morality tale
Story teaching virtue
A morality tale is a story designed to teach a lesson about right and wrong.
The characters and events serve the moral message, often in simplified or allegorical form: The fable of the tortoise and the hare is a morality tale about persistence.
The term can be dismissive when a story sacrifices complexity for didactic purpose: The film was less a drama than a morality tale.
Instructive allegorical narrative
- fableMoral tale with animals
- symbolismRepresenting concepts through images
- metaphorImplied identity comparison
- allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
personification · archetype · emblem · exemplum · apologue · beast fable · narrative · storytelling
Alert about danger
- consequencesResults of actions taken
- reckoningSettlement of accounts
- comeuppanceDeserved punishment or rebuke
- misfortuneAdverse circumstance or event
hubris · downfall · retribution · punishment · deterrent · admonition · forewarning · tragic flaw
Ancient Greek fable writer
- GrimmFolklorist brothers' surname
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
- folktaleTraditional narrative passed down
- bedtime storyTale told at tuck-in
oral tradition · proverb · myth · legend · Pilgrim's Progress · Everyman · mystery play · saga
Moral goodness or merit
- viceBad habit or deputy
- righteousnessMoral correctness or virtue
- sinViolation of divine law
- temptationUrge toward the unwise
redemption · conscience · good and evil · morals · integrity · corruption · innocence · guilt
Serving to teach
- edifyingIntellectually or morally uplifting
- enlighteningProviding new understanding
- pedagogicalRelating to teaching methods
- educationalPromoting knowledge or skill
preachy · sermonic · teaching moment · object lesson · prescriptive · improving · uplifting · edification
parable
Instructive allegorical narrative
- fableMoral tale with animals
- symbolismRepresenting concepts through images
- metaphorImplied identity comparison
allegory · personification · archetype · emblem · exemplum · apologue · beast fable · narrative · storytelling · symbolic meaning
warning
Alert about danger
- consequencesResults of actions taken
- reckoningSettlement of accounts
- comeuppanceDeserved punishment or rebuke
misfortune · hubris · downfall · retribution · punishment · deterrent · admonition · forewarning · tragic flaw · nemesis
Aesop
Ancient Greek fable writer
- GrimmFolklorist brothers' surname
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
- folktaleTraditional narrative passed down
bedtime story · oral tradition · proverb · myth · legend · Pilgrim's Progress · Everyman · mystery play · saga · storyteller
virtue
Moral goodness or merit
- viceBad habit or deputy
- righteousnessMoral correctness or virtue
- sinViolation of divine law
temptation · redemption · conscience · good and evil · morals · integrity · corruption · innocence · guilt · judgment
instructive
Serving to teach
- edifyingIntellectually or morally uplifting
- enlighteningProviding new understanding
- pedagogicalRelating to teaching methods
educational · preachy · sermonic · teaching moment · object lesson · prescriptive · improving · uplifting · edification · guidance
- storiesstory, tales, myth, legend, fable
- storytellingstorytelling, story, narrative, narrator, storyteller
- talesfunny stories, tall tales, short story, yarns, humorous tales
- mythsmyth, legend, fable, creation myth, origin story
- animal fablesfable, fables, beast fables, beast fable, animal fable
- fablesfable, Aesop, Aesop's fables, Aesop fables, tortoise and hare
morality taleescapist fiction
Entertainment through imaginary worlds
pulp fiction · popcorn movie · fluff · beach read · potboiler
morality talenoir
Hard-boiled film genre
moral ambiguity · moral complexity · slice of life · character study · moral relativism
tale, moral, immoral, morality, mores, amoral, immorality, moralizing, demoralize