Goblin Mythology: A Brief Study of the Archetype, Tracing the Explications in English Literature
Folktales refer to the narrative prose literature of the oral tradition. They include various types of stories like myths, legends, parables, allegories, fairy tales, ghost stories and so on. Folktales generally have religious connotations and have mythical and imaginary elements. According to Thompson, “the teller of stories has everywhere and always found eager listeners.” Goblins, the myth that originated in literature around the fourteenth century, have become one of the common characters of attraction for the writers that they survived through the fictional world over the centuries and are commonly cited figures in the contemporary works of art. This paper is a brief study on the depiction of goblins in literature. A Goblin is a mythical character that though does not exist in the real world, becomes a recurring character of the imagined real world of the authors as well as of the folktales. The fictional world regards goblins as mischievous, and demon- like and it used them as synonyms for other negative types of fairies of malicious and evil connotations. The belief in such stories was known as “nursery goblinism.” The recurring nature of the myth in literature is the proved depiction of the obsession of humans towards evil and good.
