Essays on Allegory

‘The analogy of the cave tells us nothing about reality’. Discuss (30 marks) It is perceived to an extent that Plato’s analogy of the cave gives us great insight into reality, due to the symbolic relevance of the different objects and characters in the Cave...

Twelve Angry Men is an allegorical play written by Reginald Rose in 1955. It depicts the way in which economic, social and cultural factors can have a significant impact on the process of justice. Rose encapsulates 1950s America through each of the 12 jurors, giving...

The Darkness In this world, there are many things going on. A lot may know what is happening and some may not. There are many “dark” places in the world where they are isolated from the outside and they only know about the inside. Countries...

Allegory in Jose Saramago’s Blindness The Nobel winning novelist Jose Saramago’s stories often take the shape of allegory, and in his novel Blindness he utilizes this technique on a universally grand scale. Most of the story takes place within a building where a group of...

In many ways The Faerie Queene presents a unique challenge to the English reader. It can be described as epic, romance or fantasy and covers a wide range of topics religious and romantic, political and spiritual, Christian and Pagan. It is also incomplete, leaving the...

One aspect of 1984 that is consistently dominant, is the theme of manipulation, and how even the most overt and simplistic forms of manipulation manages to keep the citizens of Oceania so loyal so successfully. One way in which manipulation is especially central throughout the...

Many people fear death, which is why some would do anything to escape it. Few things in life are impossible to live without, one of those things is death. It is impossible to live without death. Death is a requirement. Edgar Allen Poe is known...

The dynamic personalities of Euripides’s Bacchae all serve allegorical purposes within the play’s lines: to represent social orders within ancient Greek culture. The interactions between these characters send a clear message to the audience regarding the practices of healthy society, and the harsh repercussions that...

Today, most Americans can only imagine what the horrors of the Holocaust must have been like – and, to be frank, they are probably very glad that they have no personal experiences to draw on. However, the Holocaust, and other catastrophic events in history, must...

Why would a writer choose to write a Christian allegory? It is not a new concept, nor is it easy to create a presentation of the Christian allegory with new and interesting insight to captivate readers. Bunyan wrote his Christian allegory, The Pilgrim’s Progress, while...

Haroun and the Sea of Stories: An Allegory for all Readers Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories tells a fictional tale of a young protagonist named Haroun who travels to the Sea of Stories to help his father gain back his skill of...