Ruskin and Nature in 'The King of the Golden River'

Ruskin’s assertions in The Mountain Gloom strongly underline the theme found in The King of the Golden River. Nature, as embodied in the mountains and streams, and the life that inhabits them, seems to have a certain foreboding quality. Although he believed that living within such a cohesive community would seemingly make that society all the more unified, there still remains a strong element of self-preservation which becomes evident in Gluck’s willingness to act in an altruistic manner, restoring a degree of ecological balance and benefiting both the community in which he lived and those in the surrounding area. It must be remembered that Gluck also benefited from his acts, suggesting that aiding others, unquestioningly, is to be greatly rewarded. Ruskin makes it very clear that man’s relationship to nature is a precarious one indeed. Man is not only at the mercy of his physical world, but will one day be returned to it. This ‘inevitable degree of melancholy’ is to be found in The King of the Golden River, perhaps, on the final ascent, through pestilence, perhaps symbolised by the dying dog, and the image of old age, as represented most obviously by the old man. The child becomes a physical representation of hope; and perhaps this final image is indicative of Christ’s redemptive spirit.

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