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Allegory
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Key Examples in Leviathan
Chapter 2: Of Imagination
Explanation and Analysis—Imagination and Memory :
Hobbes alludes to various figures from history and mythology in his discussion of imagination and memory:
Againe, Imagination being only of those things which have been formerly perceived by Sense, either all at once, or by parts at severall times; The former [...] is simple Imagination; as when one imagineth a man, or horse, which he hath seen before. The other is Compounded; as when from the sight of a man at one time, and of a horse at another, we conceive in our mind a Centaure. So when a man compoundeth the image of his own person, with the image of the actions of an other man; as when a man imagins himselfe a Hercules, or an Alexander [...] it is a compound imagination, and properly but a Fiction of the mind.
Chapter 13: Of the Naturall Condition of Mankind, as concerning their Felicity, and Misery
Explanation and Analysis—In America:
In his discussion of natural life, which he characterizes as violent, uncivilized, and devoid of the higher understanding brought about by civil society, Hobbes alludes to the various peoples of the "New World"—that is, "many places of America":
Unlock with LitCharts A+It may peradventure be thought, there was never such a time, nor condition of warre as this; and I believe it was never generally so, over all the world: but there are many places, where they live so now. For the savage people in many places of America, except the government of small Families, the concord whereof dependeth on naturall lust, have no government at all; and live at this day in that brutish manner, as I said before.
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Chapter 28: Of PUNISHMENTS, and REWARDS
Explanation and Analysis—The Leviathan:
Central to the book is an allusion to the biblical figure of the Leviathan for whom the book is named. Outlining his goals in writing Leviathan, Hobbes notes:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Hitherto I have set forth the nature of Man, (whose Pride and other Passions have compelled him to submit himselfe to Government;) together with the great power of his Governour, whom I compared to Leviathan, taking that comparison out of the two last verses of the one and fortieth of Job;45 where God having set forth the great power of Leviathan, calleth him King of the Proud. There is nothing, saith he, on earth, to be compared with him. He is made so as not to be afraid. Hee seeth every high thing below him; and is King of all the children of pride.
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Chapter 34: Of the Signification of SPIRIT, ANGEL, and INSPIRATION in the Books of Holy Scripture
Explanation and Analysis—Idols:
Hobbes alludes to the biblical concept of “idols” in order to describe various errors of human thought. Noting the general tendency to think of spiritual explanations for material phenomena, Hobbes writes:
Unlock with LitCharts A+But for those Idols of the brain, which represent Bodies to us, where they are not, as in a Looking-glasse, in a Dream, or to a Distempered brain waking, they are (as the Apostle saith generally of all Idols) nothing; Nothing at all, I say, there where they seem to bee; and in the brain it self, nothing but tumult, proceeding either from the action of the objects, or from the disorderly agitation of the Organs of our Sense.
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Chapter 42: Of POWER ECCLESIASTICALL
Explanation and Analysis—Civil War:
Toward the end of Part 4 of Leviathan, Hobbes offers a point-by-point refutation of the writings of a Catholic thinker and polemicist, Cardinal Bellarmine. In his argument for the superiority of monarchy over all other forms of government, including that of the Catholic Church, Hobbes alludes to a recent historical event that impacted his own life greatly: the English Civil War.
Unlock with LitCharts A+The other errour in this his first Argument is, that he sayes, the Members of every Common-wealth, as of a naturall Body, depend one of another: It is true, they cohære together; but they depend onely on the Soveraign, which is the Soul of the Common-wealth; which failing, the Common-wealth is dissolved into a Civill war, no one man so much as cohæring to another, for want of a common Dependance on a known Soveraign; Just as the Members of the naturall Body dissolve into Earth, for want of a Soul to hold them together.
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Explanation and Analysis—Martyrs:
Outlining his beliefs regarding the relationship between private belief and state power, Hobbes alludes to the various martyrs who died for professing their faith in the early years of Christianity, particularly in Ancient Rome:
Unlock with LitCharts A+But what then shall we say of all those Martyrs we read of in the History of the Church, that they have needlessely cast away their lives? For answer hereunto, we are to distinguish the persons that have been for that cause put to death; whereof some have received a Calling to preach, and professe the Kingdome of Christ openly; others have had no such Calling, nor more has been required of them than their owne faith. The former sort, if they have been put to death [...] were true Martyrs; For a Martyr is, (to give the true definition of the word) a Witnesse of the Resurrection of Jesus the Messiah.
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Chapter 44: Of Spirituall Darkness from MISINTERPRETATION of Scripture
Explanation and Analysis—Purgatory :
In his extensive critique of the various positions he regards as spiritual errors, Hobbes alludes to the Catholic belief in purgatory, a place where the dead make amends for their sins on earth prior to going to heaven:
Unlock with LitCharts A+For men being generally possessed before the time of our Saviour [...] of an opinion, that the Souls of men were substances distinct from their Bodies, and therefore that when the Body was dead, the Soule of every man [...] must subsist somewhere by vertue of its own nature [...]; the Doctors of the Church doubted a long time, what was the place, which they were to abide in, till they should be re-united to their Bodies in the Resurrection; supposing for a while, they lay under the Altars: but afterward the Church of Rome found it more profitable, to build for them this place of Purgatory; which by some other Churches in this later age, has been demolished.
Related Themes:
Chapter 45: Of DÆMONOLOGY, and other Reliques of the Religion of the Gentiles
Explanation and Analysis—The Golden Calf:
Hobbes alludes to the biblical episode of the Golden Calf—found in the Book of Exodus—in an extensive discussion of common errors he believes have led to a general state of “spiritual darkness” across Christian Europe:
Unlock with LitCharts A+God commanded Moses to set up the Brazen Serpent; hee did not make it to himselfe; it was not therefore against the Commandement. But the making of the Golden Calfe by Aaron, and the People, as being done without authority from God, was Idolatry; not onely because they held it for God, but also because they made it for a Religious use, without warrant either from God their Soveraign, or from Moses, that was his Lieutenant.
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