Mrs. Macready is the Professor's housekeeper

Mrs. Macready is the Professor's housekeeper, a stern and authoritative figure who manages the large country house where the four Pevensie children are sent during the war. Her strict rules and scheduled tours of the house inadvertently create the circumstances that drive the children into the wardrobe and into Narnia.

Role and Authority in the Household

Mrs. Macready is the housekeeper of the Professor's very large house, which she runs with three servants named Ivy, Margaret, and Betty. The Professor himself is a very old man with shaggy white hair, and he has no wife; Mrs. Macready is the one who shows parties of sight-seers around the house, telling them about the pictures, the armour, and the rare books in the library. She is not fond of children and does not like to be interrupted when she is conducting these tours. On almost the first morning, she instructs Susan and Peter, along with the others, to keep out of the way whenever she is taking a party over the house.

Catalyst for the Entry into Narnia

A few mornings later, while Peter and Edmund are looking at a suit of armour, the two girls rush in and warn that Mrs. Macready and a whole gang of sight-seers are coming. The four children make off through the far end of the room, but they hear voices ahead and realize Mrs. Macready is bringing her party up the back stairs instead of the front stairs. They seem to find themselves being followed everywhere until Susan suggests they get into the wardrobe room till the party has passed. The moment they are inside, they hear voices in the passage and someone fumbling at the door, and then they see the handle turning. Peter flings open the wardrobe, and all four bundle inside, sitting in the dark. This is the moment they discover they have entered Narnia together.

Narrative Significance

Mrs. Macready's function in the story is to provide the immediate, practical pressure that forces the children into the wardrobe at the precise moment when all four are together. Her strict housekeeping and dislike of children create a situation where the children must hide, and the only available hiding place is the wardrobe. Without her tour and her rule about staying out of the way, the children might never have entered Narnia as a group. She represents the ordinary, rule-bound adult world from which the children are escaping into the magical realm. The Professor, by contrast, is a remarkable man who believes the children's story and does not tell them not to be silly, but Mrs. Macready is the embodiment of the mundane authority that inadvertently opens the door to adventure.