View Single Post
Old 11-17-2006, 09:48 AM   #15
littlemanpoet
Itinerant Songster
 
littlemanpoet's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: The Edge of Faerie
Posts: 7,066
littlemanpoet is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.littlemanpoet is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mark12_30
I had often thought that MacDonald's mother/ grandmother figures represent the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:2, Proverbs 8...) and that's why they are so "pervasive"-- not just in Phantastes, but in just about every work of MacDonald's. "The Back of the North Wind", for instance.
I could accept that if the the depictions weren't so physically female. Please don't misunderstand: I think that of the trinity, the Holy Spirit is the most obviously feminine, but that's different.... somehow....

I forgot to add last time that I find the ending to Phantastes to be deeply dissatisfying. I had better go back and read it again to remember why, but SOWM ends in a very satisfying manner. It has been said to me that the reason Phantastes ends so dissatisfyingly was because MacDonald had not resolved some of the personal/spiritual issues he was working on while he was writing the work.
littlemanpoet is offline   Reply With Quote