The Seven Basic Plots - Christopher Booker [522]
3. Introduction to The Classic Fairy Tales, Peter and Iona Opie (Oxford University Press, 1974).
1. The story of St George and the Dragon first appears in the Legenda Aurea, the Golden Legend, of Jacobus de Voragine in the thirteenth century. A clear indication that it is derived from the Perseus myth is that it specifically places the battle with the dragon at much the same place on the coast of Palestine which in classical times had been associated with Perseus's freeing of Andromeda.
2. Another mediaeval version of the Overcoming the Monster story we may note, because it introduces a rather more significant variation on the basic plot, is the fable of St Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio. The townsfolk of Gubbio were terrified by the ravages of an abnormally powerful, maneating wolf, which lived in the forest outside the town. St Francis arrives to save them and ventures out alone to confront the wolf. Instead of killing it, he merely speaks to it, gently but firmly, in such a way that the wolf is tamed. It is no longer a `monster' but becomes a friend to the people of Gubbio, who feed it on its regular visits to the town. Another example of the same variation is the story of Androcles (made the basis for Shaw's play Androcles and the Lion), who in the desert shows love to a fierce lion by pulling out a thorn from its paw. The resolution of the story comes years later when Androcles, as a Christian, has been thrown to the lions in Rome. When one approaches to eat him, it turns out of course to be the same lion to which he previously showed kindness and his life is saved. This form of the story which shows the true hero able to change the life-threatening monster's nature by a combination of courage and love is found not only in the Christian tradition but elsewhere in the world. A well-known Indian version is one of the legends associated with Buddha. This tells how `Prince Five-Weapons' (an early incarnation of the Buddha) confronts, subdues and finally converts the fearful ogre Sticky-Hair. But this type of story really belongs to a later stage of the book (see Chapter 11, `Rebirth') where we look at tales which show the monster going through a 'change of heart.
1. In fact, as we shall see much later in the book, this type of story was superbly caricatured even at the time, in W. S. Gilbert's parody of the melodramatic `sensation novels' of the 1860s, where he called his wicked baronet-villain `Sir Ruthven' (see Chapter 34).
2. At this stage in Dr No, shortly after Bond has landed on the Caribbean island which is the monster's lair, the sense that we are about to confront the monster is heightened when Bond sees, coming across a lake at night:
`a shapeless thing, with two glaring eyes ... between them, where the mouth might be, fluttered a yard of blue flame. The grey luminescence of the stars showed some kind of a domed head, with two short, bat-like wings.'
This turns out to be merely a mechanical `monster, built by Dr No to frighten off the local fishermen, but it prepares us for the first meeting with the real thing a few pages later.
3. This summary of the Star Wars plot is based on Lucas's ghostwritten novel of the story. Two years after Star Wars, another Hollywood science fiction film Alien (1979) reflected the rise of latetwentieth-century feminism by providing a rare example of an Overcoming the Monster story in which the central role of `monster-slayer' is played by a woman. The heroine, Ripley, is second-incommand of a space ship, far out in space, which is invaded by a peculiarly clever and ruthless alien. One by one it gruesomely destroys each of her six fellow-crew members,