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49-440: The work takes the form of an allegory covering the life of Andrenio, representing two facets of his life: his impulsiveness and lack of experience. It outlines the philosophical vision of Gracián's world in the form of an epic tale. Gracián produced a work of romance meant to summarize his thoughts and expanding his skills as a writer at the same time. The novel was written during his later years and contains his ultimate vision of

98-410: 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

147-662: 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 emphasized 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

196-418: Is a figurative approach, relying on a set of concepts associated with key terms in order to create an allegorical decoding of the text." 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,

245-445: Is a raised walkway with a low wall, behind which people walk carrying objects or puppets "of men and other living things" (514b). The people walk behind the wall so their bodies do not cast shadows for the prisoners to see, but the objects they carry do ("just as puppet showmen have screens in front of them at which they work their puppets") (514a). The prisoners cannot see any of what is happening behind them; they are only able to see

294-456: Is able to look at the stars and moon at night until finally he can look upon the sun itself (516a)". Only after he can look straight at the sun "is he able to reason about it" and what it is (516b). (See also Plato's analogy of the Sun , which occurs near the end of The Republic , Book VI.) Socrates continues, saying that the free prisoner would think that the world outside the cave was superior to

343-448: Is compelled to peer through the bars of a prison". Scholars debate the possible interpretations of the allegory of the cave, either looking at it from an epistemological standpoint—one based on the study of how Plato believes we come to know things—or through a political ( politeia ) lens. Much of the scholarship on the allegory falls between these two perspectives, with some completely independent of either. The epistemological view and

392-505: 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

441-504: Is to behold the Good. Those who have ascended to this highest level, however, must not remain there but must return to the cave and dwell with the prisoners, sharing in their labors and honors. Plato's Phaedo contains similar imagery to that of the allegory of the cave; a philosopher recognizes that before philosophy, his soul was "a veritable prisoner fast bound within his body... and that instead of investigating reality of itself and in itself

490-492: The idea of goodness illumines the intelligible with truth, leading some scholars to believe this forms a connection of the Sun and the intelligible world within the realm of the allegory of the cave. The themes and imagery of Plato's cave has influenced civil thought and culture. For instance: The following is a list of supplementary scholarly literature on the allegory of the cave that includes articles from epistemological , political, alternative, and independent viewpoints on

539-465: 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 and the astronomer Galileo is thought to mark the beginnings of early modern science. Since meaningful stories are nearly always applicable to larger issues, allegories may be read into many stories which

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588-506: The Cave Plato's allegory of the cave is an allegory presented by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work Republic (514a–520a, Book VII ) to compare "the effect of education ( παιδεία ) and the lack of it on our nature ". It is written as a dialogue between Plato's brother Glaucon and his mentor Socrates and is narrated by the latter. The allegory is presented after the analogy of

637-625: 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

686-540: 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

735-610: The Promised Land. Also allegorical is Ezekiel 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

784-426: The Sun (508b–509c) and the analogy of the divided line (509d–511e). In the allegory, Plato describes people who have spent their entire lives chained by their necks and ankles in front of an inner wall with a view of the empty outer wall of the cave. They observe the shadows projected onto the outer wall by objects carried behind the inner wall by people who are invisible to the chained “prisoners” and who walk along

833-439: The allegory, and philosophy as a whole, through the lens of human freedom in his book The Essence of Human Freedom: An Introduction to Philosophy and The Essence of Truth: On Plato's Cave Allegory and Theaetetus . In response, Hannah Arendt , an advocate of the political interpretation of the allegory, suggests that through the allegory, Plato "wanted to apply his own theory of ideas to politics". Conversely, Heidegger argues that

882-408: The analogy of the divided line. Plato begins by having Socrates ask Glaucon to imagine a cave where people have been imprisoned from childhood. These prisoners are chained so that their legs and necks are fixed, forcing them to gaze at the wall in front of them and not to look around at the cave, each other, or themselves (514a–b). Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners

931-633: The article's talk page . Allegory 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 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 figures, actions, imagery, or events, which together create

980-452: The assembly", which originates from ἀγορά ( agora ), "assembly". 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

1029-429: The author may not have recognized. 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 , 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

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1078-511: 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

1127-651: The book would not have ended with the Ring being destroyed but rather with an arms race 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 . 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

1176-608: 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

1225-476: The cave (517a). The allegory is related to Plato's theory of Forms , according to which the "Forms" (or " Ideas "), and not the material world known to us through sensation, possess the highest and most fundamental kind of reality. Knowledge of the Forms constitutes real knowledge or what Socrates considers "the Good". Socrates informs Glaucon that the most excellent people must follow the highest of all studies, which

1274-405: The cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not the direct source of the images seen. A philosopher aims to understand and perceive the higher levels of reality. However, the other inmates of the cave do not even desire to leave their prison, for they know no better life. Socrates remarks that this allegory can be paired with previous writings, namely the analogy of the Sun and

1323-425: The cave which they do not see (514b–515a). Socrates then supposes that the prisoners are released. A freed prisoner would look around and see the fire. The light would hurt his eyes and make it difficult for him to see the objects casting the shadows. If he were told that what he is seeing is real instead of the other version of reality he sees on the wall, he would not believe it. In his pain, Socrates continues,

1372-408: The cave, just as he was when he was first exposed to the sun (516e). The prisoners who remained, according to the dialogue, would infer from the returning man's blindness that the journey out of the cave had harmed him and that they should not undertake a similar journey. Socrates concludes that the prisoners, if they were able, would therefore reach out and kill anyone who attempted to drag them out of

1421-482: The divided line and the analogy of the Sun . The divided line is a theory presented to us in Plato's work the Republic . This is displayed through a dialogue given between Socrates and Glaucon in which they explore the possibility of a visible and intelligible world, with the visible world consisting of items such as shadows and reflections (displayed as AB) then elevating to the physical item itself (displayed as BC) while

1470-412: The essence of truth is a way of being and not an object. Arendt criticised Heidegger's interpretation of the allegory, writing that "Heidegger   ... is off base in using the cave simile to interpret and 'criticize' Plato's theory of ideas". Various scholars also debate the possibility of a connection between the work in the allegory and the cave and the work done by Plato considering the analogy of

1519-405: 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. 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

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1568-412: The freed prisoner would turn away and run back to what he is accustomed to (that is, the shadows of the carried objects). The light "... would hurt his eyes, and he would escape by turning away to the things which he was able to look at, and these he would believe to be clearer than what was being shown to him". Socrates continues: "Suppose... that someone should drag him... by force, up the rough ascent,

1617-471: 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: Some elaborate and successful specimens of allegory are to be found in the following works, arranged in approximate chronological order: Allegory of

1666-475: 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. 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

1715-646: 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. 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

1764-399: The inner wall with a fire behind them, creating the shadows on the inner wall in front of the prisoners. The "sign bearers" pronounce the names of the objects, the sounds of which are reflected near the shadows and are understood by the prisoners as if they were coming from the shadows themselves. Only the shadows and sounds are the prisoners' reality, which are not accurate representations of

1813-416: The intelligible world as the prisoner looks at the sun. The Analogy of the Sun refers to the moment in book six in which Socrates, after being urged by Glaucon to define goodness, proposes instead an analogy through a "child of goodness". Socrates reveals this "child of goodness" to be the Sun, proposing that just as the Sun illuminates, bestowing the ability to see and be seen by the eye with its light, so

1862-448: The intelligible world consists of mathematical reasoning (displayed by CD) and philosophical understanding (displayed by DE). Many see this as an explanation for the way in which the prisoner in the allegory of the cave goes through the journey, first in the visible world with shadows such as those on the wall, then the realization of the physical with the understanding of concepts such as the tree being separate from its shadow. It enters

1911-522: The moral, spiritual, or political meaning the author wishes to convey. Many allegories use personification of abstract concepts. First attested in English in 1382, the word allegory comes from Latin allegoria , the latinisation of the Greek ἀλληγορία ( allegoría ), "veiled language, figurative", literally "speaking about something else", which in turn comes from ἄλλος ( allos ), "another, different" and ἀγορεύω ( agoreuo ), "to harangue, to speak in

1960-477: The other hand, bases his interpretation of the allegory on the claim that the cave is an allegory of human nature and that it symbolizes the opposition between the philosopher and the corruption of the prevailing political condition. Cleavages have emerged within these respective camps of thought, however. Much of the modern scholarly debate surrounding the allegory has emerged from Martin Heidegger 's exploration of

2009-433: The political view, prominently represented by Richard Lewis Nettleship and A. S. Ferguson, respectively, tend to be discussed most frequently. Nettleship interprets the allegory of the cave as representative of our innate intellectual incapacity, in order to contrast our lesser understanding with that of the philosopher, as well as an allegory about people who are unable or unwilling to seek truth and wisdom. Ferguson, on

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2058-416: The real world. The shadows represent distorted and blurred copies of reality we can perceive through our senses, while the objects under the Sun represent the true forms of objects that we can only perceive through reason. Three higher levels exist: natural science ; deductive mathematics , geometry , and logic ; and the theory of forms . Socrates explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner freed from

2107-430: The shadows cast upon the cave wall in front of them. The sounds of the people talking echo off the walls; the prisoners believe these sounds come from the shadows (514c). Socrates suggests that the shadows are reality for the prisoners because they have never seen anything else; they do not realize that what they see are shadows of objects in front of a fire, much less that these objects are inspired by real things outside

2156-507: 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

2205-446: The steep way up, and never stop until he could drag him out into the light of the sun". The prisoner would be angry and in pain, and this would only worsen when the radiant light of the sun overwhelms his eyes and blinds him. "Slowly, his eyes adjust to the light of the sun. First he can see only shadows. Gradually he can see the reflections of people and things in water and then later see the people and things themselves. Eventually, he

2254-421: The thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse applicability with allegory, but 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 . He noted that, had that been his intention,

2303-444: The world and human life. Its worldview is pessimistic and desolate, although the two virtuous protagonists represent hope. They escape mediocrity and reach eternal fame. The novel was translated into English by Sir Paul Rycaut in 1681 as The Critick. This article about a 17th century novel is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . See guidelines for writing about novels . Further suggestions might be found on

2352-445: The world he experienced in the cave and attempt to share this with the prisoners remaining in the cave attempting to bring them onto the journey he had just endured; "he would bless himself for the change, and pity [the other prisoners]" and would want to bring his fellow cave dwellers out of the cave and into the sunlight (516c). The returning prisoner, whose eyes have become accustomed to the sunlight, would be blind when he re-entered

2401-416: 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

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