Allegory vs Parable: Difference and Comparison

Art is one of the most enjoyable things in nature. People used to teach morals to adults and children. Stories help to educate the morals where children show interest in learning. Allegory and Parable are the literary devices that describe the artwork of the story.  

Key Takeaways

1. Allegories are symbolic stories with a deeper meaning, while parables are simple stories that teach moral lessons.
2. Allegories can be found in various forms of literature and art, whereas parables are specific to religious texts and teachings.
3. Allegories are more complex and detailed, while parables are shorter and simpler.

Allegory vs Parable  

The difference between Allegory and Parable is that Allegory is a literary device that uses the arts to develop a story. In Contrast, a Parable is a literary device that helps to explain a short story with morals. Allegory literary device work on artwork that reveals the hidden meaning of the artwork.  

Allegory is a literary device that develops a story in the form of artwork. In Allegory, the story had narrated by using the characters, events, and places. In Allegory, Characters, events and places help in describing real-world issues in the form of stories.

Allegory is used to deliver a broad message to the world. Allegory helps the writers to create distance between themselves and the problems.  

In Contrast, the Parable is a literary device that dictates the short stories. These stories deliver morals and principles to the world. Parables are different from fables, where fables use animals, plants, and inanimate objects to develop the story.

Parable devices use human characters to describe moral stories.  

Comparison Table  

Parameters of Comparison	Allegory	Parable
Meaning	Allegory is a literary device that helps to develop a story through artwork.	The Parable is a literary device that develops a brief story with human characters.
Uses	Allegory uses the characters, places or events to develop a story.	Parable devices use human characters to develop a story.
Reveal	The allegory device reveals the hidden meaning of the story of the artwork.	Parable devices will teach the morals and principles through the short story.
Difference	Allegory works on artwork to describe the story that gives a broad message to the real world.	Parable devices had used to develop a short and brief story that illustrates one or more lessons and principles.
Examples	The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a religious allegory.	Bible and Quran are religious Parables.

What is Allegory?  

Allegory is a literary device that helps in developing the stories through artwork. Allegory devices use to narrate the story by using characters, places and events to deliver a message about real-world issues.

Allegory work on art reveals the hidden meaning of the artwork with morals. The stories of allegories describe the real problems in the world and their occurrences. Allegory had used to deliver a broad message to the world.

Allegory helps the writers to create distance between themselves and the issues. The issues had strongly analyzed politics and social realities. It is a short story that explains the lengthy points about society.  

Allegory devices had used to explain the large and complex motives most simply. Some of the Characteristics of the Allegory are writer’s values, Multiple Meanings, Polarizing Relationships and Object Personification.

Allegories are different from metaphors, where metaphors had used to describe the speech with brief figures. The Allegory device conveys the whole story with characters. Allegories had differentiated into two types,  

• Political or historical allegories  
•  The Allegory of Ideas.  

The purpose of Allegories is the writer should convey the hidden meaning of a story through symbolic figures, characters, places, events, and actions. Some of the examples of Allegories are,  

1. Animal Farm  
2. The Faerie Queene  
3. The Frog and Nightingale  
4. The Scarlet Letter  
5. Lord of the Flies  

The author is willing to convey the moral or political meaning through the above symbols. Allegories can write in sentences, poetry, literature, novels, movies and many others.  

What is Parable?  

The Parable is a literary device that helps to convey morals or principles through a short story. Parable had used to dictate the prose or verse with instructive morals. Parables use human devices to describe the stories.

Parable devices are different from Fables, where fables use animals, plants, and inanimate objects to develop the story. Parable devices use human characters to convey morals where readers can feel things with imagination while reading the stories.

The Parable is a Greek word that means ‘Comparison’. The Parable teaches a moral lesson that relates to society with a brief narrative. The parable also coveys the universal truth by using symbols, metaphors and similes in moral lessons.   

The intentions of the Parables are to teach the morals, principles or lessons in a brief story that readers can understand easily. Primarily, Parable devices teach religious or moral stories. There are so many parables that had attributed to Jesus.

The Parables had distinguished into three groups they are Similitude, Parable, and Exemplary stories. The Exemplary story is also known as Illusions. The types of Parables are,   

• Similes  
• Extended Comparisons   
• Similitude  
• Example stories  
• Narrative stories  
• Non-Christian Parables  

Similes are the short type of stories that develops to convey morals. Parables were primarily compact about Jesus in the 19th century. To covey the truth, Jesus used to teach the Parables in ancient days. Some of the examples of the Parables are,  

1. Bible  
2. Quran  
3. Parable of the Pearl  
4. The Farmers seeds  
5. Storytime with Jesus  
6. Two Sons  

There are so many Parables, and the Parables taught by Jesus to live in the world with dignity. Bible and Quran are the religious Parables that people used to read. Parables will use to keep the people in the right way to reach their goals.   

Main Differences Between Allegory and Parables  

1. Allegory is a literary device that conveys the story in the form of art. In contrast, Parable is a literary device that describes morals in the form of short stories.  
2. Allegory uses symbols, images, characters, places and events to develop a story, whereas Parable uses human characters to explain a story.  
3. Allegory works on art to describe the hidden meaning, and the Parable work on brief stories that convey morals.  
4. Allegory reveals the hidden meaning of the story, whereas Parables teach morals with brief stories.  
5. The writers create the distance to find the truth in Allegory, where Jesus had taught the parables.  

References

1. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1560206
2. https://www.manchesterhive.com/downloadpdf/journals/bjrl/42/2/article-p273.pdf
3. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=P2UvmRVLF18C&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=+Allegory+and+Parable&ots=gSYK28mZYk&sig=NRImRfSzvJ6ghy625XdBELctMbk