Allegory Term Analysis

An allegory is a form of extended metaphor where characters, things, or events in one story refer to meanings that lie outside the story itself. It is a genre which was popular in the medieval period. Although C. S. Lewis explicitly said that he did not write The Chronicles of Narnia as a direct allegory of Christianity, he certainly did use an allegorical mode to create suggestive links between the two. Aslan’s role throughout the series mirrors the story of Jesus Christ in the Christian Bible, for example. Prince Caspian employs these same resonances while also focusing on its own plot and embracing Greek mythology (for instance in the characters of Bacchus and Silenus and the presence of dryads and naiads).