Themes and message

Appearances

In “Petronella” by Jay Williams, the theme of deceiving appearances is explored through plot and characters. In the story, princess Petronella sets out to seek her fortune and find herself a prince, despite her parents’ and brothers’ initial protests.

On her journey, Petronella needs to learn to better understand which things are what they seem and which are not. For example, Petronella makes assumptions based on the words of the old man at the forked road, who tells her there is a prince in the house of Albion the enchanter. Petronella assumes that the prince is a prisoner, even though there are various hints that he is not and that Albion is not a villain. However, she ignores these because she doesn’t question appearances and is determined to find her fortune by finding a prince.

Petronella does realise that Ferdinand is not “much of a prince”, yet she continues to fight to rescue him. This suggests that Petronella still partly conforms to society’s expectations, ...