Point of View

All tales in The Mabinogion are narrated from a third-person omniscient viewpoint, also known as the "Eye of God" perspective. Occasionally, the narrator addresses the reader directly with a comment on the tale, with the most obvious example being the closing paragraph of "The Dream of Rhonabwy", where the narrator comments on his style and how this tale cannot be told without the written text.

Setting

All the tales are set in the Great Britain of myth and legend, with many places corresponding to real places that can be found today. Onomastic tales (incidents appearing to explain the origin of a place name) are frequently found throughout the narratives. The Britian (Lloegyr or the Island of the Mighty) appearing in these tales is one that is divided into many smaller kingdoms ruled over by petty kings. In the later romances, while Arthur appears to be a...