When something is symbolic, it means that it is represented as a symbol of something else. For example, the sun chariot, through the use of deus ex machina in the play Medea by Euripides, is turned into a symbolic representation of the potential victory of Medea, or the approval of the divine beings of Medea’s actions. Thus, most of the times, when symbolism is applied to an action, object or an idea, it provides a deeper and, sometimes, a more abstract meaning than that of the word itself. Although it may not be debatable that the sun chariot in Medea is symbolic, of what it is the representation of certainly is. In the example of the sun chariot in Medea, the symbolism provides a vast number of possibilities of what it could represent, none of which can be said to be wrong as it depends on how the reader perceives the effects of the deus ex machina in the general story line. But fundamentally, whether or not the sun chariot has an inner meaning, and thus is symbolic, can also be subjected to discussion.

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