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Drosselmeier comes across as a sinister figure in certain aspects of how he is presented in the book. However, is actual actions seem to be to help his nephew. Is it supposed to be ambiguous, or is he clearly be benevolent or mischievous?

Michael Watson There is an interesting introductory essay by Jack Zipes in the Penguin Classics edition (the one that contains both Hoffman's original story and Duma…moreThere is an interesting introductory essay by Jack Zipes in the Penguin Classics edition (the one that contains both Hoffman's original story and Dumas' "lighter and sweeter" adaptation). Zipes addresses the question that you ask, saying that Drosselmeier is indeed not entirely helpful: he observes Marie, to see how she will react, before providing any assistance. He wants to see if she will remain true to her own imagination, or permit it to be stifled by her parents' urging her to put aside her childish fantasies. Hoffman, as a German Romanticist, believed that fairy tales should be subversive, urging children to give free reign to their imagination. Apparently, he made this point very explicitly at a meeting of a literary society of which he was a member late in his life. So I guess I would say that yes, there is some ambivalence to Drosselmeier. He is subversive in the way he challenges the treatment of children as "little adults" who should exactly obey rational, orderly rules as they are presented in the Stahlbaum household.(less)

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