Allegory vs Metaphor: Conceptualizing French Kingdom in the 14th — 15th Centuries

Abstract

The article deals with the strategies used by French medieval authors of the 14th — 15th centuries to comprehend the state and society with the help of cognitive tools like metaphor and allegory. Writers and poets of that period, such as Nicolas Oresme, Eustache Deschamps, Jean Gerson, Christina de Pisan and others, use the same expressive means in their works, but the means themselves can be expressions of different, even opposite ideas. The article considers the metaphor of the political body and the allegorical figure of France, which French thinkers most frequently resorted to. The metaphor of the body expresses the idea of the integrity of the state, the harmonious combination and functionality of all parts of society, thus helping to form a political and philosophical doctrine of the state structure. Allegory, on the other hand, as a certain personification of this body, outlines the state as a female figure, becoming the archetypal “damsel in distress” in order to form an identity and loyal feelings in the reader. Thus, this or that trope dictated the model for describing the state, and vice versa-the choice of this or that trope signified the desire to convey certain ideas to potential recipients.