LOVERIDGE, Jordan

Fall 2019, 49.4, pages 409–427

Praise Bee!: Allegory and Interpretation in the Aberdeen Bestiary

Abstract: This essay argues that medieval bestiaries are dependent on and best understood through a process of rhetorical hermeneutics indebted to Augustine’s theory of interpretation. The essay suggests that texts such as the Aberdeen Bestiary leverage the instability of allegorical and the clarity of tropological representation to blur the line between human and nonhuman, encouraging the reader to reflect on predatory human-animal relationships and act to reduce actions that impact the natural world.