Albion

Outer characterisation

Albion is a secondary character in the fairy tale “Petronella” by Jay Williams, who is supposed to be the villain but turns out to be a positive character.

His outer characterisation informs us that he is an enchanter (p. 114, l. 9) who looks like a typical scary villain: “…a man dressed all in black and silver. He was tall and thin and his eyes were as black as a cloud full of thunder.” (p. 115, ll. 29-32).

However, we also find out that he lives in a “comfortable-looking house” (p. 115, ll. 12-13) with a “cosy kitchen” (p. 116, ll. 1-2) which suggests the character might not be as bad as Petronella believes him to be.

As an enchanter, he has magical objects (the comb, the mirror, the ring) and the capacity to change form (he turns into an axe and a salmon), which are typical magical attributes of fairy-tale characters.

Inner characterisation

Albion’s inner characterisation is conveyed in relation to Petronella and the Prince. Albion is also an atypical villai...