Universal Symbols

There are symbols in literature such as food, drink, death, light, darkness, marriage, and other concepts that are universal to man and require no set language. Many of these symbols deal with marriage or lovemaking, such as much of the Indian architecture in which they use sculptures to depict multiple couples making love on the wall of temples or other important buildings. In all cultures there is of course the phallic symbol. This is where Freud steps in and would tell you that the phallic symbol, and any other sexually involved symbols, is the most dominant and easiest to communicate between peoples. The base instincts of man urge us to create sexual and nature scenes of courtship in all forms of the arts, especially literature. Humans are sexual beings.