Book Anatomy · The Princess and the Goblin
The Princess and the Goblin: Setting and world
13 lenses on setting and world for The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald. Count lenses are exact for our text. AI lenses are our reading and cite only quotes that passed a word for word check.
Jump to: I1 I2 I3 I4 I5 I6 I7 I8 I9 I10 I11 I12 I13
I1. Places named and how often each appears. Count
mountain is the place named most, 89 times.
| Place | Mentions | Chapters |
|---|---|---|
| mountain | 89 | 26 |
| mine | 33 | 17 |
| garden | 26 | 7 |
| stream | 21 | 11 |
| king's house | 13 | 7 |
| nursery | 12 | 10 |
| wine cellar | 5 | 3 |
| kitchen | 4 | 4 |
| goblin palace | 2 | 2 |
I2. Setting by chapter, as a map. Both
The place named most in each chapter. A rough setting map. (rough estimate from word lists)
| Chapter | Place named most |
|---|---|
| 1 | mountain |
| 2 | nursery |
| 3 | mine |
| 4 | |
| 5 | kitchen |
| 6 | mountain |
| 7 | mountain |
| 8 | mountain |
| 9 | mountain |
| 10 | garden |
| 11 | garden |
| 12 | mine |
| 13 | garden |
| 14 | mountain |
Mountain house with tower (chapters 1 to 5), mountain slopes and mines (6 to 9, 12, 18, 25, 29), goblin palace underground (9, 18 to 19), caves and streams (20 to 21), cottage and garden (28, 30 to 31), flooded house (31 to 32).
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 6, Ch 9, Ch 18, Ch 20, Ch 28
I3. Setting shown in blocks or woven into action? AI
Setting is woven into action. Irene discovers the house by exploring; Curdie learns the mine through work; the goblin palace is revealed through his infiltration. No long descriptive passages stand alone.
Chapters: Ch 2, Ch 7, Ch 9, Ch 20
She had once before been up six steps, and that was sufficient reason, in such a day, for trying to find out what was at the top of it. (Ch 2, para 4)
For some time Curdie worked away briskly, throwing all the ore he had disengaged on one side behind him, to be ready for carrying out in the morning. (Ch 8, para 2)
He was at the entrance of a magnificent cavern, of an oval shape, once probably a huge natural reservoir of water, now the great palace hall of the goblins. (Ch 9, para 6)
I4. Weather and light used for mood. Both
Weather and light words: 2.66 per 1,000 words.
Weather and light words, chapter by chapter
Light and darkness carry mood throughout. Grandmother's lamp guides Irene through danger; darkness hides goblin threat. Storm in chapter 29 mirrors the goblin invasion. Sunrise brings hope; sunset brings danger.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 14, Ch 20, Ch 29, Ch 31
But a great silver globe was hanging in the air; and as she gazed at the lovely thing, her courage revived (Ch 14, para 9)
it must be--her great-great-grandmother's lamp, which guided her pigeons home through the darkest night! (Ch 14, para 9)
The thunder was bellowing, and the lightning lancing out of a huge black cloud which lay above it and hung down its edges of thick mist over its sides. (Ch 29, para 4)
I5. The social world: class, money, rules. AI
Princess Irene is royal but confined; miners like Curdie and his father are working class but brave and loyal. Servants and nurses serve the household. The king holds ultimate authority but trusts Curdie by story's end.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 6, Ch 10, Ch 30, Ch 32
They were much too afraid of the goblins to let her out of the house then, even in company with ever so many attendants; and they had good reason, as we shall see by and by. (Ch 1, para 5)
My name's Curdie, little princess. (Ch 6, para 68)
All the rest went up the mountain, and separated in groups to the homes of the miners. Curdie and his father and mother took Lootie with them. (Ch 32, para 2)
I6. Rules of the world (magic, science) and when each is shown. AI
Magic is shown gradually: grandmother's spinning, invisible thread, magical ring, healing bath. Goblin nature follows rules: soft feet, no toes, weakness to iron shoes. Both systems are revealed through discovery, not explanation.
Chapters: Ch 3, Ch 11, Ch 15, Ch 21, Ch 27
I am spinning this for you, my child. (Ch 11, para 29)
Of one thing you may be sure, that while you hold it, I hold it too. (Ch 15, para 81)
I'll have the skin taken off between her toes, and tie them up till they grow together. Then her feet will be like other people's (Ch 18, para 13)
I7. Lore: dripped in or dumped? AI
Lore is dripped in. Goblin history and nature emerge through Curdie's eavesdropping and observation. Grandmother's magic is revealed through Irene's encounters. No exposition dumps; readers learn as characters do.
Chapters: Ch 7, Ch 8, Ch 9, Ch 11, Ch 15
They're all at the palace consulting about it tonight; and as soon as we've got away from this thin place I'm going there to hear what night they fix upon. (Ch 8, para 55)
They had altered--that is, their descendants had altered--into such creatures as I have not attempted to describe except in the vaguest manner (Ch 13, para 4)
I8. Real history used, and how. AI
Not a feature of this book. MacDonald creates a timeless fairy-tale world without anchoring it to real history or specific dates.
I9. Journeys: distance and time taken. Both
Journeys are short but significant: Irene climbs stairs within the house; Curdie travels from mine to goblin palace and back. The escape through caves in chapter 21 is the longest journey. Time moves in days and weeks, not months.
Chapters: Ch 2, Ch 5, Ch 9, Ch 18, Ch 20, Ch 21
The princess ran through passage after passage, and could not find the stair of the tower. (Ch 5, para 11)
When he arrived, however, at the place where the path turned off for the mine, he found that the thread did not turn with it, but went straight up the mountain. (Ch 28, para 2)
I10. Objects that matter, where they appear. Both
thread is the object named most.
| Object | Mentions | Chapters |
|---|---|---|
| thread | 70 | 10 |
| shoes | 28 | 7 |
| ring | 22 | 7 |
| lamp | 20 | 9 |
| stone | 19 | 11 |
| string | 11 | 3 |
| pigeon | 7 | 6 |
| sword | 2 | 1 |
The invisible thread is central: appears in chapters 11, 15, 20, 21, 28. The ring appears in 15, 16, 17, 52. Iron shoes protect Curdie in 27. The grandmother's lamp guides in 14. Each object carries magical weight.
Chapters: Ch 11, Ch 15, Ch 20, Ch 21, Ch 27, Ch 28
I am spinning this for you, my child. (Ch 11, para 29)
Of one thing you may be sure, that while you hold it, I hold it too. (Ch 15, para 81)
She put it on, and then, feeling with the forefinger of her right hand, soon found her grandmother's thread, which she proceeded at once to follow (Ch 20, para 2)
I11. Density of period detail. AI
Low density of period detail. The world is timeless: no specific clothes, food, or customs named. Focus is on universal elements: family, duty, belief, danger. Suits the fairy-tale genre.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 6, Ch 10, Ch 30
I12. Setting as an enemy. AI
The mountain itself is an enemy: goblins dwell beneath it, mining toward the house. The goblin caves trap characters. The flooded tunnels destroy the house. Geography is both setting and threat.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 7, Ch 9, Ch 26, Ch 31
They were much too afraid of the goblins to let her out of the house then, even in company with ever so many attendants; and they had good reason, as we shall see by and by. (Ch 1, para 5)
The fact, as discovered afterwards, was that the goblins had, in working up a second sloping face of stone, arrived at a huge block which lay under the cellars of the house, within the line of the foundations. (Ch 26, para 9)
I13. Indoors against outdoors. Both
Indoor words outnumber outdoor words 336 to 185. (rough estimate from word lists)
Indoor share %, chapter by chapter
Indoors represents safety and magic: the tower room, the grandmother's chamber, the nursery. Outdoors is danger: the mountain slopes where goblins roam, the caves. The house itself becomes unsafe when goblins breach it.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 3, Ch 14, Ch 20, Ch 26, Ch 31
They were much too afraid of the goblins to let her out of the house then, even in company with ever so many attendants; and they had good reason, as we shall see by and by. (Ch 1, para 5)
But a great silver globe was hanging in the air; and as she gazed at the lovely thing, her courage revived (Ch 14, para 9)
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