Abstract This paper discusses whether Herman Melville's novel "Billy Budd" was allegorical. The novel did have religious connotations, however, Billy was not really like Christ, Vere was not God-like, and Claggart was not as bad as Satan. The author explores this notion and asserts that the novel was not an allegorical one.
Abstract This paper explains that William Golding's novel "Lord of the Flies", a story about English schoolboys trapped on a Pacific island and how the civilization they try to create disintegrates, is an allegorical novel, rich in symbolism. The author points out that there are three significant allegorical symbols in the book: The conch, the pig, and the island itself. The paper relates that the talisman of the pig represents the boys' power and self-sufficiency, but, like the pig itself, also symbolizes a potentially darker side based on a lack of respect for the sanctity of other living things.
From the Paper "The sound of the conch is used as a signal to call the boys together, and therefore both the conch and the particular boy using it have symbolic authority over the rest, the conch as a tool only the person in authority is entitled to use, and the user as an authority figure. In that sense, the conch serves the same symbolic function as a military bugle, or in ancient times, a call to worship, such as the ancient Jewish blowing of the shofar (a sheep's horn), which is still reenacted on the Jewish Day of Atonement. (Yom Kippur). The conch summons the boys to discuss, reason, think, and decide together. As such, it is an instrument of democracy, as well as an instrument of authority."
Abstract This paper traces the allegorical references to the Bible in Hawthorne's novel. The writer shows how the aspect of sin in prevalent in every aspect of the novel. The story tells the tale of a young preacher and his mistress and of original sin. Original sin is seeking self-gratification or placing the self above the community. The writer shows the parallels of stories in the Bible and in the novel - the Garden of Eden, the sin of the apple and others.
From the Paper "Sin is prevalent in society. There is no escaping the burden of sin. These facts are brought into view through Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. When the woman gives birth to a child, the sin of adultery comes into plain view of the Puritan society surrounding them. According to the Puritan view, there must be accountability for such actions. Such Puritan views originated from devout practice of biblical law, especially the Old Testament. There are several allegorical references to stories told in the Holy Bible. The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden parallels that of Hester and Dimmesdale, while the life of Hester closely resembles that of Queen Esther."
Tags: allegory, Bible, Hawthorne, Nathaniel, sin, community, Puritan, holy, Adam, Eve
Abstract The following paper critically analyzes 'Beowulf', a collection of heathen tales of the early Northland, put together and shaped by a Christian Anglo-Saxon poet in the era of Bede who was influenced by both Greek/Roman and Church sources. This paper examines the significant parallels apparent between Beowulf's adventure and Christ's death, decent into hell and resurrection. However heathen the original story was, the writer argues that it is reasonable to suppose that the account of Beowulf's decent into the grim fen, his encounter with the demon-brood staining the water with blood and his triumphant emergence from it into joyous springtime is at least an allegory of baptism. The following paper gives ?Beowulf and the "Historic Age" a far fuller historical meaning and even greater artistic value than the writer would have if it were only interpreted on a story level. The writer contends that if one were to start from scratch and invent a story whose every detail was to allegorize the story of salvation (which C.S. Lewis did in his "Narnia" series, for example), one could not do much better than was done in Beowulf by using plot inherent in the ancient tales.
From the Paper ?A classic work of literature is one that endures past its own generation. One reason a work endures is because it can be read, enjoyed and promote thought not only for the author's contemporaries, but for people who read it for years to come. In order to do that, it must contain universal themes that remain true across times and cultures.One thing that successive generations of readers do with a classic is relate its themes to their own lives and times. A classic may mean one thing to one person who reads it and another thing to another person. Quite often readers recognize a simple story as an allegory for something else. A recent example of this is how the "Star Wars" saga has come to be "adopted" by Christian readers because Christians realized that many of the main concepts could be metaphors for Christian ideals. "The force" can be God or the Holy Spirit who helps the Jedi (those chosen to lead and defend the common people, or in the Christian tradition, the clergy or ministers or even "everyman" Christians) to fight "the dark side".?
Abstract The paper explains hidden meanings behind developments of the story of "Sir Gawain and Green Knight" written by J.R.R Tolkien, an allegorical legend written in the Middle Ages. The paper explores the role of allegory in this piece of literature.
From the Paper "Upon his return home, Gawain feels a sense of extreme shame since he understands that fear for his life cost him to sin to an extent where he may never forgive himself. It seemed as an illogical step on his behalf since Green Knight had explained to Gawain that everything Gawain went through, was meant to be a joke. The moral behind this book is to never forget who you really are and that at any time you can commit a sin no matter how noble you might be."
Abstract The paper discusses that together the House of Holiness and the House of Pride, good and evil, in Edward Spenser's epic novel, "The Faerie Queene" contribute to the moral growth of every man. The author feels that Spenser, through his writings, seems to seek to encourage us to bypass the poem's romantic indulgences and to seek out the poem's allegorical significance instead.
From the Paper "The Faerie Queen's subjects in Faeryland are human beings, and endure the uncertainties and vicissitudes that people undergo in the ordinary, everyday world thereby, allowing the readers to "relate" themselves to the characters in the novel. Faeryland is inhabited by both the good and the bad. There are knights who love and seek out the Faery Queen throughout the poem and there are bad creatures, people and monsters that represent various vices, evils and temptations."
Abstract This essay outlines the basic background within "Animal Farm" and the tactics used by the pigs of the farm to establish their tyrannical rule. Reference is also made to the symbolism behind Orwell's allegorical tale.
From the Paper "In this animal allegory, George Orwell has accredited the pigs and dogs with accomplishing many atrocities on "Animal Farm". The pigs, as animals, arose from the repression of a tyrannical ruler only to triumph in leadership over their own kind. Many factors allowed these political creatures to take advantage of the other animals on the farm after the initial revolt against Mr. Jones."
Abstract This paper explains that Erasmus's Folly narrates the story, attempting to harshly instruct the reader about different kinds of folly in the manner of a discerning, dissecting orator, whereas, More's Raphael Hythloday speaks as a humble, ordinary man of an extraordinary place, Utopia. The author points out that both characters, although functionally different, have an allegorical quality to their naming; Raphael is named after an angel, and Hythloday means 'sweetness all day' in Latin. The paper relates that both More and Erasmus wrote their works to highlight what they disliked about religious and moral life of their time; but, through the use of different techniques, one showed what was wrong through irony and dissection, and the other showed what a better life would be like by stressing how different it was from the real present.
From the Paper "More the author may be writing as a critic, but Raphael Hythloday has transcended the office of critic in the universe he inhabits, while Erasmus? Folly is still dwelling in the world of the intended reader. This is another reason why More may have chosen to narrate Utopia, not purely using Raphael's voice, but using his angelic character as kind of a guide. In contrast, Erasmus writes very much as a satirist or critic out of the Latin school of rhetoric, where orators use irony to deflate the follies of the individuals in the world around the reader. ?Tell me by Jupiter,? Folly says at numerous occasions, as if he is assuming the persona of the Roman speaker, or a teacher of the classics."
Abstract This paper explains that the setting in Emily Dickinson's poem, "Sonnet XXIV" is abstract, written from images conjured up in her imagination, because it is widely known that Dickinson had never even seen the sea in real life. The author points out that the form of this poem is closed because Dickinson follows a very definite rhyme scheme with the last word in the second and fourth lines of each stanza rhyming; the meter is a variation between iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. The paper relates that the poem seems to be more playful and fun than anything else, even though the poet comes close to being overtaken by the sea; therefore, the poem is allegorical because, like many of Dickinson's poems, it approaches a serious issue with an almost light mood and tone.
From the Paper ""Sonnet XXIV" contains several figures of speech. We see an example of metonymy when the speaker is describing the deepest parts of the ocean as a basement. The silver heel and the pearl that the poet describes are metaphors for the sea foam. The poet also employs personification regarding the sea in many instances. For example, when she describes the "extended hempen hands", we can almost see the sea embracing her. This image of the hands is also an example of synecdoche. She also personifies the sea when she thinks that it might eat her up. In addition, the sea follows behind the speaker, bows, and withdraws. These images are repeated to emphasize the idea that the sea is a powerful force."
Abstract This paper explains that James Joyce's semi-autobiographical rendering of Joyce's fully autobiographical conception of himself "Stephen Hero" can be found in both "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" and "Ulysses". The author relates that the hero of these tales, Stephen Dedalus, serves as the focal point of both novels and should be viewed as the abridged version of "Stephen Hero", an almost allegorical tale of an artist besieged by his surroundings. The paper points out that, at the heart of the idea that Stephen Dedalus can represent the universal modern man is Joyce's struggle with himself to convey his own life into words, concluding that the best possible representation of himself that can be conveyed is one in which he is a character lost in a world he cannot hope to understand.
From the Paper "Joyce uses the imagery with the fox again towards the end of Ulysses. A hallucination that brings his riddle back to the surface: "A stout fox drawn from a covert, brush pointed, having buried his grandmother, runs swift for the open, brighteyed, seeking badger earth, under the leaves." This is the physical and relatable explanation of the events that could have linearly led to the formulation of the riddle; however, it is presented in this reverse fashion. "The foxhunt represents the absolute disjoining of Stephen's two selves." The trouble is that Joyce, through the progression of Stephen from Portrait into, and eventually, out of Ulysses, has gradually brought about the loss of his hero's sovereignty."
Abstract This paper analyzes the Good Samaritan Parable (Luke Chapter 10.25-37) from the New Testament. The paper studies the parable from the point of view of three different people: St. Augustine, Origen, and Clement of Alexandria. The paper also relates to the historical and cultural aspects of the Parable.
This paper provides an examination of Charles Dickens' novel 'Hard Times' and the allegorical significance of Coketown, applying sociological and historical perspectives.
Abstract In this article, the writer studies the allegorical significance of Coketown within Dickens' novel 'Hard Times'. The writer maintains that the typical manufacturing towns of industrial Britain are examined and Dickens intends to penetrate through the veneer of material prosperity and expose how society was degenerating in many ways. The writer discusses that Dickens' particular wrath is reserved for the ethos of utilitarianism which characterized the Victorian epoch. He demonstrates how this philosophy becomes a smokescreen that hides the ambition of the baser elements of society and facilitates their rise to dominance. The writer maintains that Dickens wants to show that cold calculation and self interest do not make for an environment of healthy human interaction. The essay offers detailed character studies as well as sociological and historical analyses of the times.
From the Paper "Coketown is an allegorical place through which Dickens presents his vision of Industrial England. It is a harsh and bitter reality that he intends to convey. In the wake of the Industrial Revolution, Britain witnessed the phenomenon of the Industrial town, a place devoted to manufactures by the way of enormous factories, and driven by a voracious profit motive of the capitalists who owned the factories. The ferocious ambition of the capitalists led to exploitation on an unprecedented scale. The land and resources were plundered, and the brunt of the exploitation fell on the lower strata of society, who were forced to abandon the countryside and to huddle in the city slums, because the factories offered the only means of subsistence for them. The harsh realities of Industrialism are what gave rise to Socialism from various learned and intellectual centers in Europe. This was a political philosophy that sympathized with the oppressed proletariat after positing a class struggle between the owners of capital and their workers. "
Abstract Friedrich Duerrenmatt's "The Visit" and Luigi Pirandello's "The Man with the Flower in His Mouth" are allegorical plays in which certain characters confront death. The paper shows that the human - an allegorical figure of death - is, in both plays, a female character. In Pirandello's short piece she is the wife of a terminally ill man who follows him everywhere, but does not speak. In "The Visit", death comes in the form of Claire Zachanassian, the multimillionaire who returns to her hometown looking for revenge--or justice--for the sufferings she went through as a girl.
From the Paper "In this idea of waiting for death at home, with time "measured by the ticking of the big clock in the dining room," is the notion that death should become part of life, which is symbolized by the clock and the passing of time (6). His wife, or death, is attempting to get him to integrate death with the rest of his experience. But he sees them as two completely separate things. Death is not the culmination of life but a terrible interruption that has nothing to do with living."
Abstract This paper examines how the four sisters in Junichiro Tanizaki's "The Makioka Sisters" are parts of an allegorical account of the decline of Japan's old upper-class merchant families in the face of rising modernism and nationalism. Each of the sisters, largely depending on her age and placement in the family, symbolizes a different aspect of the change in the social order. It looks at how Tanizaki manages to develop these allegorical roles for his principal characters without sacrificing any of their validity or interest as individual beings whose thoughts and actions retain the reader's full attention. It also shows how despite the fact that each sister functions in the allegory in a different way, none of them is a simple character with traditional or modern traits that make it easy to sum up her symbolic meaning in a few words.
From the Paper "The principal allegorical function of the sisters begins long before the novel opens, of course, in the simple fact that their father had only daughters to inherit from him. He had also been somewhat careless with money and had greatly reduced what there was to inherit. But even this attitude, which was responsible for the kind of upbringing his daughters had, has an allegorical function in that he had never believed that things could change. Thus, even though the early signs of change must have been everywhere in the first part of the century, his daughters were brought up believing that the pattern of life they knew so well would last forever."
Abstract This paper discusses the possibility of reading Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" as an allegorical work. It offers a possible double reading of the text. In other words, the paper suggest that it would seem that some instances in Frankenstein would lead the reader to believe that the story is, in fact, an allegory; yet, other times, the characters in the book that seemed to portray religious figures, do not match up with whom they are supposed to symbolize. The paper presents three main reasons that the story could be read as a religious allegory. First, there is the obvious relation of Victor creating the monster to God creating man. Second, the monster may symbolize Jesus in two instances that he helps mankind, only to be rejected. Lastly, the book contains some other smaller allegorical connections. In conclusion, the paper maintains that although Mary Shelley's lack of expertise of Biblical knowledge led to a somewhat distorted religious allegory, nonetheless, it is a valid one.
From the Paper "The first, and perhaps most evident, event in the story that portrays an allegory comes fairly early. Victor created the being in the likeness of himself, with all the pieces of the puzzle fitting together beautifully, much like how God created man in the beginning of time, and in the likeness of God. But in both instances, it did not take long for both creators to see that their creations had already failed and disappointed them. Once again from the eyes of a non-religious person, the connection seems between God and Victor to their creations seems quite realistic, however, there were differences in the reasons for creating the beings. Victor wanted to find a way for himself to live forever by experimentation, God, of course, created man to have a companion, for he knew he was going to live forever. Also, God already knew that when he created mankind, that man would soon fail Him, whereas Victor could not possibly know the fate of his creation on his life. God also, of course, did not desert his creation when it failed Him, unlike Victor (Shelley 29-36)."
