The love story romance as an allegory
The allegorical component of the story is huge, and the moral implications of the narrative couldn't be more clear. This is the story of how waiting until marriage can help a couple have the experience and knowledge they need to have a healthy, balanced marriage.
The mystic allegory of masculine and feminine
The image of an old wise man educating young kids about life is a mystic symbol, where the man represents the crossroads between what is known and what is unknown. He's a dynamic force, and in his ancient wisdom, he tells the kids that love is a desire that can only be solved by a kiss, showing them how to combine their contrary, complimentary forces. Later, they learn about sex, the ultimate union of the genders, but they wait, and their decision to wait is regarded as wise, and they're rewarded for that.
Exposure as a symbol for abandonment issues
Exposure is the Greek practice of abandoning infants in the wilderness, causing them to die from exposure to the elements. In the context of this story, the terrible practice is a metaphor, showing what makes the two teens compatible romantically—it's the fact that they both need to work through their abandonment issues and come to peace with their parents' failures.
The motif of suitors and abduction
When Daphnis is under the threat of rape, he is experiencing an aspect of life that Chloe is constantly aware of. The story even takes the time to name two of her suitors with intents to forcibly rape her after kidnapping her and taking her somewhere else. That's pretty common in Greek literature, but the fact that the same things happen to Daphnis that happen to Chloe is a unique feature of the story. Perhaps a good interpretation would be that this is to show that Daphnis is in touch with his feminine side and his propensity toward victimhood, which would be great advantages in a relationship with Chloe, since her story involves the same things.
Daphnis's journey as an allegory of male maturation
Look at Daphnis's subjection to unjust masculine forces, namely the pirates, who wanted to rid him of his identity and sense of masculine pride. This is an image of what the world says to a young man—bow down and serve. But Daphnis's growth allows him to deal with the competitive masculinity of the earth successfully, and his maturation is evidence of his worthiness for marriage.
