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Literary Devices
Definition of Allegory
An allegory is a work that conveys a hidden meaning—usually moral, spiritual, or political—through the use of symbolic characters and events. The story of "The Tortoise and The Hare" is... read full definition
An allegory is a work that conveys a hidden meaning—usually moral, spiritual, or political—through the use of symbolic characters and events. The story of "The... read full definition
An allegory is a work that conveys a hidden meaning—usually moral, spiritual, or political—through the use of symbolic characters and... read full definition
The Journal (continued)
Explanation and Analysis—Jacob's Ladder:
In the Journal (continued), soon before Pamela and Mr. B. are married, Pamela's father visits her and is overjoyed about his daughter's impending marriage. One night, he has a dream that serves as an allegorical allusion:
But he indulged me, and was transported with Joy; and went to-bed, and dreamt of nothing but Jacob’s Ladder, and Angels ascending and descending, to bless him, and his Daughter.
In the Book of Genesis, Jacob must flee his homeland after he angers his brother Esau and Esau vows revenge. One night, Jacob lays his head on a rock and has a dream about a ladder that ascends up to heaven. Angels travel up and down the ladder. In the course of the dream, God appears to Jacob and tells him that the land the ladder stands on is to belong to Jacob and his descendants. When Jacob wakes, he turns the stone he has been resting on into the first stone of the city that will come to be known as Bethel. Jacob thus becomes a patriarch of the Israelites.
Pamela's father, too, dreams of Jacob's ladder. The allusion is explicit, but it is also allegorical. Pamela's father thinks of himself as Jacob. Through his daughter, he is about to become the patriarch of a new people. In this allegory, the ladder is not just a moral pathway to heaven. It is also a moral pathway to the upper echelons of society. Pamela's parents were once wealthier, but they have sacrificed their material wealth. However, they have never sacrificed their virtue and have spent their lives instilling into their daughter that her virtue will be rewarded. At long last, Pamela is about to marry a wealthy man and bring the family up the socioeconomic ladder. Pamela's stalwart virtue is the reason Mr. B. is marrying her, so Pamela's father is finally seeing a direct payoff for his faithful Christianity and Christian parenting. Class and morality are indelibly linked in his mind; he is finally seeing proof that morality can lead to riches, not just to interminable poverty.
Related Themes:
