Few things are what they seem in Faerie, and this applies to people and animals, too. In fact, it seems like most of the characters in Stardust transform into something or someone else at some point in the story. Tristran is changed into a dormouse and back, his mom is transformed into a bird and back again many times, poor Brevis is doomed to become a goat and then a girl, the beech-tree remembers her life as a nymph, the witch-queen transforms into a younger version of herself, and so on.
Magic can sure do a lot of things, but we see it used to transform people's shapes and sizes on multiple occasions. And then there are the more general transformations that take place in people throughout the book, such as Tristran growing up and becoming a man over the course of his journey. It's almost as though the book is telling readers to embrace transformations and changes because they're inevitable.
Questions About Transformation
- When do you think Tristran's transformation into a man begins?
- Why does Madame Semele turn Tristran into a dormouse?
- What do you think about Lady Una's statement to Yvaine about Madame Semele seeming to free the animal within each person she transforms?
- What kinds of transformations does the witch-queen perform on others as compared to on herself?