1. Symbolism and Allegory
Feature Menu
What Is a Symbol?
Where Do We Get Symbols?
Symbols in Literature
Allegory
Practice Part A
Practice Part B

2. What Is a Symbol?
A symbol is an ordinary object, event, person, or animal to which we have attached a special meaning.
[End of Section]

3. Where Do We Get Symbols? Public symbols
have been inherited, or handed down over time
are widely known
show up in art and literature
Note

4. Where Do We Get Symbols?
What does each of these symbols stand for? Why do you think they have taken on the meanings they have?
justice
love
luck

5. Where Do We Get Symbols? Invented symbols
come about when writers make a character, object, or event stand for some human concern
sometimes become well known and gain the status of public symbol
[End of Section]

6. Symbols in Literature Writers use symbols to
suggest layers of meaning that a simple, literal statement could never convey
speak more powerfully to the reader’s emotions and imagination
make their stories rich and memorable

7. Symbols in Literature Quick Check
What might the cake symbolize in this passage?
The most prominent object was a long table with a tablecloth spread on it An épergne or centrepiece of some kind was in the middle of this cloth; it was so heavily overhung with cobwebs that its form was quite undistinguishable; I saw speckled-legged spiders with blotchy bodies running home to it, and running out from it
“What do you think that is?” she asked me, again pointing with her stick; “that, where those cobwebs are?” . . .
“It’s a great cake. A bride-cake. Mine!”
from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
What is your emotional response to the description of the cake?
[End of Section]

8. Symbols in Literature Quick Check
What might the cake symbolize in this passage?
The most prominent object was a long table with a tablecloth spread on it An épergne or centrepiece of some kind was in the middle of this cloth; it was so heavily overhung with cobwebs that its form was quite undistinguishable; I saw speckled-legged spiders with blotchy bodies running home to it, and running out from it
“What do you think that is?” she asked me, again pointing with her stick; “that, where those cobwebs are?” . . .
“It’s a great cake. A bride-cake. Mine!”
from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
lost love, disappointment, holding on to the past

9. Symbols in Literature Quick Check
What is your emotional response to the description of the cake?
The most prominent object was a long table with a tablecloth spread on it An épergne or centrepiece of some kind was in the middle of this cloth; it was so heavily overhung with cobwebs that its form was quite undistinguishable; I saw speckled-legged spiders with blotchy bodies running home to it, and running out from it
“What do you think that is?” she asked me, again pointing with her stick; “that, where those cobwebs are?” . . .
“It’s a great cake. A bride-cake. Mine!”
from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
It gives me the creeps. It makes me feel sorry for the woman.

10. Allegory
Allegory—a story in which characters, setting, and actions stand for something beyond themselves, such as
abstract ideas
moral qualities
historical figures or events

11. Allegory Allegories can be read on two levels: literal and symbolic
are often intended to teach a moral lesson or make a comment about goodness and vice

12. Allegory
Characters and places in allegories often have names that reveal their symbolic significance:
Characters
Places
Death
Vanity
Good Deeds
Ignorance
Celestial City
Vanity Fair
Hill of Difficulty
Valley of Fear

13. Allegory
Quick Check
What do you think Everyman, the main character of the allegory, stands for?
One day, Everyman is summoned by Death to give an accounting of his life. Everyman ask his friends Fellowship, Beauty, Strength, and Good Deeds to go with him to tell Death that he has led a good life. Only Good Deeds stays with him to the end.
—summary of “Everyman”
What comment about fellowship, beauty, and strength does this allegory make?
[End of Section]

14. Allegory
Quick Check
What do you think Everyman, the main character of the allegory, stands for?
One day, Everyman is summoned by Death to give an accounting of his life. Everyman ask his friends Fellowship, Beauty, Strength, and Good Deeds to go with him to tell Death that he has led a good life. Only Good Deeds stays with him to the end.
—summary of “Everyman”
Everyman stands for every man (or woman).

15. Allegory
Quick Check
What comment about fellowship, beauty, and strength does this allegory make?
One day, Everyman is summoned by Death to give an accounting of his life. Everyman ask his friends Fellowship, Beauty, Strength, and Good Deeds to go with him to tell Death that he has led a good life. Only Good Deeds stays with him to the end.
—summary of “Everyman”
Fellowship, beauty, and strength are fleeting—they don’t stay with you to the end.

16. Allegory
Quick Check
On a symbolic level, what does it mean that only Good Deeds stays with Everyman to the end?
One day, Everyman is summoned by Death to give an accounting of his life. Everyman ask his friends Fellowship, Beauty, Strength, and Good Deeds to go with him to tell Death that he has led a good life. Only Good Deeds stays with him to the end.
—summary of “Everyman”

17. Allegory
Quick Check
On a symbolic level, what does it mean that only Good Deeds stays with Everyman to the end?
One day, Everyman is summoned by Death to give an accounting of his life. Everyman ask his friends Fellowship, Beauty, Strength, and Good Deeds to go with him to tell Death that he has led a good life. Only Good Deeds stays with him to the end.
—summary of “Everyman”
A person’s good deeds will indicate whether he or she has led a good life.

18. Practice
A. Think about the great number of symbols we’re surrounded by in everyday life. For starters, identify what the items below stand for. Then, see if you can explain the basis for the symbol—why is this symbol appropriate for what it stands for?
A snake
An eagle
Spring
An owl
A white flag
[End of Section]

19. Practice
B. Here is a brief poem that works on two levels: a literal level and a symbolic level. A fen is a swampy place. What does the fen symbolize in this poem?
I May, I Might, I Must
If you will tell me why the fen
appears impassable, I then
will tell you why I think that I
can get across it if I try.
—Marianne Moore
[End of Section]

20. The End

21. Where Do We Get Symbols? Note
Different cultures may attach different meanings to some symbols.
For example, the symbolic meanings of colors are not universal.

22. Allegory Literal meaning the story that takes place on the surface
uses interesting characters and plot to hold the reader’s attention
Symbolic, or allegorical, meaning
the story that takes place beneath the surface
uses characters and events to represent ideas such as love, freedom, evil, or goodness