Margaret Hodges adapted “Saint George and The Dragon” from its original work that was written by Edmund Spencer. “Saint George and The Dragon” is a short story that was published in 1984. Margaret Hodges, who adapted this fantastic literature, is from North America. ” Saint George and The Dragon” shows many characteristic of Magical Realism; however, it is Fantastic Literature.
“Saint George and The Dragon” is similar to Magical Realism because the characters within the story treat the events as a normal occurrence. The way in which reality is mixed with a touch of non-reality supports that the story is one of Magical Realism. Another essential part of Magical Realism is the normality of the characters. The lead character within “Saint George and The Dragon” is ordinary or mundane. Unlike fantastic literature with its Hercules and many unreal heroes, Saint George is just a normal human being. Finally, the one element that carries the largest weight is no limitations are set through out the entire story. The way that the story sets no boundaries is extremely important. It is for that reason that “Saint George and The Dragon” is probably teetering on the balance of being listed under Magical Realism.
“Saint George and The Dragon” does have its differences from Magical Realism, though. For instance, many things within the short story could never happen or even exist. Dragons, Fairies, and Dwarfs are all unrealistic. What is even more unrealistic is the fact that Saint George battles the dragon and defeats it.
Biblical allusions are sewn throughout the short story. The biblical allusions seemed as if they where almost subliminally encoded. Perhaps the simplest clue is in the title, Saint George. However, if one reads closely one can begin to pick up on the biblical allusions:
But the old hermit said, “The Fairy Queen has sent you to
do brave deeds in this world. That High City that you see is
in another world. Before you climb the path to it and hang
your shield on its wall, go down into the valley and fight
the dragon that you were sent to fight. It is time for me to
tell you that you were not born of fairy folk, but of English
earth. The fairies stole you away as a baby while you slept
Camparing Christianity and Buddhism
The purpose of this essay is to briefly compare some key elements of the Christian and
Buddhist worldview as pertaining to the concept of God, the soul, suffering, and their view of
religious concepts.
Concept of God
First let’s look the idea of God. According to the Christian religion God is divine and is
Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscience and that man was made in his image. Christianity’s
approach is that man was created by an external God in which the goal of the Christian’s life is
to be one with God. This oneness with God is considered to be attainable by following the
teaching of Jesus Christ whom was considered to be God’s physical embodiment here on earth.
Jesus was considered as one with God, the son of God and yet God himself too. His teachings
were those that came from God’s commands. Thus the way to God was through Jesus and his
teachings, the Bible.
The Buddhist believes that there is not an external concept of a God. “All that exists is
spontaneous arising, in the same way that a flower grows organically from seed, given the right
causes and conditions.” (“Is There a Difference”, Alan Pope, ¶ 5). Some non-Buddhist often
misunderstand the nature of Buddha was that of the same concept of Jesus, the personification
of God on earth; this is far from the truth. Buddha was once asked what he was; a conversation
between him and another can best describe how Buddha rejects this concept. He was asked a
series of questions: “What are you?” “Are you a god?” “No.” “An angel?” “No.” “A saint?”
“No.” “Then what are you?” Buddha answered “I am awake.” (“The Illustrated World’s
Religions, Huston Smith, pg. 60 ¶ 1-2). Buddha was referring to being awake that he was
enlightened t…
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… the individual as the redeemer of suffering as opposed to the Christian
view of an external God, Christ, as the redeemer of man’s suffering. Christianity takes the
approach that all things are the creation of an external God. Buddhism does not acknowledge
the presence of an external God as I stated earlier the Buddhist view is, “All that exists is
spontaneous arising, in the same way that a flower grows organically from seed, given the right
causes and conditions.” (“Is There a Difference”, Alan Pope, ¶ 5).
Works Cited:
† Ethics across Cultures, An Introduction Text With Readings, by Michael C. Brannigan.
† The Illustrated World’s Religions, A Guide to Our Wisdom Traditions, by Huston
Smith.
† “Is There a Difference”, Iconic Images of Suffering in Buddhism and Christianity, by
Alan Pope, University of West Georgia.