Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1981

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Collins, Robert A.

Abstract

In George MacDonald's fantasy, the female archetype reflects MacDonald's theological framework. The archetype is an image created by the imaginative process. That process finds its basis in the creative nature of God. The archetype not only draws back to God, the source of all imaginative forms, but also becomes a generating figure itself. In Phantastes the woman-form generates the quest for Anodos. Here she assumes her major role, reflecting God's gracious dealings with man in the outworking of His redemptive purpose. A maternal figure, she is the source, sustainer, and goal of the quester who is in the process of redemption. Finally, through the reversal of the maternal figure, Lilith, MacDonald reveals the wonder and grace of God in redeeming even that part of creation which has defied His creative and redemptive nature embodied in the female archetype.

Extent

68 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1981.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FADT14073

Format

pdf

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