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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
Key Examples in Le Morte d’Arthur
Allegory
Explanation and Analysis—Civil Wars and New Kings:
The book can be read as an allegorical commentary on the civil wars and regime changes in Malory's own time. Malory was writing during the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England from 1455-1487. The wars were family squabbles as much as they were political conflicts. The House of Plantagenet had controlled the English throne throughout the Hundred Years' War with France. But after the English pulled back from France in 1453, two smaller families within the House of Plantagenet began jockeying for power. The Lancasters (eventually represented in heraldic imagery by a red rose) fought the Yorks (represented by a white rose) for decades, until the conflict was finally resolved through a marriage between the families. This resolution had not yet come when Malory wrote Le Morte d'Arthur.
Related Themes:
Book 14
Explanation and Analysis—Lion Vs. Serpent:
Although the book is about King Arthur and conflict among human knights, it is also a Christian allegory about the battle between good and evil. This allegory is represented through the motif of lions (representing Christ) and serpents (representing the devil). In Volume 2, Book 14, Chapter 6, Percivale sees a lion and a serpent fighting:
Unlock with LitCharts A+And then Sir Percival thought to help the lion for he was the more natural beast of the two; and therewith he drew his sword, and set his shield afore him, and there he gave the serpent such a buffet that he had a deadly wound. When the lion saw that, he made no resemblant to fight with him, but made him all the cheer that a beast might make a man.
Related Themes:
Book 17
Explanation and Analysis—Spindle Stories:
In Volume 2, Book 17, Chapter 5, Sir Bors, Percivale, and Galahad find themselves aboard the ship called Faith. Percivale's sister tells the knights an allegorical story about four spindles that are attached to a bed on board the ship:
Unlock with LitCharts A+‘These spindles,’ said the damosel, ‘were when sinful Eve came to gather fruit, for which Adam and she were put out of paradise, she took with her the bough on which the apple hung on. Then perceived she that the branch was fair and green, and she remembered her the loss which came from the tree. Then she thought to keep the branch as long as she might. And for she had no coffer to keep it in, she put it in the earth [...].
Related Themes:
Book 21
Explanation and Analysis—Lion Vs. Serpent:
Although the book is about King Arthur and conflict among human knights, it is also a Christian allegory about the battle between good and evil. This allegory is represented through the motif of lions (representing Christ) and serpents (representing the devil). In Volume 2, Book 14, Chapter 6, Percivale sees a lion and a serpent fighting:
Unlock with LitCharts A+And then Sir Percival thought to help the lion for he was the more natural beast of the two; and therewith he drew his sword, and set his shield afore him, and there he gave the serpent such a buffet that he had a deadly wound. When the lion saw that, he made no resemblant to fight with him, but made him all the cheer that a beast might make a man.
Related Themes:
