The Princess and the Goblin

Our discussion this week in class has been centered around The Princess and the Goblin by George Macdonald. After finishing the story, it is obvious that Macdonald associates his characters with the sterotypical fairytale characters and its motifs.
Macdonald represents the typical fairytale princess in his tale. Princess Irene, the main character in the tale, is similar to our favorite fairytale females. Unlike the central female figures in Ella Enchanted and Ever After, Princess Irene is generally willingly obedient, honest, moral, and she even shares a special relationship with God. The result is a weakened central female character for Macdonald's tale. Not only does our author create a rather dull central character who is only valiant in the presence of her great grandmother. As a result, this dissapoints Macdonald's children readers. Children (particulary little girls) are dissatisfied to discover that their female figure is not filled with spunk and gumption. Obedience and constant moral behavior is most often percieved as boring and predictabel in most literature.
Instead, Macdonald stays true to the predictable fairy tale and grants the notable qualities to Curdie, the main male character. Curdie is adventurous, courageous, knowledgable and is always looking to save his princess. It is evident that Curdie's character is much more admirable and therefore is a much more enjoyable and suspenseful read for young children when comparing Irene's character.
The most obvious fairytale motif that Macdonald incorporates into his tale is the spinning wheel that belongs to Irene's grandmother. Readers become surprised, however, to discover that the predictable Macdonald performs the impossible. Macdonald reverses the fairy tale. Instead of the spinning wheel belonging to a wicked witch found in the typical fairy tale, the wheel surprisingly belongs to the opposite, the character who represents God.