The Goblin Market By Christina Rossetti

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

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

The goblin men are people who have already succumbed to the pressures of drugs. Laura and Lizzie represent people who are fighting to stay on the “clean” side. Once Laura goes and buys their fruit she has “converted” over to the drug side. Lizzie goes to and goblin men to figure out how to cure her sister. Rossetti says, “hug me, kiss me, suck my juices” (468).

Hunger plays an important role in every person’s life. Everyone experiences hunger in one way or another, whether it be physical or even mental/emotional states of hunger and longing. In “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti, hunger takes on an atypical but major part in the poem. The role of hunger in “Goblin Market” is much more than solely physical hunger; rather, it is representative of desperate and harmful longing in a never-ending cycle of desire for more shown through various elements of the language used in the poem.

Ibsen 's play A Doll 's House centers on a stereotypical and comfortable family in the nineteenth century which, outwardly, has the appearance of respectability to which any audience can relate. There are many indicators that reveal that this family upholds a false image, such as the symbolic title “A Doll 's House". Nora is introduced as a "little Spendthrift" (p 6), which foreshadows future tension in her relationship. Torvald believes she is spending money frivolously, but she has actually secretly borrowed money to save his life, and is using the money he gives her to pay back her debt.

Rossetti's feminist commentary on her society's male-dominated culture would not be complete without a feminine hero, or two. Rossetti recognized the lack of heroines in English literature; although female protagonists existed in small numbers, "they [had] no outlet for heroic action. They [were] constrained by the gender-roles into which a male-dominated society has placed them" (Phillips 1). Rossetti develops two heroines in Laura and Lizzie, to serve as a defiant smirk in the face of the evil male population represented by the goblins. Not only do her heroes overcome the explicitly male vices they encounter, but they do so while proving that sexual expression does not necessarily mean the end for a woman, and they do so with no help but each other's. In Rossetti's society, women are "limited to observation, but [Rossetti's characters] still carr[y] on a woman-centered

A Doll 's House by Henrik Ibsen, is a play that has been written to withstand all time. In this play Ibsen highlights the importance of women’s rights. During the time period of the play these rights were neglected. Ibsen depicts the role of the woman was to stay at home, raise the children and attend to her husband during the 19th century. Nora is the woman in A Doll House who plays is portrayed as a victim. Michael Meyers said of Henrik Ibsen 's plays: "The common denominator in many of Ibsen 's dramas is his interest in individuals struggling for and authentic identity in the face of social conventions. This conflict often results in his characters ' being divided between a sense of duty to themselves and their responsibility to others." All of the aspects of this quote can be applied to the play A Doll House, in Nora Helmer 's character, who throughout much of the play is oppressed, presents an inauthentic identity to the audience and throughout the play attempts to discovery her authentic identity.

“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.

In the media, women have been portrayed with many qualities, one of which being cunningness. In the Goblin Market, older sister Lizzie uses all of her might to defend and save her sister Laura. Young, inquisitive Laura ventured down toward the glen in the deep, dark wood and was seduced by the Goblin men. The ripe, plump, juicy fruits of the Goblins caused an immediate addiction for

Often in narrative literature main characters develop over the course of the story line through the conflicts that they encounter. In the poem, “Goblin Market”, the author Christina Rossetti, depicts a story of two sisters with completely opposite morals and opinions. The main characters, Lizzie and Laura, each sit on opposite sides of what they believe to be socially correct and are different in every way. Throughout the poem, some characters are forced to adapt and act in ways out of their comfort zone to provide for the ones which they love. In order to save the life of her sister Lizzie is forced to take action and spread her wings, thus developing as a character. Through her relationship with Laura, the internal conflict regarding her morals and the interpersonal conflict with the goblins, Lizzie evolves from a timid and orderly character, into a heroic and outgoing character.

Coleridge’s definition of imagination consists of the imagination as the prime agent for all human perception. However, Goblin Market is a story that completely rejects the Romantics’ ideals of the imagination since it is a Victorian text. Thus, the imagination is shown as something associated with being evil and dangerous, which compliments the Victorian ideals while criticizing the Romantics’ admiration of the imagination. The initial setting of the tale dwells upon the nature taking evil and satanic forms due to the destructive tone of the imagination that contradicts the Romantic’s policy of nature being pure and divine in any form it takes. Basically, the initial setting of the tale takes shape with the aid of local folklore about the mysterious mythical creatures that appear with luscious baskets of fruits. The author builds upon this folklore by distancing the characters, such as Laura and Lizzie, from this weird folk culture by introducing the harm inflicted by these goblins on innocent, gullible young girls. Therefore, the author has already contradicted a central tendency of Romanticism, which is to root their stories in relation to inquisitive adventures regarding folk culture and myths. Furthermore, the term used for these imaginative figures is goblins, which is considered by the Oxford dictionary as “a mischievous, ugly, dwarf-like creature of folklore” (Oxford University). Once more, Mrs. Rossetti

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.

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

Ironically, Rossetti’s portrayal of seduction is in stark contrast to accepted notions of the Victorian period in that the male characters signify dangerous temptation, not the troubled females. The goblin men confirm this contradiction by representing the venomous effects that experienced seductive men have on innocent naive women. Rossetti’s ironic gender split exemplifies her progressive attitude of feminist thought while also serving as a depiction on the principles of Victorian society.

During this time Laura has fallen and she is dying. So it is up to Lizzie to save or redeem her like Jesus was said to do in the bible. Lizzie clearly loves Laura which symbolizies gods love for humanity and it is up too her to save Laura. So she decides to leave Laura behind and face the goblins or Satan who tempted her sister.