Allegory

An allegory is a story, poem or picture in which the characters, events and setting systematically stand for something else, usually a moral, political or spiritual idea.

In Animal Farm the pigs take over the farm and slowly become the humans they drove out. It works as a story about animals. It also stands, point for point, for the Russian Revolution and what followed. That second layer, kept up across the whole book, is allegory.

How it works

An allegory runs on two levels at once.

• The surface story. Characters, a place, a plot that make sense by themselves.
• The meaning underneath. Each major element maps to an idea: a character stands for greed, a journey for a spiritual path, a farm for a country.

Plato's cave, where prisoners mistake shadows for reality, is the classic philosophical allegory. In The Pilgrim's Progress the hero Christian travels through places called the Slough of Despond and Vanity Fair, and the names tell you what to read into them.

The risk

Allegory can turn preachy. If every figure is only a stand-in, readers feel handled. The best allegories give characters their own life, so the story would still matter with the second layer taken away.

Why it matters to a writer or editor

An editor checks that the two levels agree. If the surface story contradicts the meaning, or a character does something only the allegory needs, readers feel the join. Ask whether each element earns its place on both levels. For the single-image version, see symbolism, and for allegory aimed at ridicule, see satire.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between an allegory and a symbol?

A symbol is a single image with a larger meaning. An allegory is a whole story built so that nearly every element has a second meaning.

What are famous allegories?

Animal Farm by George Orwell, The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, Plato's allegory of the cave, and Dante's Divine Comedy.

Does an allegory need to be read allegorically?

The good ones work as stories first. Animal Farm is a readable tale of farm animals even for someone who knows no Russian history.