The Origins and Purpose of the Goblin Queen in George MacDonald´s the Princess and the Goblin
Whatever the purpose of a story may be, whether the tale is a philosophical, moralizing or merely entertaining one, an assortment of characters with sufficient depth, notability and believability is vital to shoulder the burden of the author’s intent. George MacDonald, in one of his most famous novels, The Princess and the Goblin, displays an acute awareness of this fact, presenting us with some of the most colorful and unforgettable characters seen in children’s literature. When considering the exceptional imagination MacDonald infused into his story and characters, it is little wonder that The Princess and the Goblin is considered to be one of the pioneering novels that gave birth to the immense genre of modern fantasy.
Of the two worlds introduced to us by MacDonald in his novel, that of the surface world, a land of sunlight, castles upon rolling hills, and princesses, and that of the underworld, a realm of darkness, stone, and, of course, goblins, it is definitely the latter that is more bereft of significant characters. On the surface, Lootie, Curdie, Princess Irene and her mysterious, powerful grandmother are all key characters with a prominent role in advancing the plot, yet in the dark goblin world, we are given an impression of a teeming, faceless mass of bizarre creatures, with no real sense of individualism. Of the few underworld characters we do meet, the goblin queen is the most prominent, and indeed, she is one of the memorable and distinctive characters in the entire novel. Her impact on the reader is greater reinforced by her embodiment of many elements of folklore and fairytale on top of the already ancient t...
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...ons that MacDonald collected, converged, and ultimately made his own. Or perhaps she represented for MacDonald some female presence in his own life, an overaggressive figure deserving of the author’s fearsome representation in his novel. This remains unknown, but the goblin queen nevertheless represents one of the few truly menacing figures in the story; despite many goblins, also presumably the king and his son, we do not feel that the goblin threat has been truly removed until we see her lifeless form, and, with relief, bid her farewell, as Hamlet once said: “Wretched Queen, adieu!”
Works Cited
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Mark Morris. Of Goblins and Dwarves. 5 Nov. 2002
< http://www.humanities.ualberta.ca/mmorris/388/goblins.htm/>.
In The Princess and the Goblin, the author uses many literary devices to bring his writing to life and to illustrate specific moments in the story.
He is an educated wolf, which masks his misogyny. ‘How nice, breakfast in bed, he said’. We notice a sense of domestication, suggesting that the wolf is already trying to mould her to fit the stereotypical female domestic role thus smothering her poetic voice. The reason she left to join the wolf was to grow more independent and learn more about poetry so she could stand on her own right however the wolf seems to have stripped her of that, leaving her completely reliant on him. We see similar domination in ‘Girl Talking’ as Duffy develops the idea that she tries to hold onto the normalcy of her old life through the use of everyday routines. However this only highlights the corruption in society as it becomes painstakingly obvious the power men hold over women. ‘Every day, shed carried water from the well into the mosque’ this gives the impression of constantly being watched over, the place of prayer luring her into a false sense of security. ‘Each day’ suggests that she had an obvious routine so the ‘miller’ knew where she would be at any given time. The mosque gave a false sense of security as it is the place where no one should have been able to harm her. She then goes on to state; ‘Men washed and prayed to God’ This makes reference to the role of men and women suggesting that women were made to serve the men and treat them like gods while the men basked in the glory of god. The religious reference suggests that men could do anything wrong and as long as they prayed to god and asked for forgiveness, that they would be purified of their sins. This in turn suggests that the rape was not a big deal and that they will be forgiven as men are more important. ‘Queen Herod’ is the complete contrast of this as Duffy develops the idea of her daughter being too god for men, suggesting that men cannot bring any happiness. She begins to present Female
Sullivan, C. W., III. "J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit: The Magic of Words." Touchstones: Reflections on the Best in Children's Literature. Children's Literature Association, 1985. 253-260. Rpt. in Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski and Deborah A. Stanley. Vol. 8. Detroit: Gale, 2000. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.
Nosocomial or healthcare-associated infection (HAI) occurs when a patient receiving treatment in a health care setting develops an infection secondary to their original condition. These infections are serious and costly adverse outcomes of medical care that affect nearly two million people in the United States annually and lead to substantial morbidity and mortality. With increased days of hospitalization and direct medical costs, HAIs account for an estimated $20 billion per year in national health care expenditure every year. As such, they present one of the major threats to patient safety and remain a critical challenge to public health. On any given day, approximately [one in 25 patients] contracts at least one infection while receiving
Rello, J., Kollef, M., Diaz, E., & Rodriguez, A. (2000).Infectious diseases in critical care. (2nd ed., pp. 352-
The Bloody Chamber is a remake of the original fairytale Bluebeard; however Angela Carter rewrites the fairy tale using her feminist views to raise issues concerning roles in relationships and marriage, sexuality and corruption. Carter challenges the classic role of the male protagonist and the female victim; she does this by changing the stereotypes of the traditional fairy tale’s males as the saviours and females as the victims. She challenges the fairy tale’s traditional sex roles when she replaces the brother of the bride for the mother as the rescuer, “one hand on the reins of the rearing horse while the other clasped my fathers service revolver” this demonstrates to the reader that women are as strong as men, even stronger and can take on a expected man’s role and make it their own therefore challenging the stereotypical gender roles of Men. In addition to this as a feminist, Carter uses anti-essentialism to present that time, power and position are the details that makes a man act like he does and a woman like she does. This is revealed through the setting, France 1790’s, were men and women were not equal. The Marquis in this story is presented as a wealthy older man who has the ability to seduce and retrieve what he wants, “his world” this emphasizes the power he maintains and it gives him ownership not only of his wealth but the young bride and even possibly the...
Hospital-acquired infections (HAI) are preventable and pose a threat to hospitals and patients; increasing the cost, nominally and physically, for both. Pneumonia makes up approximately 15% of all HAI and is the leading cause of nosocomial deaths. Pneumonia is most frequently caused by bacterial microorganisms reaching the lungs by way of aspiration, inhalation or the hematogenous spread of a primary infection. There are two categories of Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia (HAP); Health-Care Associated Pneumonia (HCAP) and Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP).
wards. Clinical Microbiology And Infection: The Official Publication Of The European Society Of Clinical Microbiology And Infectious Diseases, 18(12), 1215-1217. doi:10.1111/j.1469-0691.2011.03735.x
Margaret of Valois in Queen Margot undergoes a transformation from a seductress to a virtuous woman as a...
..., Maria. “An Introduction to Fairy Tales.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Ed. Laurence Behrens, Leonard J. Rosen. Toronto: Longman, 2013. 230-235. Print.
Secondary:Curtis, L. (2008). Prevention of hospital-acquired infections: review of non-pharmacological interventions. Journal of Hospital Infection, 69(3), 204-219. Revised 01/20
Crime rates, especially violent crimes such as murder, rape, and robbery, peaked around 1991 and 1992, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reports. The major crime topics of that time included drug abuse and the war on drugs, still some remnants from the crack cocaine epidemic from the late 1980s, and the increase in juvenile violence in the late 1980s. In addition to these, legislation such as the Brady Bill continued to surface as a public policy that drew attention to the issue of gun violence, and other topics tended to be emphasized by the Bush administration, such as the exclusionary rule, the death penalty, habeas corpus, and the insanity defense. Community policing developed at the grassroots level in the early 1980s, coming out of local police demonstration projects that were often funded by the National Institute of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Assistance. Community policing came about out of the rejection of traditional policing practices in the 1970s, largely as a result of various studies that found that long held assumptions in policing were found not to hold up to scrutiny. An article written by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling published in an edition of Atlantic Monthly in 1982 brought about the broken windows theory. This theory holds that when people no longer care about their community, the condition on that neighborhood often sends signals to people that no one cares. This allows for disorder and minor crimes to pass unnoticed, which will lead to more serious crimes. Once disorder begins to take hold and minor crimes become common, eventually the neighborhood will decay and become crime ridden. The key to fixing the broken windows is for police to target these minor crimes...
As stated in the critical anthology, many feminist critics “re think the canon, aiming at the rediscovery of texts written by women”. An understanding of feminism encourages the reader to discover alternative interpretations of the poems in The World’s Wife. It not only allows the reader to gain a wider understanding of the representations of women, but it highlights revisionism of the original story. Feminists such as CA and Angela Carter have exposed the patriarchal structure that is in fairy tales by rewriting the original stories. This is particularly evident in “The Little Red Cap”.
Dolphin fossils have been found dating back to 45-50 million years ago, which was during the early Eocene epoch era. The early dolphin or Protosetidae, back then did not resemble today’s dolphin. It is suggested that a primitive mammal called Mesonychidae roamed the planes of Africa. This mammal started to become more dependent on the ocean and swamps abundance of food. Researchers believe the dolphin went through an amphibious stage, similar to the seals. They would feed in the ocean and come upon land to breed.
Zipes, Jack. Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre. New York: Routledge, 2006. Print.