Metaphorical representations of virtues and vices in the Middle Ages
Metaphorical representations of virtues and vices in the Middle Ages

Summary/Abstract: The personification of virtues and vices was one of the important resources used, both as a tool in education and as a moral vision for mastering the biblical text, in the monastic communities, in the medieval period. In monastic culture, images of virtues and vices served monks to learn and memorize the moral teachings of the Church, and manuscript illustrations were intended to function as mnemonic devices, especially for monks who could not read. These images ranged from dynamic representations, which presented virtues and vices being in conflict, a conflict in which virtues prevailed and vices were defeated, to static representations of them, in antagonistic pairs or not. The images that represented the virtues acquired various aspects: anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, phytomorphic. Along with the dynamic or static personifications of virtues and vices, a series of metaphorical representations circulated, such as: the metaphors of the tree of virtues and vices, the garden of virtues, the wheel of virtues and vices and the ladder of virtues.

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