Goblin Market

• AO1: In ‘Goblin Market’, Rossetti explores… 

  • Temptation 
  • Fallen Women
  • Women’s Role in Society
  • Salvation and Sacrifice
  • Sisterhood and relationships
• Christina Rossetti volunteered at St Mary Magdalene house


  1859 to 1870
• Christina Rossetti's motivation

  Passion for helping rehabilitate former prostitutes due to her service in Highgate Penitentiary
• In the early Victorian era, there were strict rules and expectations about sexuality
• Women were considered weak, innocent, and naive with little to no sexual appetite or inclinations
• Possible source of inspiration

  The poem's dedication, "To M. F. R." - these are the initials of Rossetti's sister, Mary, who reportedly helped her avoid eloping with a married man
• Rossetti discusses the double standards in Victorian society
• Lizzie's knowledge protects her

  "Their evil gifts would harm us", which stops her
• Laura lacks knowledge, has curiosity and innocence

  But ultimately falls into the temptation
• Prizing innocence and keeping women ignorant about their sexuality leaves them vulnerable to sexually predatory men, illustrated by Jeanine, the cautionary tale
• AO2:

  Rhyme Scheme: Generally an ABAB rhyme scheme, with some long gaps
• Marxist reading

  • presupposes twos evenils - the goblins themselves and the market they form - the role of the economic market is presented as a detrimental threat to Laura and Lizzie’s purity 
  • Publish soon after the ‘communist manifesto 1898’
• Feminist reading 

  • reflect women who succumb to the evils of the patriarchy and the effect of masculine desire on women.  
• Religious interpretation 

  • links back to fruit of Genesis - the forbidden fruit - Lizzie is acknowledged as a christ like figure 
• Queer interpretation - ONLY FOR A MODERN AUDIENCE 

  • Laura and Lizzie represent the virtues of homosexual and even homosexual demonicance as distinct from the patriarchal worlds which demand heterosexual dominance between men and women. 
  • Reflect the security of a same sex couple 
• Lizzie - reflective of Queen Elizabeth the virgin queen
• "Come buy our orchard fruits, Come buy, come buy:

  • the objectification of women / epizeuxis / codification of sex / echos - God’s invitation - battle between freedom and entrapment / the omnipresent of capitalism - Jesus in the temple  - loss of faith due to capitalism
• "Plump unpecked cherries,"

  • virginity - the objectification of women 

  "Melons and raspberries"

  
  

  "Bloom-down-cheeked peaches,"

  • adjectives - even nature becomes a victim of temptation 
• Come buy, come buy."

  • prioritisation of capital 
  • town cryer - goblin trying to sell their fruit / reflects to objectification of women + reflection of the indulgence of Victorian culture - enticing 
• ‘Apples and quinces/lemons and oranges’- 

  • dactylic diameter + trochees - alluring, incantatory sound - tempering nature of the Goblins.
  • metre increases the pase of the stanza, mimicking the overwhelming essence of the market and its abundance of fruits.
  • asyndetic listing of fruits - multiplicitous character of desire, as even though it opens with the conventional symbol of desire, the ‘apple’, there are several other forms this ‘forbidden fruit’ has taken, showing desire to be anything as it is subjective not objective.
• “Lizzie covered up her eyes,” and “Laura stretched her gleaming neck”

  • Laura and Lizzie are almost fairytale-like characters, one succumbs to temptation which leads to her demise, whilst the other stays ‘pure’ and saves her sister - Rosetti’s unconventional view that ‘fallenness’ is not a permanent state and that fallen women can be saved an reintegrated into their communities/society. Eyes are a symbol of temptation - Matthew 6 “The eyes are the lamp of the body”
• “One had a cat’s face, / One whisked a tail, / One tramped at a rat’s pace, / One crawled like a snail,” and “She heard a voice like voice of doves / Cooing all together: / They sounded kind and full of loves”

  • Babies make cooing sounds - facade of innocence. The devil imitates God. All she wants is love, but love is taxed with the fee of sex. 
  • Zoomorphism - depicts these goblins as primal and animalistic with no morals.
• "Buy from us with a golden curl."

  • ‘rape of the lock - by Alexander Pope - symbolic of losing her virginity, metaphor for prostitution - sacrificing self In nineteenth-century culture, locks of hair were considered to be precious and were exchanged between lovers, friends, and family members. Symbolically, the goblins commodify a part of Laura’s body - when Laura cuts her hair in exchange for the fruit, she symbolically sells herself - becomes a fallen woman or prostitute status.
• "She dropped a tear more rare than pearl,"

  • pearl - symbolic of virginity - unable to acknowledge the importance of herviginity 
  • immediate regret
• “Sucked and sucked and sucked”

  • The asyndetic listing of sensual verbs accentuated Laura’s yearning desire and she continues to feed her sexual satisfactions. Sibilance symbolises the serpent from the original sin story.
• She sucked until her lips were sore;

  • destructive nature of sin - we are taught to ‘flee’ from lust
• "Laura most like a leaping flame."

  • the extent of her destruction - isolation - uncontrollable - undeliberate - ‘vaulting ambition that overlaps itself’
• "Till Laura dwindling / Seemed knocking at Death's door:"

  • alliterative - inescapable situation /motif - proximity to sin - her own control over her lust
• "Tore her gown and soiled her stocking, "

  • past tense - the ignorance of a woman’s issues 

  "Twitched her hair out by the roots, "

  • juxtaposition between her and her sister 

  "Stamped upon her tender feet,

  Held her hands and squeezed their fruits "

  • rule of three - reverses it - alliterative - the unity of man - the presence of God 

  "Against her mouth to make her eat."

  • original sin
• "Would not open lip from lip"

  • the facade of choice 

  "Lest they should cram a mouthful in:"

  • used as a foil
• "And heard her penny jingle 

  Bouncing in her purse,

  Its bounce was music to her ear."
• "Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices"

  • lust - incestual - exploring repressed sexuality / juices - power and desire - companionship - energy ‘purity’ / emphasis on ‘my juices’ 
• “Eat me, drink me, love me.”

  • Lizzie’s words evoke Christ’s instructions to his followers at the Last Supper to drink his blood and eat his body - Laura is revived by sucking the fruit juices from Lizzie’s body, as if she has taken part in a sisterly version of holy communion. Lizzie (Christ-like figure), whose self-sacrifice and willingness to risk death enables her to purchase the redemption of her sister. Salvation can reinstate the fallen woman into society + the love and labour or other women (Highgate Penitentiary).
• "For there is no friend like a sister "

  • break of the fourth wall - direct communication with the fallen woman -