My Last Duchess and Goblin Market

Within ‘A Doll’s House’ Nora Helmer has a strong appetite for knowledge. This is particularly evident in her voracious longing for independence: “But it was great fun, though, sitting there working and earning money. It was almost like being a man”. This knowledge of “being a man”, and what that entails, would be unknown to many women during the Victorian era due to the fiercely patriarchal society that was perpetuated. The desire for knowledge and its inaccessible nature is particularly evident in the lack of further education for women. In fact, in the United Kingdom the first widespread report of female further education was the Edinburgh Seven in 1869. Whilst that instance of knowledge was not destructive, in the case of Nora and ‘A Doll’s House’ her appetite for knowledge is ultimately catastrophic for the Victorian female ideal due to the secrecy she creates around it: “My husband must never know of this”. As a result of this concealment and Nora’s appetite for knowledge, the Victorian ideal unravels and ultimately becomes destructive. Likewise, in Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market’ an appetite for knowledge is ultimately destructive for the characters within the poem. After tasting the “fruit” of the “Goblin Men” and becoming knowledgeable of the taste and effects of it Laura “knew not was it night or day”. This confusion of time and geographical

In a harsh world, desire is something that can bring vulnerability to any person. Cristiana Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” is a riveting tale about two sisters who handle desire differently. One knows desire exists, but has the maturity and courage to not give in to her own yearnings, whereas the other cannot control her desires and pays dearly for them. Love is a strong theme in “Goblin Market” and is shown through the love that Lizzie has for her sister, Laura. Lizzie does not let her desire get the best of her when hearing the goblin men, she “thrust a dimpled finger / In each ear, shut her eyes and ran” (Rossetti 67-68). However, it is Laura that falls into a desire for the goblin men through curiosity: “Curious Laura chose to linger / Wondering at each merchant man” (Rossetti 69-70). The difference in the sisters understanding of desire cannot be better shown than in these lines.

“My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning and “ The Rape of the lock” by Alexander Pope are two poems that convey a theme of love and objectification towards women.For instance, both poems are similar in their use imagery and metaphors to grasp their audience attention. For example, in “My last duchess” the author shows the wife in the poem as an item controlled by her husband and uses his love for her as an excuse to abuse his power. Her life is ruled by him and she would have to deal with his insane jealousy because his obsessiveness is dominating his reality of his relationship . In this poem the male role has many characteristics one of them being paranoid and not helping him reflect on reality by him owning shrine of items that belonged to all his earlier wife’s. His late wife is shown as a piece of imagery where she is kept on a wall trapped not able to leave his sight or be allowed interact with others. (Browning,1-2) In “ The Rape of the Lock “ the poem starts off with Belinda,the main character, in a dream sent to her by her guardian Sylph. The dream sends a message to Belinda that she must be careful with all men in her life once she has received the message she awakens to a love letter at her sight and forgets the dream in its entirety. Throughout the course of the poem Belinda’s Sylphs are required to protect her chastity and help her contain her purity.. The man in her life is using her as an item and not as a human being.Pope encourages these characteristics

Both of these poems portray two views of individuals by society. The girl in The Barbie Doll was healthy and intelligent, yet everyone still focused on her fat legs and big nose. This led the girl to do as much as she could to please those around her. This outlook can be compared to how women are portrayed in our society today. As we, women, look through magazines we are greeted by tiny women with big chests. Some of us feel that this is the way all women should look. Those who feel this way will do all that they can do to look like these models. Many women in our society are anorexic and bulimic, could this be because of society's portrayal of women? I believe so.

In both Goblin Market and “The Bloody Chamber”, women face objectification as pornographic objects whose solitary purpose is to be a man’s appealing possession. Evidently, the objectification of women impacted the way each author constructed their texts. Feminist movements aiming to undermine these rigid female and male roles are prominent in the time period of both literary works. Both Christina Rossetti and Angela Carter use strange worlds to differentiate from the typical fairy tale’s predictable conclusion and instead make a statement through the use of a female heroine. Both literary works contrast the archetypal idea that a man must always be the savior

As the poem continues, Laura’s hunger only grows more intense. She looks up at the goblin men as they entice her and repeatedly tell her to come buy their fruits. Lizzie tells her not to fall into their trap, but “Curious Laura chose to linger” (69). The words “curiosity” and “linger” show that Laura’s hunger has not yet become strong, as she is only beginning to become interested at this point. In other words, they depict that Laura is slowly becoming drawn in by the goblin men; it wasn’t an immediate switch from completely uninterested to strong desire. While she is not eagerly pursuing the goblin men, she is lingering around them and isn’t actively avoiding them anymore. She wonders what their “gifts” are and will do for her, so she stays around longer than she should. If Rossetti omitted or changed the words “curious” or “linger,” the meaning of this line would greatly differ. As Laura realizes cannot have their fruits, she only becomes more engrossed by them as her hunger grows immensely.

The Victorian period marked the first traces of progress in the feminist movement, and poet Christina Rossetti embraced the advancement as her own long-established principles slowly became publicly acceptable. Her poem "Goblin Market" comments on the institutions in Victorian society that she and her feminist contemporaries wished to see altered, creating modern female heroines to carry out its messages. The goblins serve as malicious male figures to tempt the innocent heroines, sisters Laura and Lizzie, to corruption.

It was up to her sister Lizzie to save her, and she refused to eat the fruit of the goblin men, even as they raped and molested her. This strength and dedication is evident when Rossetti says “though the goblins cuff’d and caught her coax’d and fought her, bullied and besought her, scratched her black as ink, kick’d and knock’d her, maul’d and mock’d her, Lizzie utter’d not a word; would not open lip from lip.” Another example of an elder lady helping a younger through sheer cunningness, is evident in The Robber Bridegroom. The elderly woman warns the miller’s daughter to not venture close to her bridegroom’s house due to the belief that he is a

The first similarity that was noticed was how both these poems have the same rhyme scheme. A rhyme scheme is the pattern of how rhyme sounds occur . In the case of these poems, the last word in the line rhymes with the following, and then it starts a new word to rhyme with afterwards. In My Last Duchess, the twenty- first line rhymes with the twenty- second line: “For calling up that spot of joy. She had” (21) A heart—how shall I say?—too soon made glad,” (22). When looking at the similar poem, My Ex- Husband, the twenty- first and twenty- second lines rhyme with each other as well: “Half- hidden in a corner nook. Such stuff” (21) “Was all too well rehearsed, I soon enough” (22). This is an obvious similarity to both the poems because they show this throughout the whole reading. Although these simple similarities are pretty obvious, there are some similarities that require a bit more

A seemingly innocent poem about two sisters’ encounters with goblin men, Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” is a tale of seduction and lust. Behind the lattice of the classic mortal entrapment and escapement from fairyland, “Goblin Market” explores Laura’s desire for heterosexual knowledge, the goblin men’s desire for mortal flesh, and Laura and Lizzie’s desire for homosexual eroticism.

Christina Rossetti’s poem, Goblin Market, was written in the Victorian era during a time of vast social change across Europe. Though the Victorian period was a time of female suppression and order, Rossetti exposed social stigmas and ideologies that are displayed through the journey of two sisters, Laura and Lizzie. Despite initial impressions of a childhood fairytale, the suggestive and multi-interpretive use of language signifies an underlying message of erotic sexual commentary and feminist views. In addition, Rossetti conveys moral lessons by illustrating consequences of the goblin’s seduction. Through the sister’s experience with the goblins, the power of sisterhood becomes undeniable. Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market serves as a

The short epic poem the Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti resembles a fairytale because of the goblins and the happy ending of the united sisters, however the metaphors and allegory of fruit is ambiguous for different interpretations of drugs, sexual pleasures, temptation to sin, etc. The poem is broken into four major sections- temptation, fall, redemption, and restoration. Many people had mixed feelings toward the poem; some were even shocked of the Goblin Market because of how dark it is since Rossetti is usually linked to children novels and nurseries. The target audiences is not children but adolescents, as this poem is a merely a stage to warn young women about temptation and desires.

Goblin Market, an 1862 narrative poem written by Christina Rossetti, also fashionably presents the theme of sisterhood even though the context of the poem is different from the one shown in Little Women. For the first century after its publication, many parents and teachers alike read the poem to children as a way of teaching them about the importance of sisterhood and sisterly heroism. Thus, Rossetti made the theme of sisterhood one of the poem's essential themes as a way of presenting a particular message to the community and the upcoming generations, especially considering that it was a period where women did not have a significant role in the society. One of the areas

Christina Rossetti 's poem "Goblin Market" is what many deem Christina 's best work. "Goblin Market" presents itself as rather fairy tale like, featuring of several strange things, a parade of mythical goblin men. In fact Rosseti claims to have written it as a childrens poem. However, many who analayze or many of those who have read this poem claim that the underlining themes of "Goblin Market" feature a host of adult themes. Of several of those are "a struggle between self and soul, a comment on sex as a capitalist commodity, a parable of feminist solidary, a lesson about poetry 's subversive power, and a lesbian love story" (Heather Henderson and William Sharpe, 2010, p. 1644). Although, these themes are all apparently present within Rossetti 's work, another theme that has not been mentioned is also present. Evident within "Goblin Market" is a signifcant focus on capitalism and industrialism. England during the Victorian era proved itself quite accomplished within the realms of industry, capitalism, science, and literature. There is evidence that as the nation became stronger, powerful, and more profitable, morality suffered. So, along with these many achievements, many individuals had crisis of religous faith, while a substantial focus on capitalist greed and social darwinism took center stage. A concentration of these social attutides and their consequences are featured within Rossetti 's "Goblin Market", in several areas of her poem.

Goblin Market was composed in the mid-eighteenth century, England; therefore, Rossetti’s poem contains the gender roles present during era. The opening lines state the type of characters that will be featured