An example of an allusion could be the use of Minos in Dante's Canto V of the Inferno because an allusion can be defined as being a reference to a work of art or literature or a historical or popular figure or incident that is used to create meaning in a text. Minos examines the sins of each new comer. Minos and other mythological creatures in Dante's hell act as tools within the Christian moral order, by performing negative tasks associated with the punishment of sinners they communicate that idea that if people do not live morally in their time on earth, then they will be denied forgiveness and protection from immortal forces in the afterlife. Minos can also be related to the similar idea of God in the Inferno because both decide on what
Jacoff, Rachel and Jeffrey T. Schnapp. The Poetry of Allusion: Virgil and Ovid in Dante’s Commedia. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1991.
“In the simplest terms, allegory says one thing and means another” (Fletcher 2). Allegory is a literary tool that authors employ to convey a certain message or idea through characters acting in a story. Angus Fletcher correctly assesses the nature of allegory, demonstrating that although an author may write a story about a man completing a literal journey, he very well could be implying a much grander idea about journeying through life. Anne Page shares a similar understanding of allegory, writing that, “Allegory, whether engaged in as reading or writing, is about making meaning- a meaning which is ideological, ethical, or theological” (Page 82). Jesus himself used allegory in his parables, to make grand heavenly concepts accessible to the everyman. This is a common use of allegory, bringing the grand scheme down to an understandable level. “The creative allegory uses a highly generalized form to cover a width of historical content which is felt to burst the bounds of any more naturalistic method” (Lindsay 177). Two examples of allegory are John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress and Dante’s The Inferno. Both tell the story of a man taking a journey, Christian on his way to heaven and Dante through hell. The use of allegory in each of these works is vast; one of the most obvious is that of names. Dante and Bunyan use naming as one of their most noticeable ways to communicate grand concepts; however, the ways in which they employ this type of allegory differ immensely.
One example is a casual reference; the incidental mention of something, either directly or implied also known as an allusion. As stated by Arthur Miller, “Abigail brings the other girls into the court, and where she walks the crowds will part like the sea for Israel" (Miller 1237). This reference is to Moses parting the Red Sea so that the Israelites had a chance to escape from the Pharaoh 's armies. In another instance the drama states, “She raises up her chin like the daughter of a prince” (Miller 1237). The quote is an example of a simile which is a figure of speech in which two unlike things are compared, using words such as like, as, or resembles. Elizabeth Proctor describes how their servant, Mary Warren, defied her as if she were royalty. Though there are many more a final example is a metaphor. This is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of specific words of comparison. The drama uses this metaphor by having Elizabeth say, “I have read my heart this three month, John. I have sins of my own to count” (Miller 1269). This demonstrates how her character is thoughtful and considerate of her husband. It was one of the few examples of unspoiled virtues in The
On the other hand, the punishments that are borrowed from medieval torture techniques and imprisonment inflicts a physical and bodily pain upon the sufferer that is supposed to be taken literally. In the Medieval Era, their prisons were more like dungeons in the way that they were usually dark rooms with naked and ragged men that were chained to the stone floors. These prisoners were not allowed to move so they had to live in their own excrements, blood, and vomit which ended up filling the room with an odor that was so pungent it could have been a form of torture within itself. Dante used this idea of darkness and awful smells throughout the Inferno as the overall atmosphere of Hell. Also, the idea of the fiery and icy environments that Dante incorporates comes from the medieval prisons where the room would get so hot the prisoners would feel like they were on fire, and during the winter it would be extremely frigid. These ideas of extreme temperatures and darkness are only a few of the torture devices that Dante uses throughout his novel.
Allusion is defined as a figure of speech that alludes to popular, or well-known literature, event, setting, or person. (Jason Lineberger, Allusion in Literature) In ancient Greek mythology, Phaethon was the demigod son of Apollo who took on more responsibility than he was ready for-eventually forging his own downfall. Within the piece, the speaker tells his son the story of Apollo and Phaethon, tying ancient mythology to the present day. Similar to the way Phaethon believed he held the responsibility to drive the sun chariot in the archaic myths, the speaker’s son boasts the same mindset- believing he could drive the car; however, the speaker believes his son will follow the same path as Phaethon and fail in his attempts to drive the car. To illustrate this idea, the speaker begins by introducing Apollo and Phaethon’s parent-child relationship: “Apollo through the heavens rode/ In glinting gold attire/… His darling son was Phaethon, / Who begged to have a try.” (Lines 1, 2, 7, 8) The father, is the one in charge, carrying more responsibility and has to “… [hold the horses] to their frantic course” (line 5). Subsequently, the son is the one who wishes to carry more responsibility than
An example is Roderick Usher 's mansion, the setting of the story. The narrator notices a "barely perceptible fissure" in the masonry of the mansion. It’s but a small crack in the House of Usher, but the narrator says it as "both the family and the family mansion" (Poe). This foreshadows a terrible event that will ruin not only the house, but the family as well. The fissure divides the house. When Roderick and his sister Madeline Usher die, it destroys the family, which ultimately destroys the mansion. The narrator says there is a "wild inconsistency between still perfect adaptation..and the crumbling condition of the individual stones” (Poe). The stones represent the individual people of the family that are slowly deteriorating away, and the entire mansion stands for the family as a whole. In “Where is Here?” the stranger comments on a part of the house that used to have a dark water stain when he was younger and it foreshadows the events that happen after he leaves. Oddly, when the stranger is finally gone, it has bad effects on the people and the house itself. “The patterned wallpaper seemed drained of color, a shadow lay upon it shaped like a bulbous cloud or growth”
Allegories are stories that have more than one meaning. For example, The Lorax was about a boy who saves the world from destroying itself due to greed; the allegory for The Lorax is that in today's society people are greedy and don’t care about the environment. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegory for the Red Scare in the McCarthy Era because they were both made of fake claims, fear, and false confessions.
A simile is a rhetorical device that can be used to compare two unlike things and cleverly bring them together to give the audience something to relate to. In other words, a comparison of two seemingly different things. One particularly powerful simile is, “the wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and mores and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given (Edwards 97),” In this quote, Edwards compared God’s wrath to a raging body of water. He goes on to say that the longer the stream is stopped, the harsher it will be. The word choice, or syntax, Edwards had was simply spectacular. The comparison of His wrath to great waters gives the people an idea as to how ferocious the wrath of God is to Edwards. This word choice struck fear into the hearts of the audience and also shows that Edwards directed his anger at the audience. One can almost feel the passion and hatred within his
and metaphor enhances the reader’s perspective to see one thing, but come to conclusions of
Symbolism and Allusion Harrison Bergeron, The Lottery, and 2BRO2B are all short stories with good symbolism and allusion. To sum up symbolism, it is when an object, person, or the setting represents something in the story. But for allusion it is when the author references something we already know. Today you’ll see some symbolism that is found throughout all of these stories.
For centuries humans have been drawing parallels to help explain or understand different concepts. These parallels, or allegories, tell a simple story and their purpose is to use another point of view to help guide individuals into the correct line of thought. “The only stable element in a literary work is its words, which if one knows the language in which it is written, have a meaning. The significance of that meaning is what may be called allegory. ”(Bloomfield)
Dante’s The Divine Comedy illustrates one man’s quest for the knowledge of how to avoid the repercussions of his actions in life so that he may seek salvation in the afterlife. The Divine Comedy establishes a set of moral principles that one must live by in order to reach paradiso. Dante presents these principles in Inferno where each level of Hell has people suffering for the sins they committed during their life. As Dante gets deeper into Hell the degrees of sin get progressively worse as do the severity of punishment. With that in mind, one can look at Inferno as a handbook on what not to do during a lifetime in order to avoid Hell. In the book, Dante creates a moral lifestyle that one must follow in order to live a morally good, Catholic
In Dante’s Inferno, Dante is taken on a journey through hell. On this journey, Dane sees the many different forms of sins, and each with its own unique contrapasso, or counter-suffering. Each of these punishments reflects the sin of a person, usually offering some ironic way of suffering as a sort of revenge for breaking God’s law. As Dante wrote this work and developed the contrapassos, he allows himself to play God, deciding who is in hell and why they are there. He uses this opportunity to strike at his foes, placing them in the bowels of hell, saying that they have nothing to look forward to but the agony of suffering and the separation from God.
An example of a metaphor is when Heaney describes the berries as a “glossy purple clot”. This smart use of an imagery and a metaphor at the same time gives an image of a ripe berry. There is also a smart use of a simile, “hard as a knot”, for the unripe berries. When Heaney says “hard as a knot”, it sounds rather short, sugge...
Brown, Sapphire M. "Referenes to Dantes Inferno." Humanities 360. 8 Jan. 2009. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.