"Allegory of Queen Elizabeth"'' (c. 1610)
*
Artemisia Gentileschi
Artemisia Lomi or Artemisia Gentileschi (, ; 8 July 1593) was an Italian Baroque painter. Gentileschi is considered among the most accomplished seventeenth-century artists, initially working in the style of Caravaggio. She was producing profess ...
– ''
Allegory of Inclination'' (c. 1620), ''An Allegory of Peace and the Arts under the English Crown'' (1638); ''
Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting
''Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting'', also known as ''Autoritratto in veste di Pittura'' or simply ''La Pittura'', was painted by the Italian Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi. The oil-on-canvas painting measures and was probably pro ...
'' (c. 1638–39)
* The ''
Feast of Herod with the Beheading of St John the Baptist
The ''Feast of Herod with the Beheading of St John the Baptist'' is a large painting by the Silesian artist Bartholomeus Strobel the Younger (1591 – about 1650) which is now displayed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. In oil on canvas, it ...
'' by
Bartholomeus Strobel is also an allegory of Europe in the time of the
Thirty Years War, with portraits of many leading political and military figures.
*
Jan Vermeer – ''
Allegory of Painting'' (c. 1666)
*Fernand Le Quesne - ''
Allégorie de la publicité''
*
Jean-Léon Gérôme – ''
Truth Coming Out of Her Well
''La Vérité sortant du puits armée de son martinet pour châtier l'humanité'' (English: ''Truth coming from the well armed with her whip to chastise mankind'') is an 1896 painting by the French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme.
Overview
Beginning i ...
'' (1896)
*
Graydon Parrish – ''
The Cycle of Terror and Tragedy
''The Cycle of Terror and Tragedy'' is a painting by Graydon Parrish.
History
In 2002, Douglas Hyland, the director of the New Britain Museum of American Art, approached Graydon Parrish to create an allegorical tribute to victims of the Septembe ...
'' (2006)
*Many statues of
Lady Justice: "Such visual representations have raised the question why so many allegories in the history of art, pertaining occupations once reserved for men only, are of female sex."
[ Cäcilia Rentmeister: The Muses, Banned From Their Occupations: Why Are There So Many Allegories Female]
English summary from Kvinnovetenskaplig Tidskrift, Nr.4. 1981, Lund, Sweden as PDF. Retrieved 10.July 2011
Original Version in German: ''Berufsverbot für die Musen. Warum sind so viele Allegorien weiblich?'' In: Ästhetik und Kommunikation, Nr. 25/1976, S. 92–112. Langfassung in: Frauen und Wissenschaft. Beiträge zur Berliner Sommeruniversität für Frauen, Juli 1976, Berlin 1977, S.258–297. With illustrations
Full Texts Online: Cäcilia (Cillie) Rentmeister: publications
/ref>
* Damien Hirst – ''Verity'' (2012)
Gallery
File:Melencolia I (Durero).jpg, Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...
, '' Melencolia I'' (1514): Unused tools, an hourglass, an empty scale surround a female personification
Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their b ...
, with other esoteric and exoteric symbols.
File:Angelo Bronzino - Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time - National Gallery, London.jpg, Bronzino
Agnolo di Cosimo (; 17 November 150323 November 1572), usually known as Bronzino ( it, Il Bronzino ) or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italian Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, ''Bronzino'', may refer to his relatively dark skin or reddis ...
, '' Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time'' (c. 1545): The deities of love are surrounded by personifications of (probably) Time (a bald, man with angry eyes), Folly (the young woman-demon on the right, possibly also so old woman on the left), and others.
File:Titian - Allegorie der Zeit.jpg, Titian, '' Allegory of Prudence'' (c. 1565–1570): The three human heads symbolise past, present and future, the characterisation of which is furthered by the triple-headed beast (wolf, lion, dog), girded by the body of a big snake.
File:Elizabeth-I-Allegorical-Po.jpg, The English School's ''Allegory of Queen Elizabeth'' (c. 1610), with Father Time at her right and Death looking over her left shoulder. Two cherubs are removing the weighty crown from her tired head.
File:Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (La Pittura) - Artemisia Gentileschi.jpg, Artemisia Gentileschi
Artemisia Lomi or Artemisia Gentileschi (, ; 8 July 1593) was an Italian Baroque painter. Gentileschi is considered among the most accomplished seventeenth-century artists, initially working in the style of Caravaggio. She was producing profess ...
, ''Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting
''Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting'', also known as ''Autoritratto in veste di Pittura'' or simply ''La Pittura'', was painted by the Italian Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi. The oil-on-canvas painting measures and was probably pro ...
'' (c. 1638–39)
File:Jan Vermeer - The Art of Painting - Google Art Project.jpg, Jan Vermeer, ''The Art of Painting
''The Art of Painting'' (Dutch: ''Allegorie op de schilderkunst''), also known as ''The Allegory of Painting'', or ''Painter in his Studio'', is a 17th-century oil on canvas painting by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. It is owned by the Austri ...
'' (c. 1666): Painting is shown as related to history and politics, the young woman being Clio, the muse of history, and other symbols for the political and religious division of the Netherlands appearing.
File:Kessel, Jan van Sr. - Allegory of Hearing.JPG, Jan van Kessel, ''Allegory of Hearing'' (17th century): Diverse sources of sound, especially instruments serve as allegorical symbols.
File:August bouttats-españa triunfante.jpg, Flemish August Bouttats
August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...
, ''Allegory of Triumphant Spain with immaculist banner'', ca. 1682, cover of ''Triumphant Spain and the laureate church all over the world by the patronage of Holy Mary'', Collection: Hispanic Society of America
See also
* Allegorical interpretations of Plato
* Allegorical interpretation of the Bible
* Allegory in Renaissance literature
* Allegorical sculpture
*Cultural depictions of Philip II of Spain Philip II of Spain has inspired artistic and cultural works for over four centuries, as the most powerful ruler in the Europe of his day, and subsequently a central figure in the " Black Legend" of Spanish power. The following list covers represent ...
* Diwan (poetry)
* Freemasonry ("a system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.")
*Parable
A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, w ...
*Semiotics
*Theagenes of Rhegium
References
Further reading
*Northrop Frye, Frye, Northrop (1957) ''Anatomy of Criticism''.
*Fletcher, Angus (1964) ''Allegory: The Theory of a Symbolic Mode''.
*Michel Foucault, Foucault, Michel (1966) ''The Order of Things''.
*
External links
''Dictionary of the History of Ideas'':
Allegory in Literary history
Roman definitions of ''allegoria'' and interpreting Vergil's ''Eclogues''.
''What is an Allegory?''
Introduction to Allegory
{{Authority control
Allegory,
Rhetorical techniques
Narrative techniques
Poetic devices