Margaret Laurence is a master of biblical allusion. Biblical Allusion in The Stone Angel helps us, the readers, comprehensively understand several of the events and characters. The novel resembles the book of Genesis with the characters of Hagar, the way each of the Hagars sons are treated along with how John, and Marvin are compared to biblical characters, as well with the imagery of water and flowers also found in other biblical novels.
Hagar Shipley's character is very similar to the Egyptian Hagar from the book of Genesis when you look at their social positions, their pride, and how they are treated and their reactions to their treatment. Both Hagars have incredibly comparable social positions. The Biblical Hagar is an Egyptian woman bought for Sarah as a servant. This means that Hagar, by law, is to serve and respect Sarah. "Her freedom and spirit are restricted, or dictated, by Abram and Sarah." (Biblical Archetypes / 29 May, 2002). In the same way that Abram and Sarah have power over the Biblical Hagar, Hagar Shipley is controlled by the Currie principles. "Hagar Shipley is a modernized version of the Biblical Hagar, in that, people can no longer be bound as slaves in western culture but are, quite often, bound by personal or social restraints, like Hagar is." (Biblical Archetypes / 29 May, 2002). The way the Currie family is kept Hagar from expressing herself in any way, which breaks apart the majority of her family relationships, including her marriage to her wonderful husband, Bram Shipley. Hagar feels trapped like a prisoner by these values "I was alone, never anything else, and never free, for I carried my chains within me" (Laurence 1964, 261), and will soon break free. Hagar was attracted to Bram because his way of life was almost the exact opposite to the Currie's traditional values. In addition to both Hagar Shipley being bound by the Currie's values, and the Biblical Hagar being bound to Abram and Sarah, they were also bound to the societies traditional codes of conduct and values.
