The World as Will and Idea — Schopenhauer — John Shaqi
The World as Will and Idea
Schopenhauer · German
as insight for science, but it has not been believed; an allegorical
picture representing time as it lifts the veil, and discloses the naked
figure of Truth, will affect him powerfully; but the same effect would be
produced by the legend: “_Le temps découvre la vérité._” For what really
produces the effect here is the abstract thought, not the object of
perception.
If then, in accordance with what has been said, allegory in plastic and
pictorial art is a mistaken effort, serving an end which is entirely
foreign to art, it becomes quite unbearable when it leads so far astray
that the representation of forced and violently introduced subtilties
degenerates into absurdity. Such, for example, is a tortoise, to represent
feminine seclusion; the downward glance of Nemesis into the drapery of her
bosom, signifying that she can see into what is hidden; the explanation of
Bellori that Hannibal Carracci represents voluptuousness clothed in a
yellow robe, because he wishes to indicate that her lovers soon fade and
become yellow as straw. If there is absolutely no connection between the
representation and the conception signified by it, founded on subsumption
under the concept, or association of Ideas; but the signs and the things
signified are combined in a purely conventional manner, by positive,
accidentally introduced laws; then I call this degenerate kind of allegory
_Symbolism_. Thus the rose is the symbol of secrecy, the laurel is the
symbol of fame, the palm is the symbol of peace, the scallop-shell is the
symbol of pilgrimage, the cross is the symbol of the Christian religion.
To this class also belongs all significance of mere colour, as yellow is
the colour of falseness, and blue is the colour of fidelity. Such symbols
may often be of use in life, but their value is foreign to art. They are
simply to be regarded as hieroglyphics, or like Chinese word-writing, and
really belong to the same class as armorial bearings, the bush that
indicates a public-house, the key of the chamberlain, or the leather of
the mountaineer. If, finally, certain historical or mythical persons, or
personified conceptions, are represented by certain fixed symbols, these
are properly called _emblems_. Such are the beasts of the Evangelist, the
owl of Minerva, the apple of Paris, the Anchor of Hope, &c. For the most
part, however, we understand by emblems those simple allegorical
representations explained by a motto, which are meant to express a moral
truth, and of which large collections have been made by J. Camerarius,
Alciatus, and others. They form the transition to poetical allegory, of
which we shall have more to say later. Greek sculpture devotes itself to
the perception, and therefore it is _æsthetical_; Indian sculpture devotes
itself to the conception, and therefore it is merely _symbolical_.