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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
Book 3, Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Sixty-Four Knights:
Lancelot, on one of his quests from early in the third book, hears from a "lady" riding a white mare in the forest, about an especially violent man:
"His name is Sir Turquine."
"Good."
"Some say he is a madman. He has sixty-four knights in prison, whom he has captured in single combat, and he spends the time beating them with thorns. If he captures you, he will beat you too, all naked."
"He sounds an exciting man to fight."
"It is a sort of concentration camp."
"That is what I have been getting ready for," said Sir Lancelot. "It is what Arthur invented the Round Table to prevent."
The conversation becomes a rather straightforward allegory: Arthur and his round table are the post-war Western Bloc, NATO, and the U.S. military-industrial complex, meant to "prevent" people like Turquine. He, in contrast, represents the forces of fascism against which that Western Bloc fought in World War II. It should be noted that Arthur knows the explicit events of the future, via Merlyn, so this allegory is quite literal: Arthur may have imagined the Round Table protecting against real concentration camps centuries in the future.
To many readers in the present day, this sort of allegory may seem trite, even cheesy, with an abundance of confidence in the American ability to prevent crisis around the world. But White, writing in the early 1950s, could write this allegory rather earnestly, since the traumatic history of World War II was still so fresh.
