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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 The Faerie Queene
Book I: Canto I
Explanation and Analysis—Error :
Allegory is the central device of The Faerie Queene. The various quests undertaken by the poem’s protagonists are largely symbolic, as the reader tracks their progress through various spiritual obstacles towards Christian virtue. The first obstacle that Redcross faces in his journey in Book I is Error, a monstrous, serpentine creature whose name identifies her allegorical role in the poem. When Redcross journeys into the cave of Error in order to slay the beast, Spenser expands upon her allegorical role in the poem:
Therewith she spewd out of her filthy maw
A floud of poyson horrible and blacke,
Full of great lumpes of flesh and gobbets raw,
Which stunck so vildly, that it forst him slacke
His grasping hold, and from her turne him backe:
Her vomit full of bookes and papers was,
With loathly frogs and toades, which eyes did lacke,
And creeping sought way in the weedy gras:
Her filthy parbreake all the place defiled has.
Related Themes:
Book II: Canto XII
Explanation and Analysis—All in Moderation:
Each of the books of The Faerie Queene centers upon some knight who allegorically represents the virtue that is the primary theme of that book; just as Redcross represents Holiness, so too does Guyon represent Temperance. Guyon’s destruction of Acrasia’s Bower of Bliss can be seen as a complex allegory for the victory of temperance, or self-restraint, over immoderate pleasure. Of Guyon’s destruction of Acrasia’s lair, the narrator states:
Unlock with LitCharts A+But all those pleasant bowres and Pallace braue,
Guyon broke downe, with rigour pittilesse;
Ne ought their goodly workmanship might saue
Them from the tempest of his wrathfulnesse,
But that their blisse he turn'd to balefulnesse:
Their groues he feld, their gardins did deface,
Their arbers spoyle, their Cabinets suppresse,
Their banket houses burne, their buildings race.
And of the fairest late, now made the fowlest place.
Related Themes:
Book III: Canto X
Explanation and Analysis—Jealousy :
At the end of the Malbecco episode in Book III, Spenser presents the reader with a glimpse into the workings of the poem’s allegorical structure. The cuckold Malbecco, who has become fixated on his wife’s betrayal and is unable to move forward with his life, becomes so fully consumed with his feelings of jealousy that he transforms into one of the poem’s allegorical figures. On his transformation from Malbecco to “Gealosie” (or Jealousy), the narrator writes:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Yet can he neuer dye, but dying liues,
And doth himselfe with sorrow new sustaine,
That death and life attonce vnto him giues.
And painefull pleasure turnes to pleasing paine.
There dwels he euer, miserable swaine,
Haterull both to him selfe, and euery wight;
Where he through priuy griefe, and horrour vaine,
Is woxen so deform’d, that he has quight
Forgot he was a man, and Gealosie is hight.
Related Themes:
Book IV: Canto I
Explanation and Analysis—Conflict :
In Book IV, Spenser introduces the character of Ate, who allegorically represents strife, or conflict, within the poem. She is soon revealed to be a formidable force, responsible for virtually every war across human history from antiquity to the present. Ate is one of Spenser’s most fully developed allegorical symbols; every physical feature of her body points back to her allegorical status as a representative of conflict. Describing her body, the narrator states:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Als as she double spake, so heard she double,
With matchlesse eares deformed and distort,
Fild with false rumors and seditious trouble,
Bred in assemblies of the vulgar sort,
That still are led with euery light report
And as her eares so eke her feet were odde,
And much vnlike, th’one long, the other short
And both misplast; that when th’one forward yode,
The other backe retired, and contrarie trode.
Related Themes:
Book V: Canto II
Explanation and Analysis—Pollente :
In Book V: The Book of Justice, Spenser expands upon the political and economic structures of Faerie Land in order to dwell on the topic of justice as both a personal and public concern. While characters in the poem's previous books often represent attitudes or personal characteristics, the allegorical focus of Book V turns towards political threats to the stability of the Kingdom. The villainous Pollente is one such threat, standing in allegorically for monopolistic business practices that threaten the circulation of money and economic freedom. A dwarf reports on Pollente’s criminal activities to Arthegall and Talus, stating that:
Unlock with LitCharts A+And dayly he his wrongs encreaseth more,
For neuer wight he lets to passe that way;
Ouer his Bridge, albee he rich or poore,
But he him makes his passage-penny pay:
Else he doth hold him backe or beat away.
Thereto he hath a groome of euill guize,
Whose scalp is bare, that bondage doth bewray,
Which pols and pils the poore in piteous wize;
But he him selfe vppon the rich doth tyrannize.
