Poem Analysis: Goblin Market

Two main focuses that encompass life are love and money. Since the invention of money, it has been a competition to see who can become the wealthiest and therefore the most successful. But are people really successful if they are unhappy without a person to love in their lives? This essay will investigate the importance of love and money in the novels The Great Gatsby and Pride and Prejudice. Therefore, the essay will focus on the research question: “What effects do love and money have on the authors’ portrayal of the main female characters in the novels The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen?”

The similarities between the story of Adam and Eve and "Goblin Market" hit me when forbidden fruit is mentioned; "Lizzie,

The poem, “Goblin Market”, by Christina Rossetti, comes alive with strong imagery and language, implicitly riddled with mythological references that relate to many themes within the poem. The author seems to draw ideas from stories of mythology, with the Greek myth of Persephone and Demeter, stories from the bible like Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, and Sampson and Delilah. In addition to comparing these mythological references to themes in the poem, Laura is also portrayed as a Christ-like figure through her sacrifice and martyrdom on behalf of her sister. A main theme in which the poem revolves around is curiosity and temptation, in regards to the goblin’s “forbidden fruit” that they sell to young women.

However, as time progress, Laura and Lucy’s exploration of sexual desires and/or aggressiveness puts them in a spot of being down upon as they may face dishonor and ostracism from a Victorian perspective. In Goblin Market, Laura is enticed by the goblin men during a visit to the market with her sister Lizzie. Laura’s sister warns her, stating how “[Laura] should not peep at goblin men” (Rossetti 49). However Laura’s curiosity overpowers her sister’s warnings, as she is made unable to resist the luring of the temptations of the goblin men’s fruits. The tasting of the fruit makes Laura a fallen women. Rossetti describes Laura’s diminishing pureness by writing how “[Laura] sucked and sucked and sucked … / … until her lips were sore” (134-36). The fruits of the goblin men have sexual and sensual connotation to them, and Laura who was pressured into tasting the fruit was also unable to resist due to her curiosity and human desires, which changes her into a fallen women. In the Victorian period that Laura is featured in, women are expected to follow a standard of conduct, such as remaining a virgin before marriage. However, Laura is not married

By the end of this scene, Laura is disoriented and her perception of time has been distorted. Eating the fruit becomes a ravenous, unbreakable rhythm. “She sucked and sucked and sucked the more” as if all other thoughts have been voided and the only way for Laura to survive is to suck all the fruits she can get. Here Laura is infantilized in a number of ways. She is no longer in control of her body and knows only of survival. In the poem’s companion art, it is revealed that the goblin men take advantage of her. The third way that Laura is infantilized is by her compulsion to give into curiosity, and her sense of

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

Laura purchases the goblin fruit with a lock of her hair-- by selling her body. This symbolizes prostitution, which was common during the Victorian Era, the time Goblin Market was written. After Laura eats the goblin’s fruits, she grows sick, unable to eat or move-- she is humiliated with her actions and her desire for more fruit, which is an allegory for suppression of female

In Christina Rossetti's poem Goblin Market, she creates a wonder contrast between the evil that dwells amongst the goblins, and the goodness that is in Lizzie. In the goblins we see many examples of evil, gluttony, hatred, and temptation. One aspect of evil that stands out, above the rest, is rage. While, at first the goblins seem to be kind and happy folk, that false demeanor quickly changes when Lizzie refuses to sit down and eat with them. They begin to become enraged with her, and try to persuade her to do evil by eating their fruit. When she continues to refuse, they resort to violence, as Rossetti writes, "Coaxed and fought her, Bullied and besought her, Scratched her, pinched her black as ink, Kicked and Knocked her, Mauled and mocked

Laura desires for these fruits, whether sexual or capitalist. However, she cannot continue having them for she was no longer virtuous to the merchants, and this connects to the transgression of the boundary. Her sister saves her from the consequences of the transgression by feeding her the exact poison she so desired (Rossetti 490-542). Helsinger claims that the love between Lizzie and Laura during the saving process is one that may be sexual, yet the consumption of the goblin fruit “in the literal as well as the economic sense, is to be interdicted after this moment” (Helsinger 925). In this case, it is important to note the difference between the goblin fruit from the marketplace and the fruit used in the home. Considering how the goblin marketplace has a sexual connotation, it appears the lust for the “fruit” would be one’s downfall, considering how it is only lust and not love. However, with Lizzie, there is real love because they are sisters, therefore the goblin fruit does nothing to taint Laura, and instead saves

This perspective has an objective feel to it that makes it feel trustworthy. A unique aspect of the perspective in “Goblin Market” is that the narrator changes to a first-person point of view from lines 160-177. Laura says, “I ate and ate my fill, / Yet my mouth waters still” (165-5). Telling part of the story from Laura’s perspective permits an understanding of her frustrations and longings after tasting the fruit—this adds depth and understanding to the story in the poem. It draws attention to Laura and makes her the centre of the action during the time that she is

What did she mean of all of this? Is it really a children fairy tale or a sexual poem? What kind of market is the goblin market? What was the meaning of the lock of Laura's hair? What was the message behind the goblins refusal Lizzies coin?

In Goblin Market, when Laura is infected with the goblin’s poisonous fruits “her sister [stands] in deadly peril to do her good, and win the fiery antidote”. (Rossetti, 558-559) Evidently, the relentless bravery Lizzie illustrates when facing the violence and temptations of the goblins to save her sister’s life is used by Rossetti to provide an impression of power in female refusal to vigorous male

In the poem, there is the story about Jeanie, who is influenced by the goblin men and ends up drifting away from herself. The story of Jeanie symbolizes how the bible gives stories for people to learn from. Lizzie tries to remind Laura of the story of Jeanie, just as the bible shares the story of Adam and Eve, to prevent Laura from falling into the temptation of the devil, or in this case, the goblins and their fruit. At the end of the poem, the two sisters become wives and mothers and are able to explain “their experience with the Goblin Market to their own children as a cautionary tale about the importance of sisterly love” (Goblin Market Summary). This is another symbol and metaphor of how the bible shares stories in order to teach a lesson to people, just as the sisters share their stories to their children in hopes that they will learn from their mistakes.

82-85). Desire for the goblins’ exotic fruits proves to be too much of a temptation for Laura and, with her last restraint gone, she trades a lock of her golden hair for the treasures. Why does she shed a tear at this? It is merely a lock of hair, yet its implications are far greater. Laura falls from innocence as she sucks the fruits feverishly. Her act’s sexual connotations are clear as she “sucked and sucked and sucked the more” (l. 134; italics mine). The fruits motif’s importance is highlighted with superlatives such as “sweeter”, “stronger”, and “clearer” (ll. 129-131). This loss of virginity is surreal to Laura, as she “knew not was it night or day” (l. 139), and she wishes to remember this experience with a single kernel-stone from the goblins’ fruits. Can this kernel-stone be a symbol of a goblin’s sperm? As seen later in the poem, it breaks Laura’s heart when this seed does not bear fruit. The enjambment in Laura’s resolution – “tomorrow night I will/Buy more” (ll. 167-168) – clearly indicates how strongly Laura desires to again experience what the goblins have offered her.

Symbolism in “Goblin Market” Christina Rossetti wrote “Goblin Market” to symbolize men as goblins and women as slaves to the dominants. The women stress that they cannot go near or eat the goblins fruit because the fruit contains potions that keep women as an acquiescent at the goblins fingertips. These fruits make the maids slaves to the goblins and keep them coming back for more as if it were an addiction. There are uncountable phrases using symbolism that usually portrays a ferocious image including sexual abuse and violent behavior.