Allegory, Functions of

a) Allegories sum up or synthesize situations and compensate difficulties one may have in fully grasping a situation.

b) Upon understanding a real situation in an allegorical way, one can then operate indirectly upon the real situation.

c) As a system of images, an allegory tends to transfer charges from the consciousness to the centers of response (as in laughing, crying, making love, aggressive confrontation, etc.), and thus discharge tension within the psychism.