Comparing the Bible and Margaret Laurences The Stone...

Comparing the Bible and Margaret Laurences The Stone Angel: An Examination of Archetypal References Often times great novels and plays allude to religion, to mythology, or to other literary works for dramatic purposes. Shakespearean plays are perfect examples. Allusions help the reader or spectator better understand, through visualization, a character or an event in a novel. In some cases, the characters, the events, or a series of events are structured according to the people and the action in other stories, whether the stories be religious, mythological, classical, or historical. The character or the event, therefore, becomes a prototype of the character or event alluded to. A prototypical character in a novel is usually referred†¦show more content†¦How do the two Hagars resemble each other? Both women hold relatively similar social positions. The Biblical Hagar is an Egyptian bondwoman bought as a servant for Sarah, Abrams wife. Hagar, by law, is bound to Sarah. Her freedom and spirit are restricted, or dictated, by Abram and Sarah. This ownership extends as far as Abr am having possession of Hagars body. When Sarah does not or cannot give Abram a child, Hagar is expected to do so. Dutifully, she bears him a son named Ishmael. In the same fashion that the law binds the Biblical Hagar to Abram and Sarah, Hagar Shipley is bound by - as D. Blewett points out - the Currie code of values, the Shipley freedom, and the Manawakan elitist attitude, in addition to her own pride (Blewett 36). Hagar Shipley is a modernised version of the Biblical Hagar, in that, people can no longer be bound as slaves in western culture but are, quite often, bound by personal or social restraints, like Hagar is. Hagars freedom is limited by the conflicting influences - internal versus external - in her own life. The Currie virtue keeps Hagar from expressing any outward form of emotion, which, ultimately, limits or ruins the majority of her relationships, including her marriage to Brampton Shipley. Initially attracted to the Shipley casualness and freedom, because it is the exact opposite to the Currie conformity, Hagar marries Bram, a poor farmer and social