Notes

• The Poetry of Christina Rossetti
• Revision Guide
• Paper 1: Drama and Poetry - Christina Rossetti's Poetry & Henrik Ibsen's 'A Doll's House'
• Goblin Market


  Sisters Lizzie and Laura are in a market with Goblins selling their plethora of fruit; Laura is enticed, Lizzie runs away - they remember the warnings about these goblin men. Goblins work together - Laura pays for fruit with a lock of hair + tear, indulges in the fruit. Upon her return, she is reprimanded by Lizzie, warning her of cautionary tale of Jeanie who died due to fruit (fallen woman). Laura wants more fruit, the sisters sleep; when outdoors in evening, Lizzie wants to go home, Laura lingers. Laura becomes ill, withdrawal symptoms - deteriorating. Lizzie goes to market to buy fruits so she can help her sister - pays with silver penny, refuses to sit with Goblins for dinner. They become violent and attack her in anger at her refusal, allusion to rape? - force her to eat the fruit. Lizzie redeems her sister, lets her lick the juices of her body - terrifying reaction; like "wormwood". Her sister's love like an antidote to the hatred of the fruits. Ending — future, Laura + Lizzie are mothers with children; warn them about the goblins and place importance on sisterly love: "for there is no friend like a sister"
• Key Quotes from Goblin Market

  • "Lizzie veil'd her blushes" - respectability, arousal, temptation, repression of female sexuality, submissive nature of women, self-protection from the dangers of men
  • "Who knows upon what soil they fed their hungry, thirsty roots?"; "cat-faced" - post colonial reading; the goblins represent 'the other'/'the outsider', threaten domestic bliss, unknown lands - tropical fruits, differing appearances - savage, animalistic, beastly, creaturous
  • "Precious golden lock" - attribute of beauty in folklore, gives her hair for fruits, capitalism as exploitative even on a bodily level, portrayed with beauty - Rossetti doesn't demonise her, hair in ADH ("hair works loose" - Tarantella)
  • "She pined and pined away" - yearning, addiction, links to 'forbidden tastes'; Laura represents an aspect of the human psyche which wants what one cannot get
  • "Jeanie in her grave" - Cautionary tale of Jeanie, succumbed to temptation and died due to fruits, ironic - a cautionary tale within a cautionary tale, poem has sense of self-awareness (links to ADH)
  • "Kick'd her, knock'd her, maul'd her, mock'd her" - barbarism, sadistic, sexual pleasure through tormenting Lizzie, takes place when Lizzie refuses to sit for meal, possibly allusion to treatment of women when she speaks her mind in 19th century patriarchal society, don't like her lack of subservience/ her own autonomy + agency, uncivilised, brutish, perverted
  • "White and golden", "worn out by her resistance" - Christ-like depiction of Lizzie; redeemer + saviour, sacrifices herself for heart sister, feminist reading = the sense of ideal human is conveyed through femininity; power of female solidarity, power of one woman against many men, female empowerment
  • "Eat me, drink me, love me" - links to Lewis Carroll, 'sisterhood' as metaphorical - sexual undertones, gesture of love cures Laura, Eucharistic description
• Links between Goblin Market and A Doll's House

  • The use of two female characters to convey different aspects of humans - Laura and Lizzie represent part of human psyche which gives into temptation and renounces temptation; similarly, Christine could be a figure that Nora strives to be - independent, working for herself, finding her own way in the world
  • Ideas of 'forbidden tastes' - Nora indulges in macaroons and chocolates and has a "longing to say 'bloody hell'" - acts which Torvald wouldn't favour; she commits small acts of subversion as her form of rejecting the suffocating ideals she is subjected to. Boredom in her domestic bourgeois life, keeping secrets, engaging in scandal - source of fun and excitement - taboo, childish behaviour of Laura; temptation - temptation to ask Rank for money, temptation to commit suicide
  • Female sexuality — Torvald sees Nora as his "possession", an object of sex (esp towards end of Act 3). David Thacker's 1992 production - T gropes Nora's breasts forcefully. Torvald reacts angrily in her refusal, expected to have no bodily autonomy, simply satisfying his needs —> links to attack on Lizzie, she is subjected to this sexual violence, objectified, dehumanisation. Females not expected to have sexual desires. True female sexuality; Nora showing Rank her "flesh coloured silk stockings" - excitement, toys with his emotion - asserting sexual power
  • Appearances - goblins are outsiders as they are "cat-faced" and "rat-faced"; Christine is "older, much older" - even facades must be endearing; Nora keeps the secret "up my [her] sleeve" so that she can tell Torvald if he finds her less sexualy appealing in her old age - self awareness, intellectual power, whole relationship based on deceit and lies
  • Re-birth: Lizzie, a Christ-like figure is a saviour to Laura, who is reborn and changed from a state of pining to peace — demonstrates the power of sisterly love and female solidarity. Nora is also re-born at the end of the play, when coming to the conclusion that she has never loved Torvald; she has never felt "so sane" in her life. Self-actualization, coming out of false perception (Laura is intoxicated and tormented by her desires for fruit, Nora has a very different view of her place in the world) — she abandons the very gender roles she originally wanted her children to follow (toy gifts given to children)
  • S. Gilbert - 'Madwoman in the Attic' - "men hurt while women redeem" in GM; ADH - all men ill/have been diseased, projecting disease, Torvald as extremely hurtful and "petty", Krogstad creates much anguish and pain for Nora - she tries to be kind and loving
• Context for Goblin Market

  • Links to postcolonial readings; British Empire, time of colonialism, imperialism - any non British person seen as uncivilised and brutish
  • Religious Context - Christina Rossetti; devout Christian - part of Oxford Movement of Tractarianism - "reserve" in writing, using literature to spread message of the Bible; self-sacrifice, redemption, salvation, resisting temptation,re-birth, Eucharist, exorcism-like description of Laura's recovery, story echoes 'the Fall' of Adam + Eve - Biblical account of Genesis
  • Rossetti's sympathetic depiction of Laura - worked for many years at 'The Highgate Penitentiary for Fallen Women' - came to develop an understanding of these people, their stories and backgrounds - contrary depiction to Victorian society; artists like G.F Watts tried to change public perception of fallen women - art as influential in Victorian society
  • Pure woman v Fallen women — conjured by Coventry Patmore 'Angel in the House' (1854) - idealises women in the domestic sphere, not expected to have sexual desires. Phillip Larkin - depiction of women in Vic Lit - "incorruptibly good"; challenges Freud's 'Madonna-Whore complex'
  • Naturalistic imagery - fruits, settings - reflects work of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood; Rossetti had close connection to (her brother was Dante Gabriel Rossetti - one of the founding members of artistic movement)
• Critical Interpretations of Goblin Market

  • Marxist reading = exploitation of capitalism, how bourgeoisie (Goblins) mistreat proletariat (sisters)
  • Ray Cluely - Lizzie as a "regendered Christ-like figure"
  • Pamela Bickley - violence/erotic section as an "orgasmic, Dionysian frenzy of unconsciousness"
  • Sandra Gilbert - "a parable of female resistance and solidarity", "men hurt while women redeem"
  • Jan Marsh - GM demonstrates "ambivalence" of Rossetti's writing; Caroline Norton - GM "defies categorisation"
  • Sexual reading - unambiguously pornographic, published in a Playboy magazine in 1973
  • Virginia Woolf - uncertain with Rossetti's commitment to her Christian faith due to her juxtaposition of Biblical tales and classical mythology (Eg 'The Fall' + Goblins)
• Maude Clare

  Set in a Church, the wedding of Nell and Lord Thomas. Maude Clare, presumably one of Lord Thomas' ex-lovers, comes to the wedding and returns several objects from their previous relationship, almost trying to entice him. Maude Clare explains how she gives up Lord Thomas to Nell, and Nell explains that although the love may be unrequited, she will "love him till he loves me [her] best". Form = ballad, begins medias res (middle) - influences of romanticism; links to Tennyson's 'Maud' (1850)
• Key Quotes from Maude Clare


  • "His bride was like a village maid, Maude Clare was like a queen" - antithesis between the physical appearances of the women, Lord Thomas settles for a less attractive woman; MC who is 'fallen woman' or 'new woman' isn't demonised, but glorified. Division between the 2 females, not feminist
  • "Your father thirty years ago had just your tale to tell" - Lord Thomas' mother explains how his father was in the same position as him; sexual double standard - men kept many sexual partners, links to heredity; as though LT's behaviour controlled through genetic influence; Emile Zola - French writer, popularised ideas of genetic influence in naturalism - ADH
  • "The lillies are budding now" - sexual undertones, referring to possible intimacy, MC may be pregnant with Thomas' child; possibly scared + insecure about becoming a single mother - facade of confidence. Links to 'fallen woman' - MC has to live with the consequences of their relationship, LT is free to get married, life as inherently unjust to women. Possibly, as a 'fallen woman', MC has been cast out by society, alienated to the fringes of her community; but this is liberating - no longer bound to shackles and social conventions of Victorian society
  • "Take my share" - MC views Lord Thomas as her property, subversion of gender norms, and 'gives' him to Nell although he is rightfully her own. Alternative reading; MC is an image of 'the New Woman' - as though she has ownership of things, property etc - due to this she is an outsider. Lord Thomas - objectified into something inanimate, powerful statement. MC has come to wedding for emotional closure.
  • "Faltered", "hid his face", "fickle heart" - Lord Thomas = fragile masculinity, weak, unconventional presentation of gender dynamic, he is silenced by the power of the women
  • "I'll wash my hands thereof" - Biblical links (Gospels = Pilate 'washes' his hands of condemnation of Christ) - getting rid of Lord Thomas, moving on from him, washing of hands - Shakespearian influence (Lady Macbeth - powerful woman)
  • "I'll love him till he loves me best" - unrequited love, Nell believes that Lord Thomas will eventually love her in return, aware of how much more attractive MC is; more painful. Karl Marx = bourgeois marriage for financial value, only economic transactions - not for emotion. MC v Nell = if MC is a fallen woman or 'the New Woman'; Nell represents the faithful, submissive and dedicated wife who glorifies her husband.
• Links between Maude Clare and A Doll's House


  • Ending of relationship; not underpinned by hatred and spite (an emotion which men exhibit) - but of mutual diminished responsibility - female character sees herself as liberating herself and her partner; MC "I wash my hands thereof"; Nora - "I release you" — marriage as a social ill
  • Hope - Nell is aware of her position in marriage with Lord Thomas - love which isn't reciprocated; she hopes that by loving him (and being a good wife) that he will eventually have the same feelings; similarly, Nora hopes that Torvald will perform the "miracle" where he will be prepared to sacrifice his reputation for her; disillusioned when he fails to do this
  • Unrequited love - Lord Thomas doesn't love Nell back, this fuels her desire to make him love her back; Christine Linde - echoes Lord Thomas; she has to marry a man she didn't love as "I didn't feel like I could say no" ; forced to for his money in order to look after her ailing mother and young brothers. Christine + Krogstad - she has to destroy all the feelings he had for her through letter
  • Fragile male characters - Lord Thomas is silenced by the conversation of two women, stutters when speaking to MC, links to the inadequacy of other male characters in Rossetti's poetry (eg male figure in 'No, Thank You, John'). Torvald as an extremely fragile male; facade of strong man - he "hates anything ugly", and is "so proud of being a man" - allows Nora to play behind his back, subvert gender norms
  • Fallen/New woman vs Traditional housewife — MC (can also be seen as an early version of 'the New Woman'); interaction between MC and Nell - Maude Clare seems to be rejecting social norms, renouncing expectations subjected upon her. Nell deepens herself in the traditional role of a submissive wife. ADH — conversation between Anne Marie and Nora = AM represents the fallen woman, pregnant at young age, poor - had to give up her child; "a poor girl who's got herself into trouble can't afford to pick and choose". In this scene, Nora represents traditional housewife
  • Traditional housewife vs independent woman dynamic (Nell v MC = Nora v Christine)
  • Objectification/commodification - Nora and Lord Thomas; subversion of gender stereotypes for man to be objectified
  • Independence; MC asserts independence, Nora come to do this, Nell doesn't; role of housewife - relies on Lord Thomas loving her back
  • Love + marriage — negative view; ADH - Christine + Krogstad - although has chance of success, had to undergo much hardship, pain, suffering for them to come together (commentary = perfect relationship doesn't exist?), Nora + Rank = unrequited love, Christine + Nell in loveless marriage; social constraints pressure Christine to marry (almost liberating when hub dies, society makes Nell embrace conventions even more
• Context for Maude Clare


  • Rossetti's personal experiences of relationships; failure of relationship within poem - she had several partners and 3 fiancés, all of whom she ended the engagement due to religious incompatibility
  • Literary devices - ballad structure; traditional form of literature - links to romanticism; inspired by the genre, connection to nature, medieval-like settings to escape the unpleasant urban atmosphere; uncle John Polidori - associated with Lord George Byron
  • Sexual double standards; men who engaged in pre and extra-marital sex, they didn't have to face consequences, but women were haunted by their actions. 1857 - London: 1 prostitute for 25 men
  • Fallen Women - perception of women who engaged in pre-marital sex or adultery - seen as immoral, impure, unfit for respectable society
• 'NȆ, Thandz YoȺ, JohǾ' - 1862
• 'IǾ thǃ Rounƿ ToweȨ aȵ JhansǠ' (IndiaǾ Mutinɖ) - 1857
• Pale


  Stark contrast to the dark skin of rebels, angelic image, a symbol of purity
• Wife


  Unnamed, like a possession, dehumanising, objectified, reflects how she is infantilised
• "Young, strong and so full of life"


  Description of couple, heightens melancholy nature, although demonising of the rebels, some element of female empowerment, presenting the oppressed
• "The time is come"


  Said in such a calm + composed manner, in reality - the time has come for Captain Skene to shoot his wife dead, so poised in such a morbid situation, devised plan
• "God forgive them this!"


  Speaker, empathising with couple - in Christianity, suicide is the most sinful action - asking God not to condemn due to their desperation, wants dignity in death - to be reunited in the afterlife
• "Will it hurt much?"


  Infantilization of the wife, she appears to be very vulnerable, fearful of death, links to how Skene "closes his arm" around her - may seem comforting, physical entrapment, power imbalance, also mirrors the way a father holds their child
• "I wish I could bear the pang for both"


  Rossetti's presentation of masculinity, seemingly heroic and sacrificial, contradictory as he shoots wife first, why can't the wife shoot him - hints at fragile masculinity, he is not powerful in himself, he can only exert power through taking the life of his inferior wife, highlights the superficiality of male sacrificial behaviour
• Links to 'A Doll's House'

  Ibsen + Rossetti both shed light to those who are often silenced/sidelined in society, or seen as the threatening 'other', females + death, different views on death/suicide, stoicism/lacking emotion, sacrificial behaviours of men, infantilization
• Colonialism, British Empire; Indian Independence Movement beginning in 1857; people began to question the nature of British Colonialism; British Empire covered 25% World's land surface
• Ideas of science and evolution; Charles Darwin - 'Origin of Species' (1859) - used to justify colonialism; white Western people seen as superior; non-Europeans/people who were not white seen as stupid, primitive and belittled -"White Man's Burden" to civilise world; also impacted gender politics - 'Darwinian Imperative'; natural separation of men and women - men as superior to women
• Women - very restricted in Victorian Europe, very few middle class bourgeois women could make lives for themselves; their roles were in service to men or constrained by the patriarchy, as wives, mothers, daughters etc.
• Ideas of joint-suicide, killing/death of a lover - prevalent in Shakespeare's works like 'Romeo and Juliet' - Rossetti heavily influenced, inspired; links to Romantics - imagining a time far removed from current unpleasant time (eg urban conditions of Industrial Revolution)
• Victorian women often infantilised in literature and the real world (by society, husbands) - especially bourgeoisie housewives; socially restricted - few employment opportunities, expected to uphold a domestic existence rearing children; therefore associated with them, physically weak
• Angelic nature of the wife; "young", "pale" - subservient, she obeys her husband, she doesn't tell her husband to kill her; it is imposed onto her - links to 1854 Coventry Patmore's 'Angel in the House' - paints an image of women with Phillip Larkin describes as "incorruptibly good"
• Rossetti had a non-critical view of the British Empire; she had a "limited social conscience" (Suzanne Williams) which didn't go beyond the European sphere; sense of cultural superiority
• Victorian society - conduct and social etiquette very important, formal - one did everything to protect their reputation, people judged and lives ruined by their moral shortcomings (character of Krogstad)
• "My secret's mine and I won't tell"

  Infantile language, obstinacy, critique of society, women is not only made a possession by the patriarchy she lives in, she can only choose to possess something as ephemeral as a secret, links to assertion of power - although it appears that she is assertive + independent, very limited, negated dynamic
• "froze and blows and snows"

  Consonance alliteration, speaker puts on a facade through self-infantilization, possibly to distract male from her true thoughts, intentions and possibly the notion that there even is a secret, uses child-like, playful language in order to deepen/further embed herself into that character (which the male expects her to be) - self awareness, claiming agency, bigger picture to subvert herselves
• "A veil, a cloak and other wraps"


  "I wear my mask for warmth", self-awareness, ironic language links to meta-theatricality of ADH, the female speaker holds intellectual power, a means of concealing, physical facade for self-protection
• Links to 'A Doll's House'

  Language as a facade/means to conceal, coded language, infantilization, deception/concealment, the only thing a woman has control over are her secrets, enjoying the attention and power that comes from teasing their male listener, only consider revealing her secret when she feels safe, or in the company of a fellow female friend
• Victorian women often infantilised in literature and the real world (by society, husbands) - especially bourgeoisie housewives; socially restricted - few employment opportunities, expected to uphold a domestic existence rearing children
• Victorian social etiquette - promoted a reserved, quiet and respectable person as an archetype of Victorian social conduct; ideas of 'facade' - many would externally exhibit they lead a certain life of respectability; conveys the idea that people had to publicly align their behaviour to a certain standard, not themselves; judged by social shortcomings - pressurising social expectations which entraps all - not just women
• First title of this poem = "Nonsense" - comical, nonsensical, however has more serious undertones
• Social double standard
• 'The New Woman' - breaking away from social constraints imposed on women, challenging traditional norms of womanhood
• Women could own very little; not until 1882 Married Women's Property Act - could own property; but before all inheritance went to males, idea that women cannot possess ownership over anything , not even their own secrets - have to be shared with men