Goblin Market Social Code Essay

The goblin men are selling fruit that Laura eventually gets her hands on. As she begins to eat, she stops herself. The desire overwhelmed her to the point that when she did stop she “knew not was it night or day” (Rossetti 139). The fruit in the proceeding lines could be symbolizing drugs the goblin men were

The Victorian Era is a remarkable time in history with the blooming industries, growing population, and a major turnaround in the fashion world. This era was named after Queen Victoria who ruled United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from June 1837 until she passed away 64 years later in January 1901.When Victoria received the crown, popular respect was strikingly low. The lack of respect for the position she had just come into did not diminish her confidence. Instead she won the hearts of Britain with her modesty, grace, straightforwardness, and her want to be informed on the political matters at hand even though she had no input. She changed Britain into a flourishing country. She also impacted how women interacted

The Victorian Era women was vastly different than the female we think of nowadays. Women during that time were expected to fulfill more of a domestic and motherly role, one that stayed at home and took care of the house. They were confined within the private sphere of the world while the men toiled away in the public sphere. The ideal Victorian women was described as:

Along with being contradictory, the era was also ironic because although so many things were considered socially unacceptable, they were practiced commonly. The Victorians only wanted others to think that they lived chaste lives, but in reality they would give into human emotions. They strove to become something that they were not able to become. The main social code to live by during this period was to not to give into human temptation, to keep a calm and poised composure.

The life of the Victorian people was a time in which people were prude because of their repression. Many of the people of that time had a lot of pent-up emotions, there was a time and a place for something and it solemn did any good for anyone, depending on your class you had to have a curtain way of carrying yourself, many of which was not the must enjoyable of ways and lacked some fun that many need in their life. This forced many to split their Public life from the Private one. Written in the Victorian Era, the works of The importance of being earnest by Oscar Wilde, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson ,and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley displays how

During this era men and woman was bound by Victorian codes that were strict on what they can and cannot do. Men

1. Throughout the Victorian era, one of the most prevalent concerns was a female's role in society.

“Goblin Market” portrayed how Laura is seriously tempted just to gain self-pleasure. “In Christina’s poem Laura even asks Lizzie if she has tasted ‘For my sake the fruit forbidden?’” (Packer 376). Unlike Lizzie, who decided to remain away and “pure” from all temptations.

Lizzie informs Laura that, “we must not look at goblin men, / We must not buy their fruits” (42-43), and that their “offers should not charm us. / Their evil gifts would harm us” (73-74). Nevertheless, “Curious Laura chose to linger / Wondering at each merchant man” (77-78). Here, the readers can most certainly comprehend that both of the women are vividly aware of the tricks in which the Goblins are attempting to carry out in order to seduce them. However, Laura is the only one that is quite intrigued by the thoughts of what the Goblins fruits might taste like or in a sexual connotation, the sexual pleasures she would obtain by experimenting with the Goblins genitalia. From this, we can ascertain that giving in to the temptation of consuming the fruit is considered to be a metaphor for losing one’s sexual

One of the most common interpretations of the fruit is that it represents sexual temptation. Goblins are only men that sell their fruit at the market but only to "maidens" who hear their cry "come buy, come buy". Lizzie is aware of the evil men because of her friend Jeanie who ate the fruit and slowly passed away. Because of this, Lizzie tries to protect her sister and warn her about the goblins, "You should not peep at goblin men...Their offers should not charm us, their evil gifts would harm us.”( Rossetti 49. 65) Despite her sister's warning, Laura cannot resist the temptation. Laura trades a lock of her hair for the fruit, which symbolizes losing her virginity and paying with her body. “Buy from us with a golden curl. She clipp’d a precious golden lock ... Then suck’d their fruit globes fair or red". ( Rossetti 125-128) Laura has never tasted anything like that before and soon she wants more, like an addiction. "Her craving for the fruit becomes like that of an addict, her inability to be satisfied causing her to be completely debilitated. She becomes "listless" (297), and unable to work because her hope of again eating the fruit is destroyed."(MPhill par 3) The "feast of fruit" symbolizes her transition from a maiden

The Victorian Era marked the beginning of a socially demanding society in which men and women were encouraged to conform to the ideals of the time. Following the highly idealist Romantic Era, the Victorian Era shifted away from imagination and expression and instead moved into a more traditional mindset in hopes of regaining order. Specifically, the Victorian Era focused on social reform to improve public morality, which refers to the moral standards that are enforced by society and communicated to other countries. Shifting into a society that prioritized a very public social ethic formed conformity culture to hopefully maintain a respectable identity, but this hypocritical culture ultimately created immense restriction.

During the Victorian Era, England was a Christian country. The only big non-Christian faith was Judaism. During the Victorian era everyone read the Bible and went to church on Sunday. The Bible was taken as the literal truth and was the foundation of virtuous behavior which became known as Victorianism.

In this century, the 3 categories of classes couldn’t be more different and separated. The upper class enjoyed leisure, operas, balls and everything what had to do something with luxury and what none of the lower classes could afford. Aristocracy was well known by their morals and etiquette in the Victorian ages. The Victorian Aristocratic views on morals were extinguished which was even prudish. Prudery went as far as sexuality was a taboo, human body must have been covered and talking about body was inappropriate. In the Victorian Era society started to have different values in morality. Upper class people had low tolerance for sexuality and crimes, and isolated from any of the lower class members. Thus sexuality, especially prostitution was not acceptable and eminently discriminates in the Victorian high society.

In the Victorian era, women were expected to fulfill specific gender roles. Women possessed feminine qualities such as being nurturing, pure and docile, while men were expected to be bold and independent.

The beginning of the Victorian Period marked when Queen Victoria ascended the British throne in 1837 for 64 years until her death in 1901. She was only 18 years old when she was queen of England. In this era, there was a time when England had political stability and strict cultural patterns. Peace among the society in England was characterized by this era. There was a control in the way that people act and interact due to the cultural rules that needed to be followed. However, people in the British Empire appreciated having the consistency of having one ruler for such a long time. In addition, people lived in villages and worked on the land in the time of this period. At the same time, there were a lot significant changes. For instance, there