Hagar Shipley's Character and His Development in The Stone Angel

Introduction

In "The Stone Angel," Hagar Shipley, age ninety, tells the story of her life, and in doing so tries to come to terms with how her personal attributes deprived her of joy throughout her life. Raised with the stern virtues of her pioneer ancestors, bestowed upon her through her father, Hagar becomes a tragic hero through a life of uncompromising pride—a pride which sustained her during a stormy marriage and which overpowered her ability to admit that she has made mistakes, ultimately contributing to her overall stubbornness and inability to achieve a warm, satisfying relationship with anyone in her life.

Hagar Shipley's Character and Her Development in "The Stone Angel"

For Hagar Shipley, a woman with great independence and dignity, living in a world of appearances was an intrinsic routine she endured every day. Revealing emotion to others, even to her own father, was something she sometimes wanted to do; but, she just was not capable of doing so. The values instilled upon her when she was a child were those of appearing strong and independent at all times, believing wholeheartedly that showing any kind of emotion was a sign of weakness. "Gainsay who dare" was the family's motto, and for someone like Hagar to show emotion, she would have had to have been dared.

Eventually, Hagar's solution to a difficult situation was to simply ignore it and hide from her problems instead of dealing with them in a mature fashion. Unfortunately for Hagar, this approach eventually blocked everyone out of her life and she was unable to really open up to anyone around her, eventually introverting her life so that she would not need to open up to anyone else. This self-imposed isolation highlights the tragic nature of her character, as her pride not only isolates her from others but also from herself, preventing her from experiencing genuine self-awareness and growth.

The Failure of Hagar's Marriage

Hagar's marriage to Bram was an utter failure, even from the very beginning, and should have never taken place at all. With Hagar already acting as if she is trying to put on a show for everyone, having to constantly correct Bram's use of the English language simply worsened her state since she was only hurting her own pride when she did this. On their wedding night, Bram gave Hagar a vase and said, "This here's for you, Hagar" (Laurence, 1988, p. 51). While most people would have been overwhelmed with emotions from the kind offering, not caring how it was said, Hagar was too focused on Bram's grammatical errors that she just set the vase aside and "..thought no more about it" (Laurence, 1988, p. 51).

However, if Hagar would have listened to her father and married a man with a higher sense of decency and conveyed the same amount of pride as Hagar, she could have helped her own situation by giving herself someone she could open up to and relate to. Ever since birth, Hagar has had nobody there for her. Her mother died when she was born, her only siblings were two older brothers, and Hagar was constantly putting on a show for her friends, so there was nobody for her. This absence of emotional support structures further entrenches her pride, making it both a defense mechanism and a barrier to her happiness.

The Symbolism of the Stone Angel

The stone angel is Hagar's mother's tombstone. Hagar describes it as the, "...first, the largest, and certainly the costliest. The others as I recall, were a lesser breed entirely, petty angels cherubim with pouting stone mouths..." (Laurence, 1988, p. 4). Her pride is clearly shown through this description. She holds her family in the highest regard, and she makes this evident by calling all others "...a lesser breed." There are several other examples of Hagar's pride. The stone angel itself is symbolic of it. Hagar clearly makes the comparison herself when she describes how she feels in the present: "My bed is cold as winter, and now it seems to me that I am lying as children used to do, on fields of snow, and they would spread their arms and weep them down to their sides, and when they rose there would be the outline of an angel, with spread wings" (Laurence, 1988, p. 81). She feels like the angel, a monument symbolic to her pride: a towering figure over others; a clear elite to the "lesser breeds."

This is truly ironic since Hagar is not higher than anyone else; but simply a lower-class woman, working with nothing but her introvert pride. Her inability to connect with others due to her pride leaves her as isolated as the stone angel itself, both a testament to her independence and a monument to her loneliness.

Conclusion

Through the exploration of Hagar Shipley's character in "The Stone Angel," it becomes clear that her pride is both her greatest strength and her most profound weakness. It sustains her through life's challenges but also prevents her from forming meaningful connections with others. The stone angel, a symbol of her pride, serves as a poignant reminder of the isolation and emotional desolation that accompany her uncompromising adherence to her values.

References:

• Laurence, M. (1988). The Stone Angel. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.