Allegory is an allegory in translation from the Greek

"Well, you and Plyushkin!" - we are talking miser, who collects all sorts of unnecessary things just for the sake of accumulation. Or: "Here is a donkey," - about a man stupid and stubborn. When we see a floating pigeon in the picture, we understand that it is a question of purity and loftiness of spirit, Judas is about betrayal, a woman with a blindfold and scales in hand, about impartiality and justice. And we do not even think about that in speech and consciousness we appeal to such a notion as an allegory. This is when something abstract and abstract is transmitted in the form of a specific image, artistic or literary. After all, we learned from the Bible that Judas betrayed Christ and forever became an image of treachery and treachery, from the fairy tales gathered information that the fox is a cunning, a hare is cowardice and so on.

In translation from Greek allegoria (allegory) - this is an allegory. We can write "Pharmacy", and we can represent a bowl with a snake, and in either case everyone will understand what is behind this door, but the first decision is rectilinear, and the second is allegorical.

For the first time this concept was given in the treatises of Cicero and pseudo-Longinus, devoted to the art of the orator. In the Middle Ages it was believed that allegory is one of the meanings that any artistic or literary work must necessarily possess. It should also have a literal, moral and educational value.

Allegory in the literature was used very widely and at much later times. For example, Gogol's novel Dead Souls is full of allegorical characters: Plyushkin, Korobochka, Sobakevich, Nozdrev - each of them is the brightest example of some human vice or, say, impartial character traits: stinginess, idleness, depravity, etc.

There are whole genres, which are mainly based on the allegory of the images used: a fable, a fairy tale, a parable. Wake up at night any pupil of the fifth grade and ask: "What is the fable of Krylov" Crow and Fox? "" - About flattery and vanity ", - the schoolboy reports and again burrows into the blanket. Well, in the morning, after wiping his eyes, he will tell you about Saltykov-Shchedrin with his "wise Pescari", and about the bird market of Gorky: stupid Penguin, bold Sokol, Burevestnik, a black lightning like that. If a young child is found somewhere nearby, it can also be subjected to a blitz-poll: "Bear?" - "Power, clumsiness, naivete!" - "Wolf?" - "Malice, bloodthirstiness, stupidity!" - "Fox?" - "Cunning, perfidy, treachery!" - "Well done! Hold the candy! "

So even small children know perfectly well what an allegory is. It is comprehended literally from the first books, puppet shows, old cartoons.

What other kind of art, besides literature, is inherent in the use of such a device as an allegory? Painting, of course, sculpture, graphics, other genres of fine art, both classical and modern.

A good example is the sculpture "The Bronze Horseman" in St. Petersburg. On the crest of the wave, King Peter rises on a hot horse, hoofs on the snake. The wave is a natural element that had to be overcome in order to build a city (the steep banks of the Neva River), the snake - obstacles and difficulties at every turn awaiting the reformer, the horse - Russia, excited by innovations and ideas of its ruler.

In painting, many great artists addressed the allegorical images: Raphael, Botticelli, Titian, Rubens and many others.