The Thracian Hero & Saint George

In a conversation last night with a most excellent colleague it was mistakenly perceived that I was a St. George denier.  This is false.  I do not deny St. George or any of the saints (including Christopher).  My point is not about whether there was or was not an historical man attached to the legends of St. George, but rather how we tend to depict our legends using known imagery.  We tap into the imagery familiar to the culture around us in order to enhance an element of the character, or to highlight an aspect of the story, or to embody a philosophy through the character.  

As a secular example. compare the two movies, "A Night to Remember" and "Titanic". 

Was there a large ship that sank after smacking an iceberg?  Absolutely.  The first movie, however, emphasizes the nobility and self sacrifice of the doomed passengers.  The second movie, though having far more action, emphasizes the savage and mercenary nature of the passengers fighting for survival.  The first focuses on the sinking and aftermath.  The second focuses for two hours on a doomed romance between two people of unequal social standing, then a big action sequence at the end.  Both are using images we are familiar with (the sinking) but are emphasizing different aspects, changing the story, or focusing on details to convey their philosophy.  This is true also in the poems "The Convergence of the Twain" by Thomas Hardy 

The Convergence of the Twain

BY THOMAS HARDY

(Lines on the loss of the "Titanic")

I

            In a solitude of the sea

            Deep from human vanity,

And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she.

II

            Steel chambers, late the pyres

            Of her salamandrine fires,

Cold currents thrid, and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres.

III

            Over the mirrors meant

            To glass the opulent

The sea-worm crawls — grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.

IV

            Jewels in joy designed

            To ravish the sensuous mind

Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind.

V

            Dim moon-eyed fishes near

            Gaze at the gilded gear

And query: "What does this vaingloriousness down here?" ...

VI

            Well: while was fashioning

            This creature of cleaving wing,

The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything

VII

            Prepared a sinister mate

            For her — so gaily great —

A Shape of Ice, for the time far and dissociate.

VIII

            And as the smart ship grew

            In stature, grace, and hue,

In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.

IX

            Alien they seemed to be;

            No mortal eye could see

The intimate welding of their later history,

X

            Or sign that they were bent

            By paths coincident

On being anon twin halves of one august event,

XI

            Till the Spinner of the Years

            Said "Now!" And each one hears,

And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres.

and "It was Sad" by some Boy Scouts where the first uses the subject matter to have a somber reflection on fate, the second to make a darkly humorous campfire song.

Oh, they built the ship Titanic, to sail the ocean blue.
For they thought it was a ship that water would never go through.
It was on its maiden trip, that an iceberg hit the ship.
It was sad when the great ship went down.

Chorus:
It was sad, so sad.
It was sad, so sad.
It was sad when the great ship went down (to the bottom of the....)
Uncles and aunts, little children lost their pants.
It was sad when the great ship went down.

Oh the captain smiled and winked
As the ship began to sink
And he said "The fish are surely going to stink"
So he S.O.S.ed the Lord
And he jumped right overboard
It was sad when the great ship went down

Repeat chorus

They were not far from the shore, 'bout a thousand miles or more,
When the rich refused to associate with the poor.
So they threw them down below, where they were the first to go.
It was sad when the great ship went down.

Repeat chorus

Oh, the heroes saved the weak, as the ship began to leak.
And the band on deck played on.
With, "Nearer my God to Thee", they were swept into the sea.
It was sad when the great ship went down.

Repeat chorus

Oh they built a sister ship, Called the S.S. Kunatah
And they knew it was a ship that would never get very far.
So, they christened it with GOP,
And it sunk with a Ker-Plop!
It was glad when the sad ship went down.

Repeat chorus

They threw the lifeboats over, in the dark and stormy sea.
And the band began to play "Oh Give Thy Soul To Thee."
Little children wept and cried as they left their mother's side.

Repeat chorus

Oh the moral of this story, the moral of this song,
Is that one shouldn't go where he does not belong.
For in the good Lord's eyes, you're as good as other guys,
It was sad when the great ship when down.

Repeat chorus

Oh the moral of this story, is plain as you can see.
Never trust a sailor on the high sea.
He'll call you honey-darling, and say that he'll be true,
But when the ship goes down he'll say the hell/heck with you.

Repeat chorus

After last chorus, there is an extra "so sad, too bad" spoken-sung, and this:

Kerplunk
It sunk
Hunk a junk
In the sea
without me
Luckily
Hee hee hee.

Similarly with the St. George imagery - the artists took the story of a real man, united it with the image of the Thracian hero, replacing the pig with the dragon, and thus depicted the triumph of good over evil.  The historical veracity of the story's details was not my point (though I doubt there were once scaly lizards roaming about devouring virginal girls).  

But the depiction of George on a horse, with a spear or sword, soundly trouncing the bestial beast uses the familiar pre-Christian image of the Thracian hero.  This element is most pronounced when we see it transformed into other depictions that add new elements, keep some elements but dispense with others.

How the image came to England and became the rallying cry of Henry V is still not entirely clear to me.