Outline
Introduction
Why Allegory exists in Literature
Body
Description and purposes
i. Description
ii. Purposes
Example of allegory in literature
i. The Fairy Queen
ii. The Pligrim's Progress
The benefits on teaching allegories at school
i. Interpretation
ii. Critical thinking
iii. Reflective students
Conclusion
Allegories are useful to be aware and reflective in our society.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Allegories in our Around
Having one notion of what we are reading does not specify what authors really want to say. For instance, in literature actually, there are many books which have more meanings behind than what is shown or we read. But, why do authors have the necessity to write books with connotations behind? Those connotations are called Allegories. We’ll see why Allegories exist in Literature.
Allegory is presented in many ways of expressions, such as images, books, plays, songs, and so on. According to ‘Oxford Dictionary’, an allegory is, “A representation of and abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another”. Therefore, an allegory represents senses behind what people interpret in a first sight. Referring to this definition the Dictionary of the English Language points out, “an allegory is the representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form”.
The purposes of allegories depend on what the author wants to say. For instance, if one author wants to write a story about a romance between a couple, and he belongs to an ideology; and he wants to express his ideas through this story. Perfectly, this author could give his ideological meanings behind this story about a romance between a couple. The intention of allegories are to wake up the curiosity on readers to interpret Authors’ real stories beyond.
One a very good example of allegory in literature, book in this case, is The Letter of Sir Raleigh. Here Spenser explained the connotations that are in his book The Fairy Queen.
Referring to this issue, I have pointed out before, “in this letter Spencer tried to send messages through this book. He always emphasized some of the 12 values, such as: holiness, temperance, and chastity that could be the meaning of the knight of “Red Crosse” (England flag as symbol of power), Sir Guyon... “The Forth” (sir: English nobility; forth: until the end, forward, etc. – England needed to find more territories and more modern development, or they already had them, in that time)” and the lady knight (“Elizabeth I?” who was the most of her time alone), respectively. This must be one of his allegories.
Other example could be The Pilgrim’s Progress, by John Bunyan, from the New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy that states, “the character named Christian struggles to escape from a bog or swamp. The story of this difficulty is a symbol of the difficulty of leading a good life in the “bog” of this world. The “bog” is a metaphor or symbol of life’s hardships and distractions. Similarly, when Christian loses a heavy pack that has been carrying on his back, this symbolizes his freedom from the weight of sin that he has been carrying”. Understanding this process to be aware if we are in front of an allegory needs practice. And the best way in practicing is reading and interpreting the meanings beyond of what we see or read. For instance, at schools it must be taught by teachers. Students should know about interpretation to become more critical and reflective.
Teaching allegories at school have huge benefits to our students. First of all, teachers must teach them how they can interpret what kind of expression is in front of them; because nowadays students are less able to interpret ‘expressions’ due to no teachers and no one teaches it to them. Although, interpreting meanings is very ambiguous as a result each of us has different ways of interpreting stories, as one example. Teachers should encourage students to read books, novels, stories, etc. and also encourage them to interpret those books. This is the beginning of the whole benefits that allegories can give our students at schools. Even though, books and novels are not the only sort of expression that we can interpret, they are many, such as images, songs, plays, body language, etc.
One the other hand, if students can interpret an image made for an author in a good way; learners shall be capable to understand our society in terms of why we are like we are. They are more proficient to be converted into critical thinkers. According to this Nora McQuaid claims, “All subjects in education should explore the influence of images (whether they are in textbooks, new reports, travel brochures, or Aid agency appeals) and the ways in which they can never be neutral but always reflect the intention of those using them. It is important for students to be made aware of the representations of images which are used by educators in all disciplines.” (20)
Allegories are not always in books. They could be in every sense of expression, and if teachers teach and encourage how we can interpret them, our students will be more curious on our around. Thus, we are going to have reflective students. As Nora McQuaid states, “educators can promote the debate with students that any reading or watching of documentaries or news or listening to debates only provides us with images and/or words which are representations of those places, people or events arrange and constructed by the authors, the documentary makers or the TV news channel.” (20)
Agreeing with her point of view, students can understand the meanings that arrive in our minds as a result of what our society system wants for us. So they could comprehend all or part of our injustice and inequality of life in this society. All of us are able to read allegories, the only thing we need is the curiosity.
In conclusion, as an Allegory means hidden messages among an ‘expression’ which could have a moral, but the main intention is to awake the reader’s curiosity and thoughts about the story to analyze its meanings, as The Letter of Sir Raleigh by Spencer and The Pilgrim’s Progress by Bunyan have shown . Therefore, Allegories are useful to be aware and reflective in our society. If we can realize about our real external world, we could help our society in what we really needs. As teachers, we must encourage students to see allegories that are around us, to become critical thinkers, and to change our society to turn into more equal for all.
References:
Allegory is presented in many ways of expressions, such as images, books, plays, songs, and so on. According to ‘Oxford Dictionary’, an allegory is, “A representation of and abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another”. Therefore, an allegory represents senses behind what people interpret in a first sight. Referring to this definition the Dictionary of the English Language points out, “an allegory is the representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form”.
The purposes of allegories depend on what the author wants to say. For instance, if one author wants to write a story about a romance between a couple, and he belongs to an ideology; and he wants to express his ideas through this story. Perfectly, this author could give his ideological meanings behind this story about a romance between a couple. The intention of allegories are to wake up the curiosity on readers to interpret Authors’ real stories beyond.
One a very good example of allegory in literature, book in this case, is The Letter of Sir Raleigh. Here Spenser explained the connotations that are in his book The Fairy Queen.
Referring to this issue, I have pointed out before, “in this letter Spencer tried to send messages through this book. He always emphasized some of the 12 values, such as: holiness, temperance, and chastity that could be the meaning of the knight of “Red Crosse” (England flag as symbol of power), Sir Guyon... “The Forth” (sir: English nobility; forth: until the end, forward, etc. – England needed to find more territories and more modern development, or they already had them, in that time)” and the lady knight (“Elizabeth I?” who was the most of her time alone), respectively. This must be one of his allegories.
Other example could be The Pilgrim’s Progress, by John Bunyan, from the New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy that states, “the character named Christian struggles to escape from a bog or swamp. The story of this difficulty is a symbol of the difficulty of leading a good life in the “bog” of this world. The “bog” is a metaphor or symbol of life’s hardships and distractions. Similarly, when Christian loses a heavy pack that has been carrying on his back, this symbolizes his freedom from the weight of sin that he has been carrying”. Understanding this process to be aware if we are in front of an allegory needs practice. And the best way in practicing is reading and interpreting the meanings beyond of what we see or read. For instance, at schools it must be taught by teachers. Students should know about interpretation to become more critical and reflective.
Teaching allegories at school have huge benefits to our students. First of all, teachers must teach them how they can interpret what kind of expression is in front of them; because nowadays students are less able to interpret ‘expressions’ due to no teachers and no one teaches it to them. Although, interpreting meanings is very ambiguous as a result each of us has different ways of interpreting stories, as one example. Teachers should encourage students to read books, novels, stories, etc. and also encourage them to interpret those books. This is the beginning of the whole benefits that allegories can give our students at schools. Even though, books and novels are not the only sort of expression that we can interpret, they are many, such as images, songs, plays, body language, etc.
One the other hand, if students can interpret an image made for an author in a good way; learners shall be capable to understand our society in terms of why we are like we are. They are more proficient to be converted into critical thinkers. According to this Nora McQuaid claims, “All subjects in education should explore the influence of images (whether they are in textbooks, new reports, travel brochures, or Aid agency appeals) and the ways in which they can never be neutral but always reflect the intention of those using them. It is important for students to be made aware of the representations of images which are used by educators in all disciplines.” (20)
Allegories are not always in books. They could be in every sense of expression, and if teachers teach and encourage how we can interpret them, our students will be more curious on our around. Thus, we are going to have reflective students. As Nora McQuaid states, “educators can promote the debate with students that any reading or watching of documentaries or news or listening to debates only provides us with images and/or words which are representations of those places, people or events arrange and constructed by the authors, the documentary makers or the TV news channel.” (20)
Agreeing with her point of view, students can understand the meanings that arrive in our minds as a result of what our society system wants for us. So they could comprehend all or part of our injustice and inequality of life in this society. All of us are able to read allegories, the only thing we need is the curiosity.
In conclusion, as an Allegory means hidden messages among an ‘expression’ which could have a moral, but the main intention is to awake the reader’s curiosity and thoughts about the story to analyze its meanings, as The Letter of Sir Raleigh by Spencer and The Pilgrim’s Progress by Bunyan have shown . Therefore, Allegories are useful to be aware and reflective in our society. If we can realize about our real external world, we could help our society in what we really needs. As teachers, we must encourage students to see allegories that are around us, to become critical thinkers, and to change our society to turn into more equal for all.
References:
“Allegory.” Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.The American Heritage.
Published Houghton Mifflin Company. 2009 <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/allegory>
Mc Quaid, Nora. “Learning to ‘un-divide’ the World: The Legacy of Colonialism and
Education in the 21st Century.” Critical Literacy: Theories and Practices. 3:1 2009.
T.F. Hoad. “Allegory.” The Consise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996.
Encyclopedia.com. 7 Jul. 2009 < http://www.encyclopedia.com >
“The Pilgrim’s Progress.” New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. The
American Heritage. Published Houghton Mifflin Company. 2005 <http://www.answers.com/topic/allegory >
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Betrayal and Revenge: Two Powerful Worlds which Go Together.
Betrayal and Revenge: Two Powerful Worlds which Go Together.
"The Merchant of Venice" (Movie) 
This one of the Shakespeare’s stories starts with the division that Jews and Christians had in the middle ages. Antonio, an ex rich merchant, is worried of his wealth. Bassanio, his friend, can help Antonio marring him with Portia, a beautiful and rich woman of Belmont. Shylock, a rich Jewish merchant, lends money to Antonio and his friend to go to Portia. However, Shylock’s daughter escapes with Lorenzo, a Bassanio’s friend, to live a Christian life. Therefore, Shylock wants revenge because of Antonio’s betrayal. Shylock loses his money and his daughter but taking Antonio’s pound of flesh their debt and his daughter lost could be paid off. Fortunately, Bassanio chooses the right coffer that permits the wedding between him and Portia. Thus, Bassanio can give back the money that Shylock lent to them before; nevertheless, Shylock does not want money, he wants Antonio’ pound of flesh that means Antonio’s death. This is resolved in a court with the Duke of Venice who decides the end of this story.
Finding very interesting this film, characters did almost perfect performances on their roles as results of they are excellent actors, such as: Jeremy Irons, Al Pacino, Joseph Fiennes, Lynn Collins and so on. Thus, this movie is so well interpreted and prepared as the Shakespeare’s book story. However, in a first instance, the movie makes this story as a comedy instead of the tragedy the book shows. So this makes the audience to be confused about the line this sort of story follows. Obviously, It’s almost impossible to know what Shakespeare was expressing or wanted to express through his stories right now, but what it’s interpreted is a bit of both, a comedy and a tragedy between to the great religions worlds: Christianity and Judaism.
On the other hand, this story highlights the relationship between Shylock (Jewish) and Antonio (Christian). The first of them, Shylock, is showed as a Jewish that goes over his religion because of the money greed. However, it was what he learned living in this Christian world, the meaning of money, villainy, selfishness, ambition, greed, competitiveness (who is the most strength and powerful) and so forth. He made his wealth by working as a moneylender and paying the interest of his entire loan. But, at the end we realize that he was not so greedy, because he dismissed the idea of having his 6000 ducats that Antonio and Bassanio asked for, and what he really wanted was dignity and respect asking for Antonio’s pound of flesh. And it was his revenge. He thought that Antonio did him to lose everything that he had, moreover, at the beginning of the story Antonio humiliated him spitting on his’ face. For all these reasons, Shylock wanted revenge – to be respected as a normal person and to respect the deal that Antonio and Bassanio did with him.
Nevertheless, the latter, Antonio, is showed as the merchant of Venice. A Christian who was rich thanks to his ventures, but he was losing his wealth and he had to ask for help. In a moment, he refused Jewish and you can see it at the beginning of the movie – as it was said before- , but then, he had to ask for money to a Jewish person, Shylock, to help his friend Bassanio (who, perhaps, was Antonio’s love, because Antonio did everything for Bassanio’s happiness for over his own happiness to be with Bassanio, without caring who could finish hurt). Antonio believed immensely in his friend Bassanio because if he helped him to marry Portia, Antonio was going to receive all money of Bassanio’s debts to him. Antonio could do everything to have wealth, even though "to be humiliated" asking money to a Jewish man to follow his good way to live or for Bassanio. However, Antonio knew in every moment that his money was going back to him at the end. On the contrary of Shylock’s story, Antonio ended greedier than at the beginning.
The confrontation of these both characters is the main issues of this story of these both worlds, Judaism and Christianity. It’s difficult to realize who won at the end of it, because in one side we have the world’s prevailing ideology and religion in this time, which was Christianity. And, in the other side, we have the people who thought and believed in a different way, that was Judaism. Obviously, in those lands the preponderance of people were Christians, so their moral, values, beliefs, thoughts, and the ideology were governing; and the other people who thought differently, had to be adapted in this dominant world. All this could be the context that these characters, Shylock and Antonio, had lived. There were many advantages pro Antonio which, in a first idea, won at the end, because he had his life, the money, the lost ships and the respect of the people thanks to the Christian moral and values. On the other hand, Shylock lost everything his money, his daughter, the people’s respectfulness and his dignity as a Jewish. Although, evidently, with this entire unbalance context Antonio had more probabilities to win, no one won, both of them lost in this war. Antonio ended with everything due to his lies, greed, ambition and deceits which all are the contrary of the main thought of his religion; therefore, hell is waiting for him. Shylock ended without everything due to his work, help, reliance, weak position in a catholic world, petition of respectfulness, fight and revenge which also the lasts are not the main issues of his religion; therefore, hell in the Earth is waiting for him. However, Shylock was almost always right. He said:
"To bait fish withal. If it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me and hind’ red me half a million; laughed at my losses, mock at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated my enemies. And what’s his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a
Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction." (ACT. III)In conclusion, what I have learned about this story that we have to respect people of whatever different, moral, values, beliefs, thoughts and feelings they could have. We should respect people because they are people, and this is the most important reason. It is not necessary to belong to a religion to become a better person. Or having more money is not the meaning of security of living a good life forever or to have the people’s respect. Deteriorating the level of credibility in some religions making the religion that you believe the dominant on the world is not the meaning of being virtuous. With this so much evil in the world that Shakespeare shows in this story, could some God really exist? What of all religions is the most credible? Perhaps, fighting for something that we are not sure if exists is not coherent in the Shakespeare’s world. We have to live our own truth (as Chaucer advices us with his poem "Truth"). Agreeing with and understanding Shylock most of the times, not because of our thoughts we are different physically; we all are human beings that should be appreciated, valued and esteemed in every time and that is what people very need, respectfulness in each other. However, on the contrary, the betrayal of not respect our peers will provoke us to be desperate about all prejudices, hatefulness, and injustice; thus, we shall want the revenge of our thoughts.
Betrayal and Revenge: Two Powerful Worlds which Go Together.
Betrayal and Revenge: Two Powerful Worlds which Go Together.
"The Merchant of Venice" (Movie)
"The Merchant of Venice" (Movie)
Outline:
"The Merchant of Venice"
Introduction
a. Summary
The Movie
b. Positive effects
c. Negative effects
Characters
d. Shylock
e. Antonio
Confrontation
Conclusion
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Allegories: what a mystery!
Thanks to the class I could try to find some answers to all questions in my mind about this letter and the class questions that I had before it. Seeking the perfection in humans, Spencer thought King Arthur was near about a perfect human, obviously, he was fixed by Spencer’s addition of his pretty emphasized 12 values, especially, holiness, temperance and chastity. Spencer chose this King because I guess he was very famous in those times an also he was helped by Merlin and other mystic creatures of the middle ages. Therefore, Spencer told to 
ad them)” and the lady knight (“Elizabeth I?” who was the most of her time alone), respectively. This must be his allegory, because allegory means hidden messages among a story which could have a moral, but the main intention is to awake the reader’s curiosity and thoughts about the story to analyze its meanings.
Supposedly, Spencer explained his intentions of his books in this letter, but I believe that this letter was another Spencer’s allegory, because there are many things in this letter that I could not catch instead of being more explicit, that is the reason to send this letter, isn’t it? So, maybe he explained his intentions to save his life from people whom misunderstood his books; or perhaps he tried to send those messages to Sir Raleigh taking advantages from those supposedly people’s misunderstandings, and explain the real meaning in codes that only Spencer and Sir Raleigh were aware about. According to Spencer’s references or bases such as Aristotle, Plato and others philosophers, virtuous people and politics; this letter and the 12 books could me allegories and messages.
Having or not the reason, this way of thinking, analyzing and seeking the meaning beyond what we read is very interesting.
Monday, May 4, 2009
could women be loved?
It is difficult to realize about what women really want as a result of all women are different and they live in singular contexts and cultures, therefore, each woman loves and wants to be loved in special ways. Most of them want to be desired, pleased, respected, and of course they do want to feel free. Women get their hopes up when they are in love with someone; however, it is not necessary to be in love when we talk about pleasure. Alison, "The Wife of Bath" by Chaucer, gives us some clues about what women look forward, set their eyes and expect about men. It is pretty interesting about a woman, in the middle ages, that had similar feelings about pleasure in women on nowadays. Depending on the women’s moral is the level of pleasure and satisfaction. Having any religion ideology, women are going to have satisfaction if they could have belonging to the religion submission. Nevertheless, is it good to be so liberal or too conservative? Perhaps, both are wrong, because extremes are wrong. What women really need is to be known and understood by men and without any prejudice about other people, and maybe, women could be pleased, who knows women are surprising gifts. 
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Can we live in truth?
What people really need is Truth in this world to make it better. Without worrying about throng’s life (referring to that people have greed illness and being with them is like to be ill as well). Truth is consciousness, rightfulness, intrinsic (me and I), satisfaction, goodness (with me, thus, with others), safety, certainty, courage and bravery, maybe a god’s way to live.
In this world people’s greed and ignorance is increasing everyday but their social climbing is not safe of what those people really want. Greed is next to uncertainty, but what is this greed and uncertainty about? What do people want? Is it money? Do they want money? Or what are they afraid of? Or it is something else. People’s ignorance makes them think that money shall safe them in this world but about what! Actually, today, people’s greed is worse, in terms of material things. This is destroying this world. We can see that.
Having the “power” of many people who has faith and beliefs on, religions, especially Catholic Church was bleed into the wealth of the world and it was a high social class which could change people’s life, mainly of poor people who do not know their truth, in those times and even today. Chaucer thought that it was not the way on being in truth and peace. Believe in god was good, but what really God wanted or wants is the goodness and no the wealth and convenience of the world. Thinking about the worse tragedies of the world, facts show that Catholic Church has committed most of them. Is it goodness?
In every moment I felt very good reading this poem. Even it corroborates my opinion about life. Belong a religious does not make you more generous or better. Your thoughts, feelings, and acts must be safe, healthy and fear with you and, thus with others. If you are in calm with your self and with the world (no talking only about people) god and the truth are going to deliver you from this hell.
In this world people’s greed and ignorance is increasing everyday but their social climbing is not safe of what those people really want. Greed is next to uncertainty, but what is this greed and uncertainty about? What do people want? Is it money? Do they want money? Or what are they afraid of? Or it is something else. People’s ignorance makes them think that money shall safe them in this world but about what! Actually, today, people’s greed is worse, in terms of material things. This is destroying this world. We can see that.
Having the “power” of many people who has faith and beliefs on, religions, especially Catholic Church was bleed into the wealth of the world and it was a high social class which could change people’s life, mainly of poor people who do not know their truth, in those times and even today. Chaucer thought that it was not the way on being in truth and peace. Believe in god was good, but what really God wanted or wants is the goodness and no the wealth and convenience of the world. Thinking about the worse tragedies of the world, facts show that Catholic Church has committed most of them. Is it goodness?
In every moment I felt very good reading this poem. Even it corroborates my opinion about life. Belong a religious does not make you more generous or better. Your thoughts, feelings, and acts must be safe, healthy and fear with you and, thus with others. If you are in calm with your self and with the world (no talking only about people) god and the truth are going to deliver you from this hell.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Epic Poem... Epic life
An epic poem talks about heroes and their incredible adventures in the past, such as Beowulf, Odyssey and the Iliad, Don Quijote de la Mancha, and so on. This is a long narrative that tries to show us what really happened in the past, as telling us about history. However, Are they (the stories) real? It is not sure that they are facts of History neither if they are, but they can give us some details that can tell a lot about those times, about what could ha
ppen. If we read a epic poem such as Beowulf, firstly, it is going to be very complex, then you can comprehend a little bit more about what happens in this story. Perhaps, it could be so fictional and incredible, although it is giving you a lot of information about what people did in those times. This sort of story was made by a human. Humans have imagination. Humans can intrerpret things as anything else. Nevertheless, humans, as us, can write / create things - as epic poem- connected to our world.
Literature = Expression
One of the most amazing human beings’ creations has been, through times, the Literature. Humans are sociable; we need to share with other humans our thoughts, feelings, and believes. Therefore, having language to pass the culture over each other, humans can express themselves through generations. Literature is not only written language, as we can think. According with this “Literature is the expression of culture using language to express it, such as writing, speaking and listening”(Students’ definition) I stick the language of blinds, mut
es, and deaf (body languages in general), because each of us express ourselves as we can, but we express anyway. On the other hand, what we really need is the way how we read the language or how we interpret something said. Reading literature is the most difficult part of language’s expression. Is completely clear what we are telling? Do people understand our messages as we send them? To be a good interpret of literature, first of all, we should read a lot and, at the same time, we do form an open-mind to understand more our people/culture/world.
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