St. George (AtS Spoilers)
Apr. 18th, 2004 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperxI'm too tired tonight to do much expounding of my own. So this is more just facts that, knowing Joss could be absolutely meaningless as he doesn't research worth squat. Then again, he is obsessed with symbollism. Anyway...
Upon hearing that the end is Spike, Angel and Illyria facing a
dragon the immediate thought that came to me was the symbolism of
this. I immediately thought of St. George slaying the dragon. A
quick google of it convinces me that if Joss also thought of the
whole legend of the Knight slaying the Dragon... it seems to fit
with the metaphor that he might be going for.
******************************************************************
Raphael's "St. George Slaying the Dragon"
http://landru.i-link-2.net/shnyves/smraphael.George.dragon.jpeg
Quote:
Although the painting does not represent history, it makes a great
deal of sense as a parable of good overcoming evil. This evil can be
seen as both external and internal. Our world is a battleground, and
this is depicted by the setting. It is a pastoral landscape, not
celestial, or beastly. The area seems appealing, rather than awful,
as one might expect if the evil is in control. Why? Normal life, and
even the earth itself is a mix between what is good and beautiful
and what is evil. God created the land good, but this evil has come
to poison it, and the danger may not be easily seen.
[snip] The Dragon is a muscular, fast moving animal with wings. He
is obviously dangerous.[...] . He represents the devil, earthly evil
and our own inner evil.
*******************************************************************
From a Theosophy site:
"The romantic legends of the past seem a far cry from the realism of
the modern world. And yet the romance of St George and the Dragon
strikes at the very heart of our existence.
St George. the legendary slayer of the Dragon was an early Christian
who was martyred under the rule of the Roman Diocletian in A. D.
303. [...] Most, if not all romantic legends are really allegories,
stories making use of some historical person or persons and events
to portray teachings of a moral, philosophical or spiritual kind, or
indeed all three. [...] Consequently, although the legend of St
George includes the same symbolism as the biblical deeds of St
Michael the Archangel in Revelation, the latter story deals
primarily with spiritual matters of the most abstruse kind. The
legend of St George on the other hand aims quite directly at some
essential matters of personal psychology and spirituality that we
all should be able to understand.
For example Gaskell has the following to say about St George and the
Dragon: 'Emblematical of Reason overcoming the lower Emotion nature:
or of Mind controlling Desire. The horse and rider signify
intelligence under the direction of the will: and the dragon is the
lower nature which wars against the soul - the selfish nature which
devours the innocent and obstructs liberty and justice .. '
[...] As a symbol, the serpent is often equivalent and
interchangeable with the dragon and the symbolism used with either
is very powerful. Madame Blavatsky refers to 'the primal idea of the
dual, Janus-like character of the Serpent: the good and the bad'
[...] The duality of the dragon/serpent symbol is the key to gaining
some understanding of the maze of allegories and superstitions about
both of them. It is 'A symbol of the inner-forces of the relative
existence, which appear and again disappear, by which the growth of
the soul is accomplished. These forces are dual, and of the higher
and lower natures. They act reciprocally although in opposition.
[...] And so the dragon/serpent is associated with the idealism of
the higher nature and the sin and struggles of our lower. [...] 'In
a great many legends, overlaying its deepest symbolic sense, the
dragon appears with this very meaning of the primordial enemy with
whom combat is the supreme test, Apollo, Cadmus, Perseus and
Siegfried all conquer the dragon.'
[...]The dragon or its equivalent the serpent, is also used to
allegorise contrasting states and cycles of time. As H. P. B. puts
it: 'the Serpent has ever been the type of consecutive or serial
rejuvenation, of Immortality and Time.' 9
And so the legend of St George clearly deals with human incarnation
and the metempsychosis of the immortal soul as it undertakes its
long cycle of lives on earth. The lower self, the dragon, is
destroyed, impaled by the lance or sword of the spiritual will
wielded by the Higher spiritual Self, St George, culminating in the
slaying, complete absorption and redemption of that lower self.
****************************************************************
And about St. George:
George became patron of soldiers
[...] The fame of Saint George as a defender of Christianity was
imposed on the Greek legendary story of the Virgin Andromeda and
Perseus and retold as Saint George and the Dragon. The story quickly
spread westwards and was thought to have been brought to Iona by
Bishop Arculf in the 7th century.
*****************************************************************
Upon hearing that the end is Spike, Angel and Illyria facing a
dragon the immediate thought that came to me was the symbolism of
this. I immediately thought of St. George slaying the dragon. A
quick google of it convinces me that if Joss also thought of the
whole legend of the Knight slaying the Dragon... it seems to fit
with the metaphor that he might be going for.
******************************************************************
Raphael's "St. George Slaying the Dragon"
http://landru.i-link-2.net/shnyves/smraphael.George.dragon.jpeg
Quote:
Although the painting does not represent history, it makes a great
deal of sense as a parable of good overcoming evil. This evil can be
seen as both external and internal. Our world is a battleground, and
this is depicted by the setting. It is a pastoral landscape, not
celestial, or beastly. The area seems appealing, rather than awful,
as one might expect if the evil is in control. Why? Normal life, and
even the earth itself is a mix between what is good and beautiful
and what is evil. God created the land good, but this evil has come
to poison it, and the danger may not be easily seen.
[snip] The Dragon is a muscular, fast moving animal with wings. He
is obviously dangerous.[...] . He represents the devil, earthly evil
and our own inner evil.
*******************************************************************
From a Theosophy site:
"The romantic legends of the past seem a far cry from the realism of
the modern world. And yet the romance of St George and the Dragon
strikes at the very heart of our existence.
St George. the legendary slayer of the Dragon was an early Christian
who was martyred under the rule of the Roman Diocletian in A. D.
303. [...] Most, if not all romantic legends are really allegories,
stories making use of some historical person or persons and events
to portray teachings of a moral, philosophical or spiritual kind, or
indeed all three. [...] Consequently, although the legend of St
George includes the same symbolism as the biblical deeds of St
Michael the Archangel in Revelation, the latter story deals
primarily with spiritual matters of the most abstruse kind. The
legend of St George on the other hand aims quite directly at some
essential matters of personal psychology and spirituality that we
all should be able to understand.
For example Gaskell has the following to say about St George and the
Dragon: 'Emblematical of Reason overcoming the lower Emotion nature:
or of Mind controlling Desire. The horse and rider signify
intelligence under the direction of the will: and the dragon is the
lower nature which wars against the soul - the selfish nature which
devours the innocent and obstructs liberty and justice .. '
[...] As a symbol, the serpent is often equivalent and
interchangeable with the dragon and the symbolism used with either
is very powerful. Madame Blavatsky refers to 'the primal idea of the
dual, Janus-like character of the Serpent: the good and the bad'
[...] The duality of the dragon/serpent symbol is the key to gaining
some understanding of the maze of allegories and superstitions about
both of them. It is 'A symbol of the inner-forces of the relative
existence, which appear and again disappear, by which the growth of
the soul is accomplished. These forces are dual, and of the higher
and lower natures. They act reciprocally although in opposition.
[...] And so the dragon/serpent is associated with the idealism of
the higher nature and the sin and struggles of our lower. [...] 'In
a great many legends, overlaying its deepest symbolic sense, the
dragon appears with this very meaning of the primordial enemy with
whom combat is the supreme test, Apollo, Cadmus, Perseus and
Siegfried all conquer the dragon.'
[...]The dragon or its equivalent the serpent, is also used to
allegorise contrasting states and cycles of time. As H. P. B. puts
it: 'the Serpent has ever been the type of consecutive or serial
rejuvenation, of Immortality and Time.' 9
And so the legend of St George clearly deals with human incarnation
and the metempsychosis of the immortal soul as it undertakes its
long cycle of lives on earth. The lower self, the dragon, is
destroyed, impaled by the lance or sword of the spiritual will
wielded by the Higher spiritual Self, St George, culminating in the
slaying, complete absorption and redemption of that lower self.
****************************************************************
And about St. George:
George became patron of soldiers
[...] The fame of Saint George as a defender of Christianity was
imposed on the Greek legendary story of the Virgin Andromeda and
Perseus and retold as Saint George and the Dragon. The story quickly
spread westwards and was thought to have been brought to Iona by
Bishop Arculf in the 7th century.
*****************************************************************
