Goblin Market and Rossetti Essay

Submitted By valverde_b
Words: 1933
Pages: 8
Open Document
Belen Valverde Professor Moreno English 206 2 March 2015 Interpretations of “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti One strong emotion one cannot control is forbidden desire. If we give in these desires some serious consequences can be faced. In Christina Rossetti’s poem “Goblin Market” tells a story of a forbidden desire. To convey her message about a lesson learn to children, Rossetti’s uses the symbol of a forbidden fruit. The forbidden fruit is interpreter in many different meanings one is religion, drug addiction, and sexuality. It is difficult to find one accurate interpretation from Rossetti’s Goblin Market. Some critics classified “Goblin Market” as Christian allegory. Other critics believe this poem contains sexuality. Although many scholars have not yet found an original theme to Goblin Market, This poem overpasses many possibilities of interpretation in Goblin Market, and opens different readings. Many critics have examined Rossetti’s life after the twenty century in order to unravel “Goblin Market”. Christina Georgina Rossetti was born on December 5, 1830. As a female writer in the 1800’s Christina Rossetti had little freedom to discuss female sexuality. Rossetti was the youngest child after her siblings; Maria Francesca, Gabriel Charles Dante, and William Michael. Rossetti spent time in St Mary Magdalene at Highgate Hill. Rossetti time in Highgate worked with prostitutes, who were housed, taught skills and received an education. Prostitution was an issue faced in Victorian England. According to wordpress.com, “there were 2,000 prostitutes in the city at the time; the Society for the Suppression of Vice considered the number to be about 80,000, a plausible estimate is 70,000 prostitutes in London alone”. There were not high paying jobs for women during this time. Only jobs available for women were; maid, factory worker, or prostitution. Most women worked as prostitutes they earned high salaries. Rossetti’s views of the women role were expressed in her poems. Rossetti was very much devoted into her religion. In fact she was proposed marriage twice, but rejected both due to her incompatible religion beliefs. Despite the debate of identifying Rossetti’s interpretation one thing is certain “Goblin Market” is viewed as a master piece empowering women. Poem “Goblin Market by Christina Georgina Rossetti was written in 1859 but later published in 1862. Goblin Market is one of Christina Rossetti early work. Rossetti described “Goblin Market” in great detail; she provided great imagery, symbols and wordplay. For many years the poem “Goblin Market” was known for the importance of sisterhood. It was intended for children’s poem. In some parts of the poem it seems to be catchy song for children. For example in lines one through four “Morning and evening maids heard the goblins cries of “Come buy our orchard fruits, Come buy, come buy:…Bloom-down-cheeked peaches,/Swart-headed mulberries,/Wild free-born cranberries,” (4-11). Later the poem changed theme due to the erotic exploration of sexual fantasy. You can see the difference in passage “She sucked and sucked the more Fruits which that unknown orchard bore’ She sucked until her lips were sore (lines 134-136). Yet Christina Rossetti insists this was a children poem. The story begins with two sisters, Laura and Lizzie. They lived together were Laura is often taunted by the goblin men. Lizzie is able to resist from the desire of the tantalizing fruits but Laura seems to have trouble. As Laura desire increases she can’t resist anymore and gives in. The goblin men offer her fruit in exchange of her golden hair. Laura agreed and gets herself goblin fruit, and returns home to her sister. Laura gets a taste of the goblin fruit and begins to age. Lizzie runs to the market in efforts to cure her sister. According to analysis Terrence Holt argues “ in trying to save Laura,
Show More

Related Documents: Goblin Market and Rossetti Essay

Analysis Of Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market

Preventative Education in Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” At the time of the Victorian era, many women found themselves unfortunately regarded as little more than personal property—of their fathers, then their husbands, and if they should be so unlucky, of a brother should their husbands pass away. Motherhood was considered the sole purpose or “crowning achievement of a woman’s life” (Kent, 33), and individuals enjoying positions of power “encouraged the view of women as sexual objects” (Kent…

Words 2531 - Pages 11

Rossetti: Rhyme Scheme and Poem Essay example

humans is desire. In “Goblin’s Market,” the desire to have the goblin’s fruit was too difficult for Laura to resist. The temptation to consume the forbidden fruits cost Laura to lose her normalcy and self-control. The tempting nature of this poem is brought about through the rhyme scheme, tone, diction, symbolism, and structure, which ultimately tricks the reader into thinking this piece of work is merely just a fairytale. Christina Rossetti, in her poem, “Goblin’s Market,” misleads the audience by switching…

Words 930 - Pages 4

Religion And Myth In Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market

Religion and myth really do weave their way into literature, and this holds true for the poem, “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti. The way in which Rossetti wrote this poem allows for a multitude of different interpretations and criticisms of it. However, I find the mythological strategy to be the most prevalent. The biblical and mythological connections within this poem make this strategy most effective in interpreting Rossett’s rationale and inspiration for writing this notable piece of literature…

Words 772 - Pages 4

Fallen Women In Rossetti's Goblin Market

time period, and is portrayed in Dante Rossetti’s, “Jenny”, as well as Christina Rossetti’s, “Goblin Market”. In the poem, “Jenny”, Dante Rossetti shows how even though fallen women like Jenny have similar characteristics and interests as respectable girls like Nell, society –especially other women– sees girls like Jenny as degraded and unworthy. On the other hand, in “Goblin Market”, Christina Rossetti is able to prove that even though Laura, the fallen woman in this poem, and the respectable sister Lizzie…

Words 1203 - Pages 5

Goblin Market Tale

Can Goblin Market be seen as a Fairy Tale? Goblin Market is Rossetti’s most famous poem, separated from the rest of her work by its narrative power and the changes of literary taste that value its density over the transparency of some of her work. It was written in 1859 and published in 1862 in the volume “Goblin Market and Other Poems”. Goblin Market was seen as striking and innovative for Rossetti’s contemporaries, it also showed a familiar narrative mode, a blend of the allegorical and the fantastic…

Words 973 - Pages 4

Literary Devices In Rime Of The Ancient Mariner

Samuel Coleridge, who uses the Wedding-Guest as his internal audience, and “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti, who uses the goblins. I will first examine Coleridge’s poem and what the Wedding-Guest interrupts, changes, and questions about the story. I will then do the same with Rossetti’s poem, along with a discussion of how each author’s embedded audience contributes to the moral of the poem. Both Coleridge and Rossetti successfully embed audience figures within their texts; these figures provide…

Words 1198 - Pages 5

Gender In The Victorian Era

For example, in Robert Browning’s Porphyria's Lover, he takes a weird way of showing that men and women are not equal in the Victorian era society. Another example is, Christina Rossetti in The Goblin Market, the goblins (men) were controlling and superior over the women. These poets show that men in the Victorian era are superior to women during this time and see them as just objects. Robert Browning used the theme of gender roles in many of his…

Words 1223 - Pages 5

Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market

“Goblin Market" is a narrative poem by Christina Rossetti published in 1862. She claimed that the poem, which is interpreted frequently as having features of sexual imagery, was not meant for children. This poem is delivered by the narrators – Lizzie and Laura - as a lesson to their children. They describe their experience in the goblin market to their own children as a cautionary tale about the importance of sisterly love. “Goblin Market” has two possible interpretations: the first…

Words 346 - Pages 2

Symbolism In The Goblin Market

published in 1857 by Charles Baudelaire. Many writers during that time like Christina Georgina Rossetti who capitalized on using symbolism in her poem The Goblin Market which has a library of symbolism to help describe symbols that represent persuasion,…

Words 1199 - Pages 5

Goblin Market Essay

Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” is a very descriptive and interesting poem, although many people debate on whether or not it is considered pornography. Personally, I did not read she was sending a hidden sexual message, she never really says they are having relations. I read that she was sending a message more along the lines of Adam and Eve. The theme of the poem being to beware of temptation, and temptation goes hand in hand with the story of Adam and Eve. The so called “goblin fruit” being The…

Words 361 - Pages 2