Phantastes is structured around the narrator's interactions with the environment, "without rational cohesion and yet filled with associations, like dreams; and poems that are merely lovely sounding, full of beautiful words, but also without rational sense and connections" (p. 3) John Ruskin takes a very different approach to fantasy writing in his short story King of the Golden River. The story acts almost as a fable, focusing on the lives of three brothers who live a fairly normal life. It isn't until the Westwind Esquire is introduced that the story is transformed into a fantasy. He has the power to change his own form and the forms of others, manipulate the surrounding environment, and punish others for what he deems unjust. In this quotation, Hans, a selfish and dishonest brother, is traveling to the Golden River. The Southwest Wind, however, has manipulated the environment to sabotage his plan.
He was, moreover, surprised, on surmounting them, to find that a large glacier, of whose existence, notwithstanding his previous knowledge of the mountains, he had been absolutely ignorant, lay between him and the source of the Golden River. He entered on it with the boldness of a practiced mountaineer, yet he thought he had never traversed so strange or so dangerous a glacier in his life. The ice was excessively slippery, and out of all chasms came wild sounds of gushing water Ð not monotonous or low, but changeful and loud, rising occasionally into the drifting passages of wild melody, then breaking off into short, melancholy tones or sudden shrieks resembling those of human voices in distress or pain. The ice was broken into thousands of confused shapes, but none, Hans though, like the ordinary forms of distorted and scornful. Myriads of deceitful shadows and lurid lights played and floated about and through the pale blue pinnacles, dazzling and confusing the sight of the traveler, while his ears grew dull and his head giddy with the constant gush and roar of the concealed waters.
Questions
1. Does this short story successfully function as a fairy tale? ("The whole of Nature must be wondrously blended with the whole world of the Spirit." Phantastes, p. 3.) Again by incorporating human characteristics, such as speech into the environment, nature acquires a fantastically human spirit. But why is the combination of man and nature, portrayed by the Westwind, ultimately in control? What does this suggest?
2. Similar to the way that forms only half existed in Fairy land, Hans' surroundings are described in an active and shadowy language. Do you think that these references to movement emphasize Hans' defenseless in this situation? Why?
3. The Westwind punishes the older brothers for being selfish and dishonest, and rewards Gluck for his honesty, reflecting a direct judgment of morality and character. Could this be religious commentary? Political?
4. Who is the Westwind Esquire? What does he represent? What does he protect? What controls his behavior? Where does he get his power?
Last modified 10 February 2004