Mabinogi Bibliography

Discusses the practice of humanizing animals in folk tales.p/g paper Trinity Saint David, U. of Wales, published on Academia.edu
This essay has some interesting themes, such as the duality of the Otherworld as both benevolent and hostile; an insight drawn from Sioned Davies. Some structural parallels are noted, with some strong ones drawn together towards the end.
The text of the essay is poorly crafted with slangy forms, and note form hyphens. Many statements of retelling are inaccurate on details, particularly the opening paragraph. This suggests that impressions have not been closely checked against the text. The range of references is narrow (6). There is an unexplained use of two translations, rather than electing a core translation.
The interpretation here of ‘good always triumphs’ is naive, compared to the maturity of the Mabinogi as literature which presents a complex balance of forces. For example Efnysien certainly shows self sacrifice in the end, but this hardly outweighs the genocide of thousands. Again, Gwydion may be seen as stated here, as ‘purified’ by his three years of penance, so that his use of magical deception in his ambitions for Lleu is a benevolent aim. But it is still political ambition, the lust for power, for which Lleu is a tool. He can also be seen as bullying his sister in her humiliation, where here Arianrhod is cast as ‘sinister.’ Math is depicted as a ‘forgiving’ or ‘altruistic’ person or ruler, which overlooks the nature of the Welsh law code of compensation which he is merely a representative.
The student here would have benefited from a more probing guidance on the text, and a much more strict agenda on writing style.