Fantastic Elements of Saint George and The Dragon

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Fantastic Elements of Saint George and The Dragon

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

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