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Literary Devices
Definition of Allegory
An allegory is a work that conveys a hidden meaning—usually moral, spiritual, or political—through the use of symbolic characters and events. The story of "The Tortoise and The Hare" is... read full definition
An allegory is a work that conveys a hidden meaning—usually moral, spiritual, or political—through the use of symbolic characters and events. The story of "The... read full definition
An allegory is a work that conveys a hidden meaning—usually moral, spiritual, or political—through the use of symbolic characters and... read full definition
Act 5, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—The Eyes of Death:
In a brief scene marked by dark comedy, Posthumous argues about his eternal fate with a Jailer, who has been ordered by the King to execute the Roman prisoners of war. Here, Shakespeare employs a common Renaissance allegory that imagines the abstract concept of “Death” as a skeletal human figure:
JAILER
For, look you, sir, you know not which way you shall go.POSTHUMUS
Yes, indeed do I, fellow.JAILER
Your Death has eyes in ’s head, then. I have not
seen him so pictured. You must either be directed
by some that take upon them to know, or to take
upon yourself that which I am sure you do not
know, or jump the after-inquiry on your own peril.
And how you shall speed in your journey’s end,
I think you’ll never return to tell one.
Related Themes:
