Does the great great grandmother in George MacDonalds Princess and the Goblin represent a Catholic conception of God?
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Well, I'm a reformed guy, so I can't give the Roman Catholic view but I'll try to give a catholic one.
I didn't take the Great Grandmother as a God-character so much, but rather as Lady Wisdom, who instructs and guides. This is a theme MacDonald employs in a number of his other short stories as well, such as The Lost Princess or The Wise Woman, At the Back of the North Wind, and The Golden Key. I have found his fairy tales and Unspoken Sermons very helpful, though I don't agree with all of his theology (most notably his universalism). As with anything man-made, it must be compared to scripture to see where it matches and where it diverges. It's work, but it's worth it.
God portrayed as a woman
As far as I can tell, scripture nowhere casts God in the feminine. God is masculine - the creator, the initiator. The creation (and most specifically the church) is feminine - the suitable helper, the receiver. God is the Father, the Elder Brother, The Son. The Church is the Daughter, the Sister, the Bride.
Death and Resurrection
Death and resurrection plays a hugely important part in scripture. There is almost no story in scripture that doesn't have some kind of death and resurrection theme. Adam is put into a death sleep and his bride is built from his side. Israel is in slavery to death and is brought out as a new nation, and so on.
I see the Grandmother guiding the children through this as Lady Wisdom. Curdie is brave but foolish, immature at first. He must be tried, worked over, before he is willing and able to cling to wisdom. When Grandmother sends Curdie through the fire, this can be seen as a death and resurrection. The old man is put to death, and he receives a glorified fire-body (fire-hands anyway).
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