Allegory in the Middle Ages and the 18th Century

By: Claire Noring

The contents of this website are all about allegory, specifically the treatment of allegory in the Middle Ages and in the 18^th Century. The basic difference between the two is that allegory was widely used in the Middle Ages and died out by the eighteenth century. However, this shift is not as clear-cut as it seems. I assert that there are subtle ways in which allegorical elements persist in 18th-century texts.

Before jumping into exactly what allegory is, I’d like to make a case for the importance of allegory. Studying allegory can be about so much more than learning about a literary device.

The widespread use of allegory in the Middle Ages is significant because, just as Milne suggests, “the manner in which a culture comports itself towards language corresponds with its comportment towards the cosmos and reality as a whole” (123). By paying attention to how people were interpreting and writing texts, we can have insight into how they thought of the world around them and their place in it.

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For example, in the Middle Ages, allegorical interpretation was the primary method of reading a text. There was usually a second (and sometimes third and fourth) meaning to a book being read. Now we ask ourselves, how is this method of interpretation indicative of the Middle Ages worldview? First of all, we need to consider the prevalence of religion. The Catholic church was the only recognized religion and church during this time and, as a consequence, was an integral part of the average person’s life. Belief in God and Heaven was absolute, along with a shared goal to enter into Heaven. We can look at life on earth as the literal meaning of a text and Heaven as the figurative meaning of a text. The importance of life after death overshadowed the importance of life on earth. It was common belief that this world, this reality, was simply a step to the next one and “significant of a deeper invisible reality” (Milne 123). This perfectly mirrors the way in which, in allegory, the literal meaning of a text only serves as a metaphor to convey the figurative meaning.

Therefore, in medieval times, allegorical texts were not primarily written to be realistic. They were written to convey a moral lesson through a metaphor.

It is commonly thought, in contrast, that in the 18^th-century authors moved sharply away from allegory and towards the novel that modern readers recognize. Essentially, the focus moved away from the figurative meaning of a text and towards the literal meaning. Authors no longer needed to include an overhanging moral lesson in their texts. Now, crafting the world in a text to be as realistic as possible was the gold standard of literary achievement. If we analyze the 18th-century viewpoint in relation to the literature produced during the time, the same way we did the Middle Ages, we might observe that they sought out the transcendent qualities of nature, looking to our reality, to our earth, for fulfillment and spiritual enlightenment. However, I don’t believe that this shift completely erased all elements of allegory from eighteenth-century writing.

The Middle Ages text I will cover is Everyman, which describes the eponymous person navigating through the process of death and redemption. I will briefly outline allegorical elements of the text, paying special attention to the importance of the figurative meaning as well as the use and meaning of names. The 18^th-century texts I will be covering are Oroonoko, Rasselas, and Clarissa. I will first outline how these texts work against typical allegorical elements by focusing on the literal meaning. Then I will explore the possible ways in which allegorical elements might persist in the 18th-century, focusing especially on the use of names within these three texts.

Further Reading: