Burial Rites And The Revenant: A Comparative Analysis

The way texts represent their world is important for us, the viewers and readers, to understand if the setting is a real-world scenario or fictional. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent was published is 2013 and she tells the story of Agnes Magnusdottir, a servant in northern Iceland who was condemned to death after the murder of two men. Based on a true story Agnes was the final women put to death in Iceland. Compared to the 2015 released film, The Revenant, directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu. Also based on a true story from the 1820’s, while on a fur trading expedition frontiersman, Huge Glass, desperately fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and was left for dead from members of his own hunting tribe. Both texts are verisimilitude to

The plot of Burial Rites and The Revenant are based in the nineteenth century and despite both being based in different countries and on different scenarios both made their plot very life like. This is first scene in Burial Rites during the third chapter of the book when Agnes realizes for the first time in months she is unguarded. She contemplates her escape, but thinks of the harsh Icelandic landscape, knowing the wilderness would mean certain death. “I could escape. A bubble of fear passes up my spine. It’s the feeling of standing on ice and suddenly hearing it crack under your weight”. (pg 69). Agnes has dreamt about escaping and now is her chance, she realizes that she would never be able to survive in the harsh Icelandic conditions. This is building a realistic world making the novel verisimilitude. The second time we see the plot build a lifelike world is when Margret and Agnes are discussing all the people they know who diet in the mountains. “the weather is bad, there is ice in the rain, and the wind is like a wolf nipping at your heels, reminding you that winter is coming”. (pg 202). Kent reminds us, the readers of the dangerous Icelandic landscape and the crazy cold winters. This helps build a better picture and a better accurate and truthful world. The Revenant also does a good job in building an honest world in which the movie is set. This is

The aesthetic features and figurative language in these two texts create a more enhanced setting and mood for the view and reader. Burial Rites does this on numerus occasions, such as when Kent uses similes and metaphors to engage the readers, steering us through the novel with a more creative tone. AN Example of this is on page 247 of the novel where Kent writes “Even as the light flees this country like a whipped dog.” By using this type of language it engages us as the readers more and paints a picture in our mind, so we get a better understanding of what Kent is trying to say. She also gives a poetic voice to Agnes’s reflections: “We’re all shipwrecked. All beached in a peat bag of poverty.” (pg 248). This is another time that Kent uses figurative language to enhance her writing and makes it more creative for the reader. By doing this when we read these parts of the text we paint a picture in our minds and connect more to the text. The Revenant also uses aesthetic features for similar reasons. The aesthetic features consist of the camera shots used, the camera movement, the camera angles, editing, lighting, sounds and more. During the film we see many grand sweeping scenes that are placed next to tight, intimate close-ups. This helps us feel more emotionally connected to the characters and it also assists with creating the setting and mood at the