The Origins and Purpose of the Goblin Queen in George MacDonald´s the Princess and the Goblin

There are numerous genre’s in literature, but the level of importance and influence on an individual will differ. Exposure to books and stories is especially important for children because it their chance to acclimate themselves to written language and in turn create their own visuals for the toneless words. “Why Fairy Tales Matter: The Performative and the Transformative”, by Maria Tatar contains an ample amount of textual evidence from author’s research into fairytales, as well as writer’s personal experiences with fairytales. Although Tatar supports her claims with evidence, her resources are not concrete, and seems excessive at times. Also, her assertions are weakened by her failure to defend her conclusion against competing beliefs.

The goblin men are selling fruit that Laura eventually gets her hands on. As she begins to eat, she stops herself. The desire overwhelmed her to the point that when she did stop she “knew not was it night or day” (Rossetti 139). The fruit in the proceeding lines could be symbolizing drugs the goblin men were

The Princess and the Goblin is a story about self-realisation and the expansion of limits. The princess, Irene, is able to come to certain conclusions about herself with the help of her grandmother, who lives in the attic upstairs in the palace. The grandmother guides Irene through her rite of passage into adulthood, and helps to bring the princess and Curdie together in the end. However, the reader never really knows whether the grandmother even exists, and it is this uncertainty that causes the reader to question whether she is a personification of a force within Irene that is driving her to achieve all that she does. There are many elements of fairy tales that exist within the grandmother's

In Goblin Market, when Laura is infected with the goblin’s poisonous fruits “her sister [stands] in deadly peril to do her good, and win the fiery antidote”. (Rossetti, 558-559) Evidently, the relentless bravery Lizzie illustrates when facing the violence and temptations of the goblins to save her sister’s life is used by Rossetti to provide an impression of power in female refusal to vigorous male

Like many other renowned novels aimed at children, George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin draws extensively from the folk tradition in his telling of the tale. Many of the figures presented, such as the nurse and Curdie, have precedent in the tradition, but the grandmother in particular stands out. Archetypally, she is a variant on the Old Man, though she bears the undeniable touch of the supernatural as seen in common folklore - at times she is otherworldly and some of her actions and abilities are of the sort frequently associated with witches.

The feature of hair in Jones’ Howl’s Moving Castle and Macdonald’s The Princess and the Goblin presents an identity that adheres to the conventions of the magical world. Beauty ideals that are associated with hair are either accepted or rejected by certain characters to enhance their characters and the story. In the stories of Howl’s Moving Castle and The Princess and the Goblin, the ideals of beauty is contested through hair. This contestation of these ideals is integral to the representation of characters and their world in both stories. This contestation of these ideals is integral to the representation of characters and their world in both stories. Through these contestation, the authors of both novels manage to dismantle the conventions

“You remind me of the babe.” “What babe?” “The babe with the power.” “What power?’ “The power of voodoo.”

First let us review her tale. In the tale a knight is riding along until he comes across a woman. He then “in spite of all she said, by force took her maidenhead” (Lines 63 and 64), that is a nice way to say he violently raped her. Afterward he is taken into court where the queen takes pity upon him and gives him the task of finding out what women most desire but if he fails he will be executed. The knight then searches about for the answer asking every woman he can find for the answer to his question. He gets conflicting answers from each woman he asks until he comes across an old hag. The hag makes a deal with him that she will give him the answer if he carries out any request of her choice when she calls for it later on, to which the knight agrees. The hag tells him that what women most desire is power over men. The knight gives this answer to the queen who spares him. When he returns to the hag she makes her request, “Before this court I ask you, sir knight, to

Coleridge’s definition of imagination consists of the imagination as the prime agent for all human perception. However, Goblin Market is a story that completely rejects the Romantics’ ideals of the imagination since it is a Victorian text. Thus, the imagination is shown as something associated with being evil and dangerous, which compliments the Victorian ideals while criticizing the Romantics’ admiration of the imagination. The initial setting of the tale dwells upon the nature taking evil and satanic forms due to the destructive tone of the imagination that contradicts the Romantic’s policy of nature being pure and divine in any form it takes. Basically, the initial setting of the tale takes shape with the aid of local folklore about the mysterious mythical creatures that appear with luscious baskets of fruits. The author builds upon this folklore by distancing the characters, such as Laura and Lizzie, from this weird folk culture by introducing the harm inflicted by these goblins on innocent, gullible young girls. Therefore, the author has already contradicted a central tendency of Romanticism, which is to root their stories in relation to inquisitive adventures regarding folk culture and myths. Furthermore, the term used for these imaginative figures is goblins, which is considered by the Oxford dictionary as “a mischievous, ugly, dwarf-like creature of folklore” (Oxford University). Once more, Mrs. Rossetti

82-85). Desire for the goblins’ exotic fruits proves to be too much of a temptation for Laura and, with her last restraint gone, she trades a lock of her golden hair for the treasures. Why does she shed a tear at this? It is merely a lock of hair, yet its implications are far greater. Laura falls from innocence as she sucks the fruits feverishly. Her act’s sexual connotations are clear as she “sucked and sucked and sucked the more” (l. 134; italics mine). The fruits motif’s importance is highlighted with superlatives such as “sweeter”, “stronger”, and “clearer” (ll. 129-131). This loss of virginity is surreal to Laura, as she “knew not was it night or day” (l. 139), and she wishes to remember this experience with a single kernel-stone from the goblins’ fruits. Can this kernel-stone be a symbol of a goblin’s sperm? As seen later in the poem, it breaks Laura’s heart when this seed does not bear fruit. The enjambment in Laura’s resolution – “tomorrow night I will/Buy more” (ll. 167-168) – clearly indicates how strongly Laura desires to again experience what the goblins have offered her.

When imaging the ideal audience of fairytales, children are quick to come to mind, although, our perception of Little Red Riding Hood as an innocent fable is far from the truth. Alternatively, the origins of this story are derived from Italo Calvino’s “The False Grandmother”, a story immersed in symbolism and metaphorical symbols intended strictly for a mature audience. The preceding tale was “Little Red Cap “written by Charles Perrault and then later the “Little Red Riding” written by the Brothers Grimm. Although the details of these tales vary, they all maintain similar storylines. The stories revolve around the young female character Little Red Riding Hood who is sent off on a mission to bring her grandmother a basket of goods. During her adventure she encounters a wolf who engages in a hot pursuit to eat both the Grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood, only to succeed in the earlier rendition of the story. In this essay I will prove that when the Grimm’s Brothers and Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood stories are critically analyzed, it becomes evident that they are inappropriate tales for children as they exemplify the consequences of a minor transgression by Little Red Riding Hood as being the misleading cause of the violence and seduction that occurs thereafter.

Lizzie informs Laura that, “we must not look at goblin men, / We must not buy their fruits” (42-43), and that their “offers should not charm us. / Their evil gifts would harm us” (73-74). Nevertheless, “Curious Laura chose to linger / Wondering at each merchant man” (77-78). Here, the readers can most certainly comprehend that both of the women are vividly aware of the tricks in which the Goblins are attempting to carry out in order to seduce them. However, Laura is the only one that is quite intrigued by the thoughts of what the Goblins fruits might taste like or in a sexual connotation, the sexual pleasures she would obtain by experimenting with the Goblins genitalia. From this, we can ascertain that giving in to the temptation of consuming the fruit is considered to be a metaphor for losing one’s sexual

Throughout history authors have played a large part in the development of our countries ideas and beliefs. British Literature is proof that many authors expressed the same beliefs and perhaps influenced future writers to come. C.S. Lewis’ past experiences and authors such as George MacDonald, Beatrix Potter, Greek Mythology, and the Bible have significantly influenced C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe through the use of anthropomorphisms, mythical creatures, and allegories making it one of the greatest children stories of all time.

Lewis Carroll’s Alice and Frank Baum’s Dorothy are two of the most well-known and well-loved heroines of all time. At first glance, both Alice and Dorothy appear to be rather accurate renditions of actual little girls who embark on their own adventures in strange and fantastical lands. However, closer scrutiny reveals that only one of these characters is a true portrayal of what a little girl is really like, while the other is but a fulfillment of what most girls would only dream of being like.

However, ‘ITF’ (Browne 2004) still manages to keep traditional fairy tale characteristics such as happy endings and hidden adult themes to ensure the reader's enjoyment. ‘ITF’ (Browne 2004) stray’s tradition by neglecting to involve evil characters and obvious life lessons so that children don’t lose interest in the story with their short attention spans, further resulting in destroying their interest in literature and reading (Nodelman & Reimer 2003,