Rama’s story as the Ramayana was originally composed as a beautiful poem by Valmiki and others. Because of its poetic nature, it is full of symbolism, artistry and special linguistic expressions. Consequently, a number of situations in the Ramayana can be interpreted differently by different readers because of their pre-existing bias and understanding. Consider for example the events and characters given below.

(1) Sita (Janaki):

Sita, the daughter of king Janak of Mithila, is described to have been born from the ground (earth) while Janak plowed a field. In reality it could be that Janak or his people had found her in a field -- perhaps, after she was abandoned as a new-born by her natural mother.

After being discovered by Janak, Sita was adopted by him as his daughter (Janaki) and he raised her as a princess with great love and care.

This example also emphasizes the need for accepting and raising girls properly. Moreover, it indicates that even a king should be prepared to do the lowly manual work (e.g. plowing) in case of emergency.

(2) Ravana (the king of Lanka):

The ten heads of Ravana symbolize his great learning and having the knowledge equivalent to ten men. Unfortunately, Ravana most likely also had the lust, anger and greed of ten men, leading ultimately to his downfall.

(3) Kumbhakarana (brother of Ravana):

Kumbhakarana is shown to be a strong man with great capacity for eating food and sleeping. This naturally serves as a warning against over-eating (gluttony) and its sleep-inducing (lethargic) effects.

(4) Jatayu (the devoted bird):

Rama, after returning to his hut, learnt about the missing Sita from an injured Jatayu. According to the Ramayana accounts, the nature of this communication between Rama and Jatayu is confusing and leads to the false impression as if the bird was actually speaking.

Note that Jatayu probably was a large (ostrich like) bird belonging to Sita and Rama during their exile. When Ravana attacked and tried to kidnap Sita from her hut during Rama’s absence, her pet Jatayu tried to protect its mistress (owner) by attacking Ravana. It was a typical and natural reaction on the part of a loving pet. Ravana immediately injured the bird in a duel and left it to die. Then he escaped carrying Sita with him.

When Rama returned and found Sita missing and Jatayu in a fatally wounded condition outside the hut, he immediately understood what had happened. He realized that Sita probably had been kidnapped by someone very strong, who had also fatally wounded Jatayu when it tried to help her. Moreover, since Rama was already aware of such bad behavior of powerful Ravana in that area, he might have easily suspected Ravana’s hand in it. Thus, it was not really necessary for Jatayu to do the actual talking.

(5) Ahalya:

The story of Ahalya -- sage Gautama’s wife who supposedly turned into a pillar of salt because of her liaison with Indra (the giver of rain) -- can be similarly interpreted.

For example, Ahalya could also represent the un-plow-able (a-hal-ya) and infertile land belonging to Gautama near his hermitage. It probably had turned barren through over-use and excessive rains. The excess water from Indra’s rains could have inundated this land (belonging to Gautama) -- churning and bringing up the chemicals in the soil to the surface as salt -- making it completely infertile.

This perhaps explains the symbolism behind story of Ahalya being cursed into a pillar of salt because of her association with Indra (or his rainwater). Note that, only later, when Rama (during his exile) would visit the dead (barren) Ahalya and touch her with his feet (or work on the barren land), Ahalya (or a-hal-ya) would be restored to life (making the land fertile again). Moreover, according to some Ramayana versions, restoration of ahalya to life by Rama was so complete and successful as if the previously barren ‘lady’ (land) underwent thousands of ‘vaginal birthings’ (vegetation sproutings). Needless to say, this story also shows prince Rama’s preparedness to perform any task (high, low or even manual) and adhere to his duty.
Ref.: http://www.sulekha.com/groups/postdisplay.aspx?cid=705405&forumid=756919

Note that sometimes Indra is described as possessing a thousand phalli, which most likely is a reference to his tremendous capacity to cause widespread rains and their effect on the land in bearing enormous foliage (vegetation).

(6) Sabri (the destitute old woman):

Rama’s eating of fruits offered by old, poor and destitute Sabri shows his great acceptance, love and kindness to everyone, including the downtrodden, in spite of his being a great and powerful prince.

(7) Hanuman (Hanumat):

Sometimes it is confusing that Hanuman could be a monkey who flew across the sea between Lanka (Srilanka) and India.

Note that, according to Sanskrit and Hindi, a hanuman can also be a strong-jawed man and not just a monkey. This would imply that Hanuman in the Ramayana probably was a very powerful and big man, belonging either to the same race as Rama or perhaps to another one. Moreover, the same thing could be said about the other supposed monkeys in Rama’s army in reality being just big and strong-jawed men.

Hanuman is described to become larger or smaller depending on the situation, the implication of which could be his adaptability and willingness to take on any type of duty (big or small, significant or insignificant, and even perhaps requiring the use of a disguise) in spite of being a great person. The message here is quite clear that no duty should be considered small or insignificant, and every task should be treated equally important.

Hanuman is also described in the Ramayana as flying. Note that in reality his flying simply could mean running very fast as a strong and big man. There are several examples in literature and poetry where a person is described to be running so fast as if flying.

This would imply that Hanuman crossed the sea between Lanka and India as a fast runner and swimmer and not as a flyer. Moreover, on his way to Lanka, he could hop over and swim across numerous shoals existing between Lanka and India. It is believed that during Rama's time the water between Lanka and India was not as deep as now and had considerably more number of shoals making it easy to cross. Even now, long after the Ramayana, when the water between Lanka and India seems deeper than before, people like Mihir Sen (only recently, a few decades ago) are crossing it by swimming.

(8) Setu (the bridge between India and Lanka):

Before Rama started the construction of Setu for moving his army from India to Lanka in an effort to free Sita from Ravana’s captivity, he prayed and the ocean seemed to give way. This could imply that the sea was not very deep and had large number of shoals. Similarly, during the construction of Setu, the building materials were described to float, which could indicate that the bridge perhaps was a floating structure, interconnecting and passing through many shoals along the way.

(9) Agni-Priksha (Oath in front of the fire):

After Ravana’s defeat and death in the battle against Rama, Sita gained freedom from prison. She declared her loyalty to Rama and gave evidence about her chastity using the Agni-priksha (fire test). In reality, it would involve Sita taking an oath of innocence in front of the sacred fire (Agni) and not actually jumping in it and coming out of it unscathed.
Ref.: APPENDIX (Was Sita chaste according to the ‘fire test’ or Agni priksha?) -- “Essence of the Ramayana” http://www.geocities.com/lamberdar/ramayana.html

(10) Vimaan (a vehicle):

In the Ramayana, the word Vimaan appears repeatedly as a vehicle used by Rama and others. Note that Vimaan in Sanskrit applies to many forms of transport - cart, chariot, watercraft, aircraft. It is possible that Vimaan in the Ramayana was just a chariot and not really an aircraft. Thus, the Pushpak vimaan in reality could be a chariot (decorated with flowers) which brought Rama home to Ayodhya after his victory over Ravana.