What is an allegory?

Question

Please provide an example.

Answer 1

an allegory is like xplaining a philisophical theory or ideas using symbols for each thing you want to explain. for example... in Plato's allegory of the cave, he used prisoners (who were chained to the wall, only able to see forwards) to represent mankind, and the sun to represent enlightenment or truth. and the "shadows" on the wall in front of the prisoners represented what mankind believes to be real. If one of the "prisoners" was to realize that the shadows were really coming from the candles which were burning behind them, then they would inevitably be released from their chains and come out of the cave into the "sun" or truth....... thats an extremely brief example of that allegory, but it should give u some clue to what it is. just substituting symbols for ideas :)

Answer 2

An allegory is " a literary, dramatic or pictorial device in which each character, object, and event symbolically illustrates a moral or religious principle" - that's straight from Webster's New World Dictionary, which is a great resource, people! There are many allegories in the New Testament, that's what all of Jesus's parables were.

Answer 3

The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form.

A story, picture, or play employing such representation. John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and Herman Melville's Moby Dick are allegories.

Answer 4

The expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence; also : an instance (as in a story or painting) of such expression

Answer 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory

Answer 6

the guy who invented the internet.