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сFOLIA LITTERARIA
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M aria Edelson
ALLEGORY IN ENGLISH FIC TIO N
OF THE TW EN TIETH CENTURY
ŁÓDŻ 1985
KOMITET REDAKCYJNY
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INTRODUCTION
W H Y W RITE ON ALLEGORY
IN ENGLISH TW EN TIETH CENTURY FICTION?
T he tim e w h en the p revalen t attitude to literary a lleg o ry m ani fested itself in distru st and contem pt is not v e r y rem ote. S everal gen eration s of w riters, critics and thinkers had contributed to esta blishing that attitude: M artin Luther, w h o con sid ered a lleg o ry to be
a beautiful harlot'’, W illiam T yndale, M iles C overd ale, and W illiam
Blake, to w hom it w as a m ere ,.daughter of m em ory", S. T. C olerid ge, w ho thought it inferior to sym bolism and W . B. Y eats, w h o w a s „bo red b y a llegory'', w ere som e of th e m ost n otab le op p on en ts. A s a co rollary to so m uch op position after its d ays of g lory and reign in th e literature o f the M iddle A g es and R enaissan ce, a lleg o ry gradually fell into d isgrace and, until gu ite re cen tly in th e 20th century, it g e n erally evok ed d ecid ely h ostile respon ses. In 1947 Joshua M cC lennen w rote :
O ne of th e m inor b u t strik in g differences b etw e e n th e six te e n th c e n tu ry an d our ow n is to b e se e n in the c h a n g e of a ttitu d e to w a rd alleg o ry . A lle g o ry still co n tin u es to be u se d as a rh e to ric a l d ev ice from tim e to tim e, b u t th e re is n o v o ic e to be h e a rd in its p ra ise 1.
T he few com m entators w ho w ro te in favour of a llego ry, u su a lly felt ob liged to b egin their a n a ly se s w ith a p ologetic rem arks in its d efen ce. R ex W arner's d ep iction o f the situation o f a lleg o ry presented in The Cult of P ow er is fairly typ ical of this approach; the w riter n otes that „m ost p eop le's m inds seem to turn aw ay w ith a kind of d istaste from the, notion of allegory. And y e t a great part of their
* J. M c C l e n n e n , „O n th e M ean in g a n d F u nction of A lle g o ry in th e English R en aissan ce'', C ontribution in M odern P h ilo lo g y A pril 1947, N o 6, p. 1. [B iographical
refe re n c e s are p a rtly a d a p te d to th e ru le s of the English e d ito ria l norm . Z apisy bi blio g raficzn e zo sta ły p o d an e zgodnie z an g ie lsk ą n o rm ą ed y to rsk ą].
sp eech and action, m ost of their jok es, much of their en tertain m en t, their pleasure, their com plicated thought, their p h ilosop h y are a lle gorical"2.
O n e of the reasons w h y Louis M a cN eice shunned the term „ alle gory", w h en he g a v e the series of lectu res on v a rieties of parable, w as that h e k new v ery w ell h ow ,.allergic" m any p eo p le w ere to it*.
Edwin H onig, o n e of the m ost influential au th orities w riting on th e su bject had the follow in g rem arks to m ake about the n early uni versa l indictm ent of a llegory:
T horc is a p e rv a s iv e feeling ag a in st alleg o ry , w hich, lik e m ost s tu b b o rn biases, springs from a m ix tu re of d is ta ste an d half tru th s , T he feeling is th a t a lle g o ry lends itself to polem ical p u rposes an d th e re fo re tu rn s in e v ita b ly into an e x e rc ise of B ubliterary fan cies4.
The d eep -se a ted abhorrence tow ards the term „allegory" felt, accor ding to R oy M ack en zie5 and other critics, by the modern reader in th e six tie s stem m ed from the firm con viction that literature b elo n g in g to the a llego rical ca teg o ry can be o f in terest o n ly in spite of the a lle gory contained in it, not b ecau se of it. The con v ictio n w as link ed with the b elief that a llegory d ep en ded on m ech an ical translation s of s y stem s of ideas into p seu d o-literary stories, w hich, in th em se lv es, had little aesth etic v a lu e and, in fact, did n ot m atter m uch sin ce th ey w ere supposed to ser v e as m ere sugar coatin g for o th er w ise not a lw a y s e a s ily d ig e stib le abstract notions.
Roy M ackenzie quite righ tly pointed ou t that „the tacit assum ption that all a lleg o ry is bad a llego ry" 6 w a s an in ju stice d one to this c a te g ory o f literature. His w as no lon ger an isolated op in ion w hen h e w rote it dow n in the sixties. The efforts of its defenders, as w e ll as the grow in g num ber of alleg o rica l w orks, soon brought about a great change in th e ev a lu a tio n of this kind of w riting. In the w ords of M aureen Q uilligan, it is „no longer n ece ssa ry to apologize" for th e critic d ea lin g w ith the su bject n ow . T he in terest in a lleg o ry has grow n alon gsid e with the grow th o f its esteem , and to-day o n e has to ju stify
* R. W a r n e r , „The A lleg o rical M eth o d ", [in:] T he C ult ol P ow er, J. B. Lip- p m co tt C om pany, P h ila d e lp h ia an d N ew Y ork 1947, p. 1Э0.
* Cf. L. M a c N e i c e , V a rie tie s o f Parable, C am b rid g e U n iv e rsity P ress 1965, p. 1.
4 E. H o n i g , D ark C onceit; T h e M a k in g o l A lle g o ry , a G a la x y Book, N e w York, O xford U n iv ersity Press 1966, p. 3.
5 W. R. M a c k e n z i e , The E nglish M o ra lities from the Point o l V ie w ol A l leg o ry, G o rd ian P ress Inc., N ew Y ork 1966, p. 257.
one's reason s for w r it n g y e t another book o n the su bject and thus adding to hat Stephen A. B arney calls a 'crow ded court' 7.
The in ev ita b le question, w h ich arises at th is point, con cern s th e reason s for w rit ng the p resent d issertation on a lleg o ry in English fiction of the tw en tieth century. To an sw er this q u estion it w ill b e n ece ssa ry to take a closer .look at the 'crow ded cou rt1. An exam in ation w ill soon rev eal that m ost criticism d ealing w ith th e su b ject focu ses on th e nature o f allegory. A m ong the critics w ho h a v e m ade the attem pt to answ er the q u estion of w h at a lleg o ry is and w hat it is not are A n gu s Fletcher, w ho produced the book A l le g o r y , Th e T h e o r y
o l a S y m b o lic M o d e (1964); N orthrop Frye, w ho w rote an im portant
e ssa y on „Ethical Criticism; T heory of Sym bols" (in A n a t o m y ol C ri
ticism , 1957); Edw :n H onig, the author o f Dark Conceit; The M aking ol A lle g o r y , 1966; and M aureen Q uilligan w ith her book o n The Lan g u age ol A lle g o r y , D elining the G enre (1979).
A s can be seen from the titles quoted aibove, literary alleg o ry is som etim es con sidered to be a m ode o f w riting and, at oth er tim es, a gen re. N ot on ly th eoretician s, but also critics w ritin g on oth er asp ects o f th e subject, the h istory of allegory, for exam p le, fe e l it n ece ssa ry to defin e allego ry in order to g iv e clearcu t boundaries to their subjects. This is true, for instance, of C. S. Lew is, the author o f The A l le g o r y
ol L o ve (1936) dealing w ith the cou rtly lo v e motif in the m ed ieval and
R enaissan ce literary w orks m aking u se o f a lleg o ry . C. S. L ew is d e v o te s a chapter to a brief h istorical su rv ey and his d efin ition of allegory. Sim ilarly, Edward A. Bloom's p resentation of the d ev elo p m en t o f th e genre in h is article on „The A lleg o rica l Principle" (1951) b eg in s w ith
an exalan ation of w hat is m eant b y the term.
G ay Clifford is in terested both in th e d istin ctiv e ch aracteristics of a llego ry and its h istorical d evelop m en t, w hich is indicated by the title o f her book The Transform ations of A l le g o r y (1974). Sim ilar in terests are reflected b y a sim ilar title ch osen for the a rticle "The T ransform ation of A lleg o ry from Spenser to H aw thorne" (1962) by Peter Berek.
T he history o f a llegory is w hat p reoccu p ies John M acQ u een v e r y much; his b ook let on A l l e g o r y (1970) has chapters d ev o te d to G reek and Roman, biblical as w e ll as m ed ieval and m odern allegory.
A lso Louis M a cN eice o ffers a historical su rv ey of allegorical w riting in his V a r ie tie s ol Parable (1965). The book in clu d es his lectu res on Spenser and Bunyan, on th e Rom antics, on the V ictorians as w e ll as on "the contem porary world".
7 Cf. M. Q u i l l i g a n , The Language ol A lleg o ry; D elining Ihe G enre, C ornell U n iv ersity P ress 1979, p. 14.
Apart from th ose con cern ed w ith the nature and the h istory of allegory , other critics prefer to deal w ith selec ted kinds of a lleg orical w riting, or lim ited periods of its d evelop m en t, or an individual writer- -allegorist, or a sp ecific asp ect of a llegory in general.
Rosam ond T uve's book on A lle g o ric a l I m a g e ry (1966) con centrates, as its su btitle su ggests, on "som e m ed iev a l b ooks and their posterity". And on e of the m ost recen t stu d ies in th e field is Stephen Barney's
A l le g o r ie s o l H istory, A lle g o r ie s ol L o ve (1979) in w hich the author
m akes a d istin ction b etw een w h at other critics call figurai a lleg o ry and person ification alleg o ry and g iv e s th ese ca teg o ries a broader inter
pretation.
N u m erous critical w orks are d ev o te d to the h ey d a y of allego ry, in th e period of th e M iddle A g e s and R enaissance. Som e of the n o te w orth y stu d ies h a v e b een produced by Paul Piehler, the author o f
The V is io n a r y Landscape (1971) w h ich , ex a m in es m ed ieval allego ry,
by D avid A ers w h o w rote on ,,Piers Plowman"-, Christian A lle g o r y (1975) and by M ichael Murrin w h o con centrated on allego rica l rhet
oric in th e English R enaissan ce in The V e il ol A l le g o r y (1969). A m ong th e critics d ealin g w ith the period are also Joshua M cC lennen w ho
contributed a study "On th e M ean ng and Function of A lleg o ry in the E nglish R enaissance" (1947), and D anilo L. A guzzi w riting on
A lle g o r y in the Heroic P o e tr y ol the R enaissance (1955).
A m ong the allegorists w ho m ost freq uently attract the attention of critics Edmund Spenser o cc u p ies a v e r y im portant position; Harry Berger's The A lle g o ric a l T em per (1957) and A. C. H am ilton's The
Structure of A l le g o r y in „The Faerie Queene" (1961) m ay ser v e as
ex a m p les of the am ple research in th e art of th e great poet. R esearch has b een also d on e in the allegorical character of variou s w orks by Shak esp eare (e.g. A. D. N uttal's T w o C o n c ep ts ol A lle g o r y (1967) Sam uel Johnson (for ex a m p le Bernard Einbond’s Samuel Johnson's
A l le g o r y (1966), H enry Jam es (e. g. „The G olden B owl R evisited",
1955, by Francis Fergusson), W illiam G olding ("The Fables of W illiam Golding", 1957, by John Peter) to q uote o n ly som e ex am p les.
Critical a n a ly ses of allegorical literature of other countries m ay often throw light on the nature of alleg o ry in gen eral and also on that of E ngl:sh a lleg o ry in particular. C riticism of Dante, of b ib lical parables, of Spanish, German and French a llegories, for exam ple, m ay b e of great use in draw ing co n clu sion s about certain asp ects of a lle g ory p ractised in England.
A great d eal is added to understanding allego ry by studies w hich con centrate on particular problem s or selected characteristics of the gen re such as, for instance, the lan gu age of a lleg o ry (book by M aureen
Q uilligan quoted ab ove and "A G ram m atical A pproach to P ersonifi cation A llegory" , 1ÖÖ3, an article by M orton W. B loom field).
H ow ev er interesting and v alu ab le m ost of the criticism of allegory m ay be, it has to be noted that there ex ists an im portant gap in it: little 'h a s b een written on th e fu n ction of a lleg o ry in a literary work, on h ow its p resen ce affects th e structure of the w ork, and h o w a lle gory itself is influenced by the work. There are tew critics w ho touch upon the problem, and th ose w ho g iv e it som e con sideration are e v e n few er. A m ong the exam in ers of a lleg o ry n oticin g the problem is Ellen
D ouglas Leyburn w ho con cen trates 011 the relation b etw een a lleg ory
and satire in her book called Satiric A lle g o r y : M irror oi M an (1956). T he mam purpose of the p resent d issertation , therefore, w ill b e to exam ine the aesth etic im p lications of the p resen ce of a lleg o ry in a literary w ork and e sp e c ia lly the e ffec ts o f com bining a lleg o ry with d ifferent literary gen res. A striking w ealth of such com binations has been produced by the prose of the 20th century, w h ich has been m arked by a ren ew ed in terest in alleg o rica l w riting. T he rev iv ed a llegory of the 20th century d iffers con siderab ly from that w ritten p reviou sly since, in the cou rse of tim e, it has u n d ergon e a num ber of important ch an ges. As the author of Tran sform ation s oi A l le g o r y q uite rightly says: „A ny m ode that su rv iv es over a long period is lik e ly to take on v er y different sh apes under p ressu re of th e n eed s and ex p ec ta tio n s of different gen eration s. W ith a lleg o ry the transfor m ations a ie more than usually e x te n siv e " 8. B eca u se m odern a lleg orica l
works con stitu te a category different from the o n es of the past, it w ill be in terestin g to ex a m in e the nature of the d ifferen ces and the d irection of ch an ge.
M ost historical stu d ies m ake sw eep in g gen eralization s about a lle gory or d eal w ith a particular period of its d ev elop m en t. In o n e of
the chapters ot the d issertation i m ake an attem pt to g iv e a fairly com p reh en sive v ie w o i th e-h isto r y o i a llegory . I find it n ece ssa ry to put togeth er facts I h ave iound and ob serv a tio n s I h ave been ab le to ^ m ak e about th^ ch araciei i s l i c s of a lleg ory dom inant at co n sec u tiv e sta g es of its transform ations in order to g iv e a sy stem a tic and co n sisten t su rvey of allegorical w riting from the ea r lie st tim es up to th e present.
J h e historical su rv ey will, 110 uoubt, facilitate m aking a definition o f th e genre, since Ше esse n tia l iea tu res of a lleg o ry w ill becom e ob v io u s w hen л ones .g e n e r a lly agreed upon as 'allegorical are seen in a group. A ithougn m uch has oeen written qn d efin ing allegory,
s G. C ! i i f o : a , T he 'I ta u sio ta u u ia u b Oi a lle g o r y , R o u ü ed g e a n d К eg an Paul,
critics seem to be unable to a ch iev e a con sen su s as to the m eaning o f the term „allegory". It w ill be n ecessa ry , then, to d ev o te a chapter to th e d efin ition of the gen re used in the d issertation , its justification, and reasons for rejecting other definitions. I cannot claim much o rig i n ality here, but I h ope to b e able to add to the store of con clu sion s about the nature of the gen re and to understanding it.
In d ea lin g w ith the problem s of a lleg o ry I shall con centrate on m odern prose w orks rather than drama or p oetry, m ainly b eca u se the overw h elm in g m ajority of the tw en tieth century a lleg o ries b elo n g to p rose w riting.
R ealistic ten d en cies in English fiction h a v e a lw ay s b een v e r y strong. T h e requirem ents of faith fu lness in p resen tin g the p h y sica l world im p ose literary m ethods d ifficult to reco n cile w ith the tech n i q ues of a lleg o ry w h ich u su ally aim s at m aking statem en ts about moral, spiritual and p h ilosop h ical problem s and thus d ea ls w ith abstractions. B ecause of this con flict of ends and m eans the p resen ce of a lleg o ry in fiction m ay create ten sio n s difficult to k eep in balance. It w ill be therefore interesting to s e e h ow m odern a llego rists co p e w ith the d ifficu lty and w hat in flu en ce it has on their works.
In spite of variou s problem s a lleg o ry m akes its appearance in m odern p rose w riting v er y freq u en tly indeed. In fact, although it w as se v e r e ly criticized at certain p eriod s of time, it n ever disappeared from th e literary sc e n e and, as R ousseau o n c e n oticed , it d o es seem to suit E nglish tastes. R ousseau is quoted as sayin g to B osw ell, w hen praising the S p e c t a t o r :
O ne com es acro ss a lle g o rie s in it, I h a v e no ta s te fo r alleg o ries, th o u g h y o u r n atio n show s a g re a t lik in g fo r them 9.
And in 1895 Frederick York P ow ell, w h ile reading his paper later published as S om e W o r d s on A l le g o r y in England (1910) tried to an sw er the g u estio n of w h y a lleg o ry had a lw a y s en jo y ed such great popularity am ong the English and he said:
It w e re p ro b a b ly h a rd fu lly to answ er. W e are re tic e n t. W e e x a g g e ra te by u n d e rsta te m e n t, w e lik e to se t fo rth our c ase w ith o u t see m in g to a tta c k our a d v e rs a ry , to in d u lg e in im ag in atio n w ith o u t b ein g fla tly fo rced up o n us th a t w e a re d ep artin g from th e s tr ic tly p ractical. W e d early lo v e lite r a tu re w ith a p u rp o se and w e h a v e trie d to w rite it so often th a t w e h a v e som etim es su cceed ed g lo rio u sly in sp ite of
8 Q u o ted after E. Ch. H e i n 1 e, T he E ig h teen th C e n tu ry A lleg o rica l Exsay, U n published Ph. D. d issertatio n , C olum bia U n iv e rs ity 1957, p. ii.
g th e a b su rd difficulty of th e e n te rp rise . T he form in fa c t su its us, h en ce our e x cellen ce in it10.
To in clu d e an opinion of a modern critic on e m ight quote, for exa m p le, S tev en M arcus, w ho con n ects D ick en s's O liv e r T w is t ,,w ith a tradition of parabolic w riting that has a lw a y s com m anded an im portant p lace in E nglish literature"11. S in ce parable is, in fact, a v a riety of allegory, the rem ark m ay be applied to both.
The fact that a lleg o ry has such an im portant p osition in English literature m akes it a v er y prom is'ng field of research. In terestin g literary phenom ena are created by a lleg o ry at the in tersection of often con flictin g literary te n d en cies w ith w h ich it com es into clo se contacts: con ven tio n s of realistic prose, requirem ents of m odern sy m bolism , n ew literary tech niq ues used in the tw en tieth century, forms of variou s g en res etc. S ince this asp ect of the situation of alleg ory rem ains rather n eglected by critics, an a ly sis of the su b ject b ecom es n ecessa ry . The p resent dissertation is an attem pt to contribute to this an aly sis and through exam ining individual w orks representing the m ost typ ical kinds of m odern allegory, to lead to con clu sion s about the gen era l situation of a lleg o ry in 20th century p ro se w riting in England. The an aly sis w ill begin w ith a m odern p erson ification a lle g o r y and m ove through sp ecim en s of allegorical w riting in w hich th e con centration of a lleg o ricity gradually d ecr ea ses (satirical allego ry, fairy ta le and other fantasy) tow ards a w ork ex e m p lify in g attem pts to com bine alleg o ry w ith the realistic method.
W hat has b een said ab ove about the sig n ifica n ce of alleg o ry in English literature, the renew ed in terest and change in the genre ob served in modern tim es as w e ll as th e problem s created b y com bining a lleg o ry with variou s other g en res of prose fiction , justifies, I hope, the fact that I h ave ch osen to w rite the p resen t dissertation on ALLEGORY. IN ENGLISH FICTION OF THE 20TH CENTURY.
10 F.- Y. P o w e l l , Som e W o rd s on A lle g o ry in England, T he F o lcro ft Press, Inc. 1910, p. 41.
11 S. M a r c u s , D ickens: irom P ic k w ic k to D om bey, Basic Books, Inc. P ublishers, N ew Y ork 1965, p. 65.
ALLEGORY IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
It is im p ossib le to trace the h istory of a lleg ory back to its origin; w e can on ly m ake assum ptions and produce h y p o th eses. O ne of th ese con sists in the b elief that alleg o ry is as old as the ab ility of man to tell a story and create m etaphors. Man, w hom Schopenhauer calls ,,a m etap h ysical animal" tried to ex p r e ss the v isib le and the in v isib le in m yths. The m yth op oeic approach con n ected reality w ith u nseen forces by creating n ew e n titie s b eliev ed to be real. A lleg o ry con tain ed the sam e kind of d u p licity in the union of w hat can be see n with what is hidden, but it n ev er identified fiction w ith reality. A lleg o ry has a lw a y s b een a con sciou s ,,dark co n cé it” and the reason for this particular characteristic is of a v ery ' an cien t m otivation. It g o e s back to the practices of those w h o p o ssessed esoteric w isdom , p riests and prophets w ho w ere not w illin g to reveal their k n o w led g e to the u n d eservin g ignorant or to those w ho could h av e b een angered by it and m ight h ave stoned th e prophets. W isdom w as p ub lished in such a w a y that o n ly th e se le c t could understand it. B esides, truth w as (and is) often in e x p ressib le oth erw ise than in an indirect w ay.
Pagan priests of Isis used h ieroglyp h ic represen tation s w h o se sym b olic m eanin gs could be interpreted on ly b y fe w and, as Don Cam eron A llen n o tices in his book M y s t e r i o u s ly M eant, ,,od d ly en ou gh, th e m odus interpretationis of the h ierog ly p h ics in w h ich the hierarchs con cealed their learning w as not unlike that of the alleg o ries used by M oses, David, the Prophets, and Christ. The sam e ty p e of m etaphoric e x p re ssio n w a s also em p loyed by th e A p o stles" 1.
T he con v ictio n that much of C hristian sym bolism w as d erived from an cien t pagan m ethods and em b lem s g a v e rise to a number of
1 D. C. A l l e n , M y s te rio u sly M eant; T h e R e d isc o v e ry ol Pagan S ym b o lism and A lleg o rica l In terp reta tio n in the R enaissance, T he ДоЬп H opkins P ress, B altim ore an d London 1970, p. 116.
l i am ateurish stu d ies of the su bject such as that by T hom as Inman2 w ho took pains to relate variou s Christian sym b ols to pagan pictorial ex p re ssio n s of sexu ality. M uch seriou s and valu a b le research has b een also d one in the field. A fascin atin g study of an cien t sym b olism (as w e ll as of e a r ly unorthodox C hristians, G nostics, M asons, and other secret so cietie s) has b een w ritten by H arold B a y ley 3, The study con tain s interpretat'ons of a number of w ords of different lan gu ages w ith th e sam e sy lla b les in them , and su g g ests that, o rig in a lly , th ey w ere used to nam e certain d e itie s or sacred p henom en a in an o b liq u e w ay resultin g from th e fear of being b lasphem ous or profane.
T he d esire to hide and d isg u ise the sacred or the a w esofń e m ani fested itself not o n ly in graphic and pictorial represen tation s then, but also in langu age. Early ex a m p les of v eiled u tteran ces related to th e a llegorical m ethod w ere to be found in the J ew ish p ractice of the
mashal, w h ich contained num erous literary d e v ic e s such as riddle,
fable, proverb, parable, and the m idrash link ed particularly w ith parable, all o f w hich hide the truth in order to rev ea l it to th e w orthy.
Christ, w h en asked by his d iscip les w h y he sp ok e in parables, said to them:
B ecause it is g iv en un to you to kn o w th e m y ste rie s of th e k in g d o m of h e a v e n , b u t to them it is not given. [...]
T h erefo re sp eak I to them in p arab les: b e cau se th e y seein g see no t; an d h earin g th e y h e a r n ot, n e ith e r do th e y u n d e rs ta n d 4.
It w as not o n ly the m ashal and m idrash of rabbinic w ritin gs that contributed to the rise of C hristian allegory: the u se of ty p o lo g y in Palestinian Judaism had a far m ore influential role to p lay in its d evelop m en t. N arratives con sid ered prophetic w e re interpreted by rabbis as typ ify in g s:milar situ ation s to com e. T hey saw in th e life of Ruth, for exam p le, a p réfiguration o f M essian ic e v e n ts. The m ethod w as later adopted by Christians.
T he Jew ish ty p o lo g y and parable „com peted" w ith the Stoic H el len istic tradition o f allegorizin g. The tw o traditions origin ated the tw o basic ty p es of allegory: P alestinian Judaism produced ty p o logica l
1 Th. I n m a n , M. D., A n c ie n t Pagan and M odern C hristian S ym b o lism , J. W. B outon, N ew Y ork 1884.
3 H. B a y l e y , T he Lost L anguage ol Sym bolism ; A n In q u iry in to th e O rigins ol C ertain L etters, W ords, N am es, F airy-Tales, F olklore, and M yth o lo g ie s, B arnes a n d N o b le, Inc., N ew Y ork 1951 (first p u b lish ed 1912).
4 T h e N e w T e sta m e n t ol O ur Lord and S a vid u r Je su s C hrist, T h e G ideons In te r n atio n al, London 1956, p. 33, 34 (St. M atth ew , ch. 13; 11, 13).
alleg o ry which saw in actual (historical) or realistic and real e v e n ts — ty p es and figu res of other situ ations, phenom ena and p erson s. It has b een v a rio u sly called „ allegory of th eo lo g ia n s”, „ allego ry of h isto rians” or „ alleg ory of history".
T he H ellen istic tradition g a v e rise to p erson ification a lleg o ry based on interpreting the literal in term s of abstractions; it is often referred to as „alleg o ry of poets" or „alleg o ry of love" .
Personification a lleg o ry had its b eginn in g in the a lleg o re sis of ancient m yths. A ccord ing to Stephen Barney, „the first a llego rist w ould b e th e man w ho respected the Old Gods, but turned m ytograp h y into fiction "5. E xactly the sam e exp lan ation is offered by Roger Hinks:
W h en th e e la b o ra tio n of c ritic a l s ta n d a rd s h a d m ad e it im possible fo r e d u c a te d m inds to a ccep t a m y th ical sta te m e n t as lite ra lly true, o p in io n w as d iv id ed as ta w h e th e r the leg en d s of th e gods an d heroeis w ere to b e dism issed as m ere fables, or w e re to be in te rp re te d as fig u ra tiv e re p re se n ta tio n s of re a lity . E picurean d o ctrin e d ecid ed far th e form er, or scep tical a ttitu d e ; Stoicism p re fe rre d the la tte r, or m oralizing in te rp re ta tio n 6.
A m ong th ose w ho practiced a llegorizin g interp retation w as the Greek T h eo g en es of Rhegium w ho, as e a r ly as the 6th century В. C., a llegorized Homer. V irgil's Eneid, too, w as interpreted as a moral a lleg o ry by M acrobius and F ulgentius. A ristotle resorted to a lle g o resis at tim es, e v e n though he ridiculed its extrem ities. Both the Sophists a\nd the C yn ics m ade use of it, but the S toics g a v e a lleg o re sis its important status and d evelop ed it con siderab ly.
It w as from the H ellen istic tradition that A lexan d rian a lleg o ry took its beginn in g. In the first century B. C. Philo Judaeus, an A lexan d rian philosopher, com bined the J ew ish g n o sis w ith the Platonic, Stoic idea of God as an absolute, in order to exp o u n d h is v ie w s o f morals.
O rigen follow ed both Philo and St. Paul w ho used figurai a lleg o ry as a w a y o f relating the Old to the N e w T estam ent. O rigen b elieved that Scripture should not be interpreted in the literal, corporeal sense, w h en ev er it contained th ings unw orth y of God.
R. P. C. H anson argues in A l le g o r y and Event that the A lexandrian sch ool ex e r c ise d little in flu en ce on C hristian a lleg o ry w hich had its sou rces in P alestin e7. H is argum entation, h o w ever, d o es not seem v ery
5 S. A. B a r n e y , A lleg o ries oi H isto ry, A lle g o rie s oi Love, A rchon Books, H am den, C o n n e c tic u t 1979, p. 39.
6 R. H i n k s , M y th an d A lle g o r y in A n c ie n t A rt, T h e W a rb u rg In stitu te, Lon don 1939, p. 3.
7 Cf. R. P. C. H a n s o n , D. D., A lle g o r y and E vent; A S tu d y in th e Sources and S ig n ifica n ce oi O rigen's In terp reta tio n oi Scripture, London 1959,
con vin cin g sin ce O rigen w ho certain ly follow ed the tea ch in g s of the sch ool, w as o n e of the f.rst Fathers of the Church. A s a m atter of fact different traditions had geog ra p h ica lly different areas of influence w ithin the C hristian Church: the G reek East preferred A lexandrian Platonist p erson ification a llegory, w h ile the Latin W est em p h asized figurai allegory , but both typ es of a lleg o ry w e re practised: the Rabbi nic w ritin gs shaped C hristian ty p o lo g y (with the d iffer en ce that C hristian ty p o lo g y w as fulfilled), the H ellen istic a lleg o re sis provided a ju stification for reading pagan great w orks in Christian, moral te r m s - and led to p erson ification a llegory.
Both ty p o lo g y and p erson ification a lleg o ry w ere soon sy n th esised in a sy stem of interpretation: T ertulian ’s figurai a lleg o ry serv ed John C assian as tw o sen ses (alleg orical and an agogical) of h is fourfold sch em e and w ere com bined w ith th e trop ological or moral sen se based on th e tradition of p erson ification allegory, as w ell as w ith the literal sen se. C assian's sch em e corresp on ds w ith the cla ssifica tio n of the o n ce popular Latin m nem onic:
L itlera g e sta docet, Q uid credis alleg o ria, M oralis qu id agas, Q u id te n d a s anagogia.
St. T hom as g a v e the fourfold sch em e a m ore unified form by basing it e x c lu s iv e ly on figurai interpretation. Of som e other Latin Church Fathers, Jerom e opted for the threefold sch em e (literal-tropologicai- -m ystical) like that of O rigen, but St. A u gu stin e ch ose the fourfold d ivision; he interpreted the Old T estam ent according to history, a etio lo g y , an alogy, and allegory, and d istin gu ish ed four ty p es o f allegory: of history, of facts, of d iscou rse, of rites.
In the e a r ly period of sch olasticism the q u estion o f u n iversa l sy m bolism w as of utm ost im portance. For St. A u gu stin e all created th ings w ere quasi iig u ia e dem onstrating the w isd om of God. St. Thom as A quinas p resented his v ie w s of u niversal sym ob lism in che Summa
Theologiae.
\ St. A u gu stine, H ugh of St. V ictor, St. A lbert the Great, Peter of
Poitiers and St. T hom as A q u in as m ay h ave d iffered about the c la ssi fication o f signs and sym bols, all of them , h o w ev e r, b eliev ed that m aterial th ings reflected the spiritual w orld.
T w o basic kinds of sym bolism w ere d istin gu ish ed : sym b olism of nature w h ich treated the w orld as a b ook offerin g its m eanin gs to careful readers, and ty p o lo g y w h ich em braced the sign ifica tio n s of H oly Scr'pture. St. A u gu stin e started the p rocess of u n ifyin g the
\
sy stem and H ugh of St. V ictor com pleted it by m aking the historical sym b olism of Scripture a part of u n iversal sym bolism .
T he ideas of the thinkers p rovided a background for the e x e g e s is of H oly Scripture in the first place, en ab led C hristians to read as a lleg o ries O vid's M e ta m o r p h o se s, w orks of H om er, V irgil's Eneid and, in th e cou rse of time, to a llegorize v irtu a lly any text. In the later M iddle A g e s a lleg o re sis often led to e x c e ss; unrestrained allegorizers offered interpretations am azin gly different from th e'liter a l m eanings of the texts th ey com m ented on . For ex a m p le a friv olou s n arrative of an unfaithful lo v er could be exp la in ed in terms o f a biblical situation. A lm o st e v e r y ob ject and e v e r y w ord of a text w ere m ade to m ean s o m ething on the m etaphorical lev el. In the g osp el account of Christ on the sea of G alilee, d ifferen t kinds of tim ber used in building the ship could b e see n to stand for abstract q u alities such as hnm ilitas in th e ca se of the cyp ress. F. W . D illisto n e n otes that in the 12th and th e 13th cen tu ries
a lleg o rical in te rp re ta tio n s g ain ed th e g re a te s t p o p u la rity of all. A lleg o ry could also be n se d to bu ild u p ed ify in g serm o n s an d poem s an d play s. From th e re la tiv e sim p licity qf th e e a r ly M id d le A ges w e go fo rw a rd to a p erio d in w hich an in tric a te m aze of a lle g o ric a l c o rresp o n d en ces ta k e s sh ap e, th o u g h th e a ttem p t is c o n stan tly m ade to ho ld th e m any d e ta ile d co n ceits w ith in th e one cosm ic sto ry of C reatio n , Fall, an d R edem ption. By th e sk illfu l u se of a lle g o ry alm ost a n y d etails in th e books of N a tu re a n d of Scriptture could b e in te rp re te d a s ele m e n ta l sy m b o ls of th e one m ajestic d iv in e o rg an ic life’.
M ed ieva l cu ltu re is som etim es describ ed as in ten sely b ookish and clerkish sin c e it w as marked b y fascin ation w ith the m agic of la n gu age w h ich led to loo k in g for d eep er and d eep er m ean'n gs of w ords and con centratin g on them as reflection s of w hat m ed ieval p hilosop hers thought v e r y real — the e sse n c e of all — the yn iv ersals.
Scholars' a lleg o re sis dom inated the M iddle A ges, but a lleg o ry w as also w ritten in that period. Even earlier, in the cla ssica l period, it w as em p loy ed by w riters o ccasio n ally, as w h en th ey turned to it to satirize particular p eop le or e v e n ts or w h en th ey w anted to sh ow certain q u alities in con crete shapes. A ristoph an es (in Birds and
Clouds), A esop , O vid (the d escrip tion of the P alace o f Sun and the
H o u se of Fam e in th e M eta m o rp h o se s) provide exam p les. H o w ev er, it w as a C hristian writer, Prudentius, w h o w as the first to u se a lleg o ry as a central organizing con cept o f his narrative. H ;s P sych om ach ia (c. 405) attained the fu llest e x p re ssio n of ea rly Christian a lleg o ry in
8 F. W. D i l l i s t o n e , T raditional S y m b o ls and the C o n tem p o ra ry W o rld , E pw orth Press, London 1973, p. 51.
th e H ellen stic tradition. It p resented p erson ified v irtu es and v ic e s en g aged in com bat in the field of the human p sych e.
A host of p erson ification a lleg o ries follow ed P sychom ach ia through out the Christian w orld. In England B oethius's De C o n s o la tio a e
Philosophiae w h ich contained p erson ification s o f abstract n otion s w as
translated into E nglish by King A elfred in the 9th century and had a great influence on A n glo-S axon minds.
Ernest A. Baker sa y s that „In the d isp osition to se e th e m oral side of e v e ry th in g , inherited from A n glo-S axon forefathers, the alleg ory found a con gen ial soil. O nce im planted, it flourished am azingly"9. And, indeed, English m ed iev al literature abounds in popular ta les reinterpreted a lleg o rica lly for didactic purposes, w hich, togeth er w ith fables, legen d s, oriental tales and H oly Scripture, g a v e rise to num erous m oral d ictionaries, sum m ae, sp ecu la — mirrors reflectin g ideals and other co llec tio n s of mo,ral w ritin gs. O ne of the best k now n ex a m p les of moral tales w as th e com pilation G e sta R om anorum of the 14th century (written, lik e m any other w orks of th o se times, first in Latin, and then translated into English, in the reign of H enry VI). A part from moral tales, exem p la, there w ere also b estiaries w hich could be used for m oral teaching. B estiaries w ere e s p e c ia lly u seful in satirizing human v ic e s and fo llie s through sto ries about beasts; th ey continued the tradition of the classical beast-<fable of A esop and
Phaedrus.
S tories from th e Bible, w h ich had a p aten tly a lleg o rica l character w e re used e x te n s iv e ly b y preachers and m ade v e r y popular b y fre quent repetitions. R ecorded v isio n s of th e other w orld, in itia lly und erstood literally, soon gained favour w ith allegorizers. Such v isio n s flourished in the M iddle A g es and they, no doubt, contributed to the d ev elo p m en t of the form of the m ed ieval allegory, w h ich m ore often than not had the fram ew ork o f a dream (or) v isio n . In his classifica tio n of m edieval a lleg o ries accord in g to their structures, W infried T h eiss p laces the dream v isio n a lleg o ry in th e first p lace of th e four c a te g o r y h e d istin g u ish es and w h ich are:
1. D ie Traum vision, 2. Der Spaziergang,
3. A lleg o risc h e G öttergespräche, 4. T iera lleg o rien 10.
9 E. B a k e r , The H isto ry of th e English N o v e l, The A g e o l Rom ance; from the B eginnings to the R enaissance, H. F. an d G. W ith e rb y 1924, p. 265.
10 Cf. W . T h e i s s , E xem plarische A lle g o rik , W ilhelm Fink V erlag , M ü n ch en I960.
The dream v isio n fram ew ork and p erson ification becam e the h all m arks of m ed ieval allegory. T h ese d istin ctiv e featu res determ in ed th e character of Piers Plowman, the im portant a llego rica l w ork w ritten in the 14th century probably by W illiam Langland. The narrator of
Piers P low m an se e s in his v isio n a „fair field full of folk" w h ich is
to sym b o lize ea rth ly life. He also se e s variou s ob jects, p la ces and p erson s that stand for abstract n otion s and spiritual v alu es. P erson i fication s of abstract ons, often v er y vivid and su rp risin gly p h ysica l such as Lady M eed, R eason, C o n scien ce, D o-w ell, Do-bet, and D o -test, are related to the search for truth and the good life. Piers Plow m an h im self (associated also w ith Christ) is seen as a gu id e for th ose w ho see k high m oral standards.
C haucer s The B oke oi the D uch esse (1369) also u ses the co n v e n tional d e v ic e of the dream vision . T he p oet se e s in a dream a knight d esp airing after the lo ss of his lady. The d e v ic e m akes it p o ssib le for the p oet to tell the story of The Parlem en t o l Foules (1372__1386) in w hich birds m eet on St. V alen tin e's d a y to ch o o se their m ales. N atu re listen s to their d eb ates and m akes d ecisio n s for them.
A lo v e v isio n b ecom es the structural p rinciple of tw o p oem s w ith a cou rtly lo v e m otif: The Flower and the Lea! and The A s s e m b l y ot
Ladies oi uncertain authorship w ere w ritten in the 14th century w hen
lo v e -v isio n p o etry e n jo y e d the peak of its popularity.
Som e critics also includ e m ed ieval rom ances in th e ca teg o ry of allegorical w riting alth ough not w ith ou t d oubts and reserv atio n s. Ja m es J. W im satt, for exam p le, the author of A l l e g o r y and M irror is w ell aw are that „one m ight o b ject that allegorical m eanin gs are not expire ited ly assign ed to the rom ances by the w riters. This is in qe- neral true, though sp ecific a llegorization s w ere not unknow n in the rom ances, as w hen the herm it in the M o rte Darthur interprets for G aw ain one of his recen t ad ven tu res" ». W im satt b e lie v e s that, in spite o f the lack of a llegorical m eanin gs assign ed by the w riter, o n e is en titled to interpret the rom ances as p erson ification a lleg o ry bv inding universal applications for their stories. It certain ly is p ossib le to find a llego rical su ggestio n s in the 15th century adaptations of Arthurian legen d s, M o rte Darthur by M alory esp ec ia lly , b eca u se of th e p resen ce o f certain m otifs (e. g. the quest m otif), character d raw ing lim ited to significant features, and moral im plications
A n y r e v ie w of m ed ieval a lleg o ry has to include m orality p lays w hich often com bine p erson ification s of abstractions w ith u n iversalized
F n n u j ' r , W, i m S t U ' A Ile g o r y an d M in o r ' Tradition and S tru ctu re in M iddle English L iterature, W e s te r n P u b lish in g C om pany, Inc., N ew Y ork 1970, p. 2Г9
hum an typ es as in The C a stle ol P e rs e v e r a n c e (c. 1400) and E v e ry m a n (15th cent.), The Pride ol L y le (c. 1400) and num erous other plays.
A lleg o ry p erm eated m ost literature w ritten in the M id d le A g es and it seem ed to be a natural w a y of thinking in that period; it attained its peak of p opu larity in the 12th and the 13th centuries. But e x c e s s iv e allegorizin g m ade the m ethod appear pedantic and e v e n rid icu lou s and, as a result, a lleg o re sis lo st m uch o f its appeal e s p e cia lly w here it d ep en ded o n th e d etailed an aly sis of b ib lical and other religiou s texts ascrib in g o ften arbitrary m eanin gs to them. N o w onder that Reform ers rejected the m ethod of interpretation and in sisted on the v a lid ity of Scripture in its literal le v e l.
T he ch an ge of attitude to a lleg o re sis, and co n seq u en tly to allego ry, d uring the R enaissan ce w as d u e to other ca u ses as w ell. O n e such im portant cau se w as a ch an ge in the m ethod o f reasonin g. The M iddle A g e s thinkers b eliev ed in a n a logy as a p rinciple ordering reality: things and phenom ena w e re arranged in a h ierarchy o f im portance w ithin related groups and had e q u iv a le n ts on th e sam e le v e ls in other groups thus creating a chain of being binding togeth er different ideas, ob jects, and ev e n ts.
Such ordering of the w orld continued to b e valid also in th e R enaissance, but grad u ally it g a v e w a y to a n ew w a y o f thinking based o n the in d u ctiv e lo g ic of Francis Bacon. A n a lo g y w h ich w as th e basis of m y th o lo g y and sym bolism , and of a lleg o ry in the M iddle A ges, cam e to be replaced by th e n ew W estern m ode of thought — the in d u ctive m ethod. A n a lo g y , no longer con sid ered scieartific, w as discarded. S cien ce began to e v o lv e to w a rd s, sp ecia lization and d iffe rentiation disregarding the w ider con tex t of u n iv erse and u niversal k n o w led g e. In The Traditional S y m b o ls and the C o n te m p o r a r y W o r l d F. W. D illiston e supports the v ie w that on e of the reason s w h y m ed ieval a lleg o ry d eclin ed w as that the then sy stem o f sym b olic corresp on d en ces becam e in ad eq u ate after the e x p lo sio n of scien ce w h ich follo w ed geograp h ical d isc o v erie s. A nother reason for the d eclin e g iv en by D illston e w as „the gradual shift a w a y from the Platonic fram ew ork w ith in w h ich it w as set" « . The p rocess started in the R en aissan ce has led, accord in g to D illstone, to the replacem en t of th e C hristian system o f sym b ols by the scien tific Sym bolism w e h a v e tod ay. A sim ilar v ie w is e x p re ssed b y S. T. Cargill, w h en h e sa ys:
W ith th e m en tal re v o lu tio n u su a lly d e sc rib e d as th e R en aissan ce, in d u c tiv e m ethods of re a so n in g becam e m o re p opular, b u t it w as n o t u n til th e p h ilo so p h ic a c tiv ity of
th e e ig h te e n th c e n tu ry an d th e in d u s tria l re v o lu tio n of th e e a rly p a rt of the n in e te e n th had m a d e th e ir m ark on th e w o rld th a t in d u c tiv e scien ce m a d e s trid e s13.
T he ch an ge b egan in the R enaissan ce and has continued to d eep en until m odern tim es. It had to affect a llego ry, but the p rocess w as slow ; m ed ieval allegorical m ethod lingered on although n ew ten d en cies m arked th e period of th e R enaissan ce, and n ew a lleg o ries w e re w ritten. If o n e accep ts the fact o f ch an ge in the character o f a lleg o ry , it w ill b e d ifficu lt to su bscribe to the op in ion that the gen re not o n ly lost its im portance w ith the end of the M iddle A g es, but also cam e to an end. The truth is that R enaissan ce a llego ry w as different, but no less important. During th e R en aissan ce a lleg o ry w a s sim plified: its three n on-literal se n se s (allegorical, trop ological, and an agogical) b ecam e o n e — a llegorica l. This has to be a ssociated w ith th e fact that m ost a lleg o ries w ritten in the period used moral p erson ification s. U nlike m ed iev a l p o ets w ho w rote lik e an a ly tica l scholars about m oral con cepts e x c lu siv e ly , R enaissan ce p oets took m ore interest in m oral attitudes« and, co n seq u en tly, in p sy c h o lo g y . A n oth er reason w h y p erson ification allegory" (as opposed to figurai) dom inated in that period w as th e in terest taken in great classical literature and its cla ssica l a lleg o resis. A lleg o riza tio n of H om er and O vid inspired R en aissan ce m en w ith a n ew en th u siasm for a lle g o r ic a l interp retation s of cla ssical w orks. T hey w ere also interested in E gyptian d ocu m en ts and thrilled by the m y steries of h ieroglyp h ic writing, w h ich appealed to their sen se of the p resen ce of hidden truths in v e ile d utteran ces. It w as also for th e se rea so n s that m y th o lo g y had a great appeal for them: there w ere m any a llegorizatio n s (by Francis Bacon, for exam ple) o f cla ssica l m y th o lo g y . M y th o lo g y b ecam e so „dom esticated" that it serv ed as a co n ven tion a l field of referen ce for w riters, p oets, and thinkers. M y th o lo g ica l situ a tio n s, and characters carne to be u sed particularly freq u en tly by alle- gorists.
Jam es H ow ell g a v e to his a lleg o ry a title w ritten partly in G reek and called it: AevdqoXoyia, Dodona's G ro v e , or the V o ca ll Forest (1650). The author sa y s in „The Author's A p logia T ouching this A llegory" that he „hath under h ieroglyp hics, a lleg o ries and em blem s endeavour'd to d iversifie and enrich th e matter, to em broder it up and d ow n w ith A p ologos, E ssays, Parables and other flourishes; for w e find this to be tne an cien t'st and m ost in gen ou s w a y of d eliv erin g truth, and transm itting to p osterity"14.
13 S. T. C a r g i l l , T h e P h ilo so p h y o f A n a lo g y and S y m b o lism , R ider an d Com p an y , London [Î] p. 21.
14 [Jam es H ow ell], Aevôçoloyia, D odona's G rove, or the V o c a ll Forest, London 1650, p. 8.
C lassical referen ces can be also found in the w orks by Stephen H aw es, who is the author of The P a s s e ty m e o i Pleasure, or H isto r y
oi Graunde A m o u r e and la Bel Pucel (1509) and E xam ple of V irtu e
(1512), tw o rom an ce-allegories. The Passtim e oi Pleasu re sh o w s th e d ev elo p m en t of an ideal knight; the spiritual p ro cess is reflected by the knight's e x p e r ie n c e of variou s p erson a ges and p laces. A m ong the p laces he v isits are the T ow er of M ars and the T em ple of V enus, w h ose allegorical sign ifican ce d eriv es from the p osition s of th e god and the g o d d ess in classical m yth ology. In an article on the rom ance John M. King rem arks that „This stran g ely p erp lexin g p oem captures th e m om ent of transition to a n ew R enaissan ce m ode o f allegorical patterning"15, based, according to him, on em b lem atic p agean t a llego ry.
Both „em blem atic p agean t allegory" and cla ssica l a llu sio n s con tri bute to the character of The Faerie Q u e e n e (1589, 1596) b y Edmund S penser although its dom inant featu res d e r iv e from th e th em es of the A rthurian rom ances. This great R enaissan ce a lleg o ry (of six b ooks and a fragm ent of a seventh) resem b les the poem b y H a w es also b eca u se it d ea ls w ith ch ivalric d eed s and ad ven tu res. In the first b ook of The Faerie Q u ee n e , for exam p le, th e Red C ross K night of H o lin ess (rep resentin g the A n glica n Church) d efen d s V irgin Una, w ho stands for the true (A nglican) religion and he has to op p ose A rch i m ago and D u essa (sign ifyin g the C atholic Church). B ook T w o te lls o f w h at b efell K night G uyon — th e Knight of T em perance.
P erson ification s of m oral id eas and attitudes are m ixed in the p oem w ith characters a ssociated w ith e v e n ts and p eop le of th e p oet's d ay (e.g. Q u een Elizabeth represented by Gloriana, the Faerie Q ueen e, Belphoebe, and M ercilla). The topical referen ces m ay h a v e b een w ell understood b y Spenser's Contem poraries, but th ey are o ften obscure or in a ccessib le to m odern readers.
An im portant feature o f The Faerie Q u e e n e (to be found also in other R enaissan ce w ritings) d e r iv e s from the p resen ce o f num erous p a ssa g es in w hich a lleg o ry seem s to be put asid e and Spenser lets him self b e carried aw ay b y the b ea u ty of th e sce n e he d escrib es, by his d elig h t in th e m agic of langu age, or by hum an interest. A lth ou gh S penser allow s m ore room for th e d eta ils of th e „surface" story and alth ough characters in the poem strike the reader as m uch more real and p sy ch o lo g ic a lly interesting than th ose of n early bare m edieval a lleg o ries, still, in tellect con trols im agination in The Faerie Q u e e n e
11 J. N. K i n g, „ A lleg o rical P a tte rn in S tep h en H aw es’s T h e Paistime of P le a s u re", S tu d ie s in the Literary Im agination, G eorgia S tate U n iv ersity . A tla n ta Ga vol XI, N o 1, pp. 57— 68.
and the p oem w ith its la y ers of m eanin gs indeed rem ains a „dark conceit".
A n a ltogeth er different kind of „conceit" than that of The Faerie
O u e e n e o rg a n izes th e structure of M other H ubberd's Tale (1590)
w hich is a b east fable w h o se m ain characters are an ape and a fox. D isgu ised as p eop le, th ey b eh a v e in a m ost disrep utable w a y thus com prom ising solidiers, parish priests, courtiers etc. Through this d ou ble d isgu ise of p eop le as beasts, w h o in turn are p eop le, Spenser sa
tirized the court and the Church of his times.
Ben Jon son's com ed y C yn thia's R e v e ls (1601) con tain s topical a lle g o ry w hich also rid icu les som e ty p es of p eop le at the court of Q ueen
Elizabeth (Cynthia). So d o es his p lay The S taple o l N e w s (1625)
d ealin g w ith the e v ils of his age exem p lified by the characters of Lady Pecunia (riches) and P en n y b o y (a spendthrift). Ben Jon son also w rote q u ite a num ber of m asq u es in w h ich a lleg o ry p lays a co n si derab le role.
A h ost of lesser know n w riters produced a lleg o ries such as „ A lle go ry o f H is Love to a Sh p" (1602) by Francis D avison and the satirical „A b u ses Stript and W hipt" (1613) by' G eorge W hiter, w hich influenced the gen eral character of a llegorica l w riting of the period.
M orality p lays continued to be w ritten and acted: W y t and Scien ce (c. 1545) by John Redford; The M arria g e ol W it and W is d o m (1579),
A ll for M o n e y (prod. 1578) by T. Lupton and The Conflict of C o n sc ie n c e
(prod. 1581) by N ath an iell W oo d es m ay ser v e as ex a m p les of w hat w as produced in large quan tities in that tim e.
M uch of R enaissan ce writing, although not strictly allegorical, can b e related to the gen re. T he e x is te n c e of w orks such as Sir Philip Sidney's series of lo v e son n ets A s tr o p h e l and Stella (publ. 1591) which con tain alleg o rica l elem en ts, as w e ll as the often stron gly marked
p resen ce of allegorical elem en t (which, h o w ever, did not becom e
a con trollin g princ ple) in the poem s and dram as of W illiam S h a k es p eare (notably in The T em p e st, 1611) reflect the R enaissan ce ten d en cy to d ilu te a lleg o ry in a literary work.
A s can b e see n from this short re v ie w , R enaissan ce a llegory served different purposes. O ften it satirized or glorified real p eo p le and, as Jash'ua M cC len nen says, „it is clear that a lleg o ries w ith a co n tem porary referen ce w ere a real part of literature o f the tim e"16. S o m e times a lleg o ry hid p erson al reflection s, and em otional states. A t other tim es it p resen ted h om iletic m oralizing and relig iou s instructions or p resented moral and philosop hical problem s. A s a rule the a lleg o ries
16 J. M c C l e n n e n , „O n th e M eaning a n d F u n ctio n of A lleg o ry in th e English R en a issa n c e ”, C o n trib u tio n s in M odern P hilology, N o 6, A pril 1947, p. 21.
tended to' be élab ora té and obscure, w hich resulted from the b elief that th e ancients, w ho w ere to b e in stated , had used a thick v e il of a lleg o ry to hide the truth from the profane. M ed iev al a lleg o ries w e re m ore transparent than th o se of the R enaissance, if on ly b eca u se th ey used nam es id en tifyin g n otion s represented. R en aissan ce a lle g o rica l characters a lso had n am es su g g estiv e of their qualities, but often in a le ss d irect w a y (e.q. w h en nam es of god s of th e anc en ts
w ere used). B esides, a lleg o ries of that period tended to be more
d ev elo p ed on the „literal" le v e l and that could m ake the reader doubtful of w h at w as and w hat w as not to b e interpreted in a „double w ay".
R en aissan ce in tellectu a ls often identified a lleg o ry w ith p oetry since both had som e d eep er truth to c o n v e y through their surface tex ts, and thanks to this approach it w as v alu ed v e r y h igh ly. O n the other hand, h o w ev er, it ceased to be a w a y of com prehending reality, w hich it had been in the M iddle A ges, and, instead, it cam e to be regarded as a (valuable, no doubt) d ev ice, a „conceit", av „dark veil" and an em b ellish m en t. The ch an ge in the attitude to a lleg o ry m ak es Paul Piehler infer that „ A llegory as a seriou s gen re w aned in th e fifteen th
century [...] By the sev e n teen th century, a m ore strictly analytic
approach to the phenom enal w orld made allegorizin g seem trivial"17. It w as alm ost e x c lu s iv e ly m oral p erson ification a lleg o ry that w as w ritten during the R enaissan ce and figurai or ty p o lo g ica l a lleg o ry p layed a rather insiq n ificant role in that period, all th e m ore so since a lle g o r e sis of the Bible found strong op position am ong the Reform ers.
Puritans of the 17th century also refu sed to favour m àn-created sym b ols and arbitrary a lleg o resis, but th ey w e re not h o stile to the sym bolism , w hich, accord in g to them , ex iste d in the w orld created b y God, and th ey en d eav o u red to reco g n ize and p rop erly understand the sig n s of that sym bolism . This fact, com bined w ith their interest in the individual fate, led to linking the th eory of p red estin ation w ith the individual Tfe, w hich, in the w ords o f W illiam H aller, th e author of Th e Rise ol Puritanism, „allow ed th e pulpit to m ake u se of trope, sim ilie and m etaphor, of m yth, a lleg o ry , fable and parable"18. A lth ou gh the Puritans criticized the allegorization of the Scriptures, the tradi
tions of pulpit preaching changed but little in the 17th century. T he Pu ritan attitude to alleg o ry was, in fact, am b ivalen t and paradoxical. T h e re w ere num erous serm ons, tracts and treatises w h ich m ade u se of alleg o ry .
17 P. P i e h l e r , The V isio n a ry Landscape: A S tu d y in M e d ie v a l A lle g o ry , Ed w ard A rn o ld Ltd., London 1971, p. 9.
18 W . H a l l e r , The Rise ol P uritanism , C olum bia U n iv e rs ity Press, N e w Y ork 1957, p. m
Tli© dom inan t m otifs of Puritan a lleg o ry w ere those of a journey,
or of a battle; som etim es th e y centred upon an a lleg orical city,
a castle, or a garden. T he m otifs and th em es are su g g ested by the 'very titles of num erous Puritan tracts such as: A Garden ol Spiritual
F low e rs (1609) by Richard G reenham , or The Christian W a rfa re (1604)
by John D ow nam e.
Som e of the m ost freq uently recurring Puritan them es appear in th e im portant a lleg o ries by John Bunyan. The Pilgrim's Progress
from This W o r l d to That W h ic h Is to C om e (publ. 1678) by Bunyan
is a m ilesto n e in the d ev elo p m en t of a lleg o ry in England, but also h is Th e Liie and Death of Mr. Badman (1680) and The H o ly W a r (1682) m ad e their mark on the h isto ry of the gen re. The H o ly W a r is struc tured around th e b attle m otif and The Pilgrim's P rogress cen tres on the jou rn ey motif.
The Pilgrim's P ro g ress is w ritten in prose form and in a sim ple,
often h o m ely lan gu age, it te lls th e story of C hristian's p ilgrim age from the C ity of D estru ction (the ea rth ly life) to the C elestial C ity (heaven), during w h ich h e v isits p laces such as the V a lle y of H um i liation, the V a lle y of the Shadow of Death, V an ity Fair and Doubting C astle, and en cou n ters num erous p erson ages, for exam p le, Faithful, H opeful, and Mr W ord ly-W isem an . The d ia lo g u es, w hich occup y a con sid era b le part o f th e w ork, a lso appeal to the reader as v ery direct and u npretentious. Bunyan ow ed the d ir ectn ess and clarity of h is m e ssa g e as w e ll as m any o f h is con cep ts to the Bible w hich w as his inspiration. H is a llegory, lik e m ost other Puritan m oral writing d iffered strik in gly from th e „fancy" a lle g o r y of Spenser. In spite of its spiritual m essage, The Pilgrim's P rogress con tain s realistic d etail and its characters often h a v e d istin ct ind ividu al features. T h ese facts, to g eth er w ith th e p resentation of typ es and abstract n otion s being p erson ified bring Bunyan's a lleg o ry fairly c lo se to the basic structure of th e n o v el w h ich has featu res related to Puritan „ordinariness’ and ind ividu ality.
Of th e sam e century as Bunyan, but of a different character and creed, w as John D ryden, w h o se v er se a lleg o ries set the ton e for on e of th e tw o dom inant v a rieties of allegory of the greater part' of the n e x t century — th e A ugustan A g e and the A ge of Doctor Johnson. T he satirical poem by D ryden A b s a lo m and A c h ito p h e l (1681) d eals w ith a p olitical issu e o f his tim e and through the biblical p erson ag es it p resen ts the p oet's contem poraries: A bsalom is th e Duke of M on mouth, A ch itop h el stands for Lord Shaftsbury and the third im portant character Zimri represents the Duke of Buckingham. A lso The Hind
