Addiction In Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market

1161 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Christina rossetti's goblin market essays

“Goblin Market”, written by Christina Rossetti in 1859 tells the story of two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, who face temptation on the daily basis from the goblin men who sell enchanting fruit. It is evident, that Christina Rossetti’s poem “Goblin Market” has a strong parallel to Christianity, more specifically the story of Adam and Eve. Temptation is prevalent in Lizzie and Laura towards the goblin’s fruit. In the beginning, they try to ignore the enticing calls of the goblin men, but eventually Laura renders to the goblin men and starts to waste away. The goblin’s fruit represents the “forbidden fruit” from the original Adam and Eve, and serves to signify the Christian themes written within the poem. However, aside from the obvious, this essay aims to explore the interlinked themes of drug addiction and withdrawal. …show more content…

“I ate and ate my fill, yet my mouth waters still; Tomorrow night I will buy more” (Rossetti,165-167). Laura can’t wait for her next taste of the goblin fruit. She starts becoming addicted, and is only focused on when her next “fix” is going to be. This shows how addicting drugs can be and the withdrawal symptoms that are associated with it. In fact, according to Anna L., drugs are addicting because they produce a state of happiness. The experience is rewarding and motivates the user to consume the drug repeatedly in order to experience the same effect. The craving for the drug maintains the vicious cycle of drug addiction. It is evident that Laura greatly suffers from withdrawal as her appearance begins to be affected. “Her hair grew thin and gray; to swift decay and burn her fire away”. A common characteristic seen in drug addiction, is the physical transformation the drug user undergoes. The consumption of the fruit has a deteriorating effect on Laura’s appearance, similar to the way drugs are characterized by their negative

Show More
Related

  • The Goblin Market y Chrsitia¡na Rossetti: Forbidden Fruit

    2216 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the Goblin Market there is an odd list of twenty nine different kinds of fruits. Many overwhelmed readers may question why there is so many different kinds of fruit: why not one or two? Just like the overwhelmed reader it may symbolize Laura being overwhelmed by her temptation and desire to eat the different kinds of mouth watering fruit. The fruit is both ripe and the source of decay. The fruit represent opposites: “night vs. day, light vs. dark, summer vs. winter, and life vs. death.”(Krocker) The maidens only hear the goblin cry in the morning and in the evening, never at night. Mornings and evenings are transitional periods, “Twilight is not good for maidens.”(Rossetti 144) Even after Laura cannot hear the goblins anymore, Lizzie still can, but only when “slow evening came” and “before the night grows dark.” The transition symbolizes the transition from a young girl to a woman. Another example of youth to maturity is where the goblins sell the fruit, the brookside a split between land wa...

    Read More

  • Micheal Dransfield

    2349 Words  | 5 Pages

    It is a shame that it took such a personal tragedy “for [Dransfield] to engage so definitively with the experience of addiction…in such an astonishingly short time” (Armand, 1997). His work can only be marveled at and admired for its “richly cosmopolitan tone, its urgent sense of possibility, its sheer ‘cannibal energy’, and its persistent attempt to resolve difficult emotional problems” (Armand, 1997).

    Read More

  • Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market

    1672 Words  | 4 Pages

    Of the two sisters Lizzie and Laura, Laura is the one whose curious desires get the best of her. She and her sister encounter the goblin men and Lizzie just “thrust a dimpled finger / In each ear, shut her eyes and ran” (67 – 68); however, Laura’s curiosity gets the best of her and she chooses to stay: “Curious Laura chose to linger / Wondering at each merchant man” (69 – 70). These goblin men are selling fruit, and once Laura gets her hands on it, she is hardly able to stop herself. Quenching her desire is overwhelming for her, so much so that when she is finally done she “knew not was it night or day” (139). When she arrives home later, she tells her sister, “I ate and ate my fill, / Yet my mouth waters still; / Tomorrow night I ...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of David Sheff's Beautiful Boy

    1330 Words  | 3 Pages

    David Sheff’s memoir, Beautiful Boy, revolves around addiction, the people affected by addiction, and the results of addiction. When we think of the word addiction, we usually associate it with drugs or alcohol. By definition, addiction is an unusually great interest in something or a need to do or have something (“Addiction”). All throughout the memoir, we are forced to decide if David Sheff is a worried father who is fearful that his son, Nic Sheff’s, addiction will kill him or if he is addicted to his son’s addiction. Although many parents would be worried that their son is an addict, David Sheff goes above and beyond to become involved in his son’s life and relationship with methamphetamine, making him an addict to his son’s addiction.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Embraced By The Needle

    716 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gabor Mate 's essay “Embraced by the Needle” addresses important issues on the negative effects that childhood experiences have on the development of addictions, and the long term effects that drugs play throughout an addict 's life. The author states that addictions originate from unhappiness and pain that is often inflicted upon addicts at early age such as infancy. In Mate essay, he uses many patients past childhood experiences to help create a picture of the trauma that an addict faced as child and the link it plays with who they are today. Mate builds an impressive argument based on the way he organizes his ideas on what addiction is, and how it corresponds to a person 's childhood experience. The author does this effectively

    Read More

  • Brave new world essay

    1119 Words  | 3 Pages

    This becomes such common practice that many times the addiction is more than physical, but emotional need sets in. Why should one suffer the pain of life when it takes so little to escape them? “One cubic centimeter cures ten gloomy sentiments,” (54). It is found to be too easy to avoid all of their problems with one little pill, vial, needle, blotter, leaf, or bottle. The drug seems to be the easiest way, the path of least resistance.

    Read More

  • Seduction and Lust in Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market

    2110 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Addiction & Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions.

    1953 Words  | 4 Pages

    This is then followed by insightfully examining the treatment process, specifically through grace as a key focus of overcoming addiction. May focus heavily on desire as the main cause of addiction. He sees addiction as a way to fulfill a universal need that all people have. The text focuses on how we all have this need we want met and that we desire to have more in life. The author looks at how through our desire we all fall victims to addiction because of the fall.

    Read More

  • Goblin market by Christina Rossetti

    912 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cherries are seen as a sign of virtue, so this is a clear example of a sexual situation. There is also a very strong religious theme in this poem. The fruit the goblin merchants are offering is a very clear symbol of Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit. “Obviously the conscious or semi-conscious allegorial intention of this narrative poem is sexual/religious.” (Gilbert and Gubar, 566).

    Read More

  • Heroin Essay

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    The physical and chemical properties make heroin a desirable drug. It is highly addictive and fast acting, which lure users in. The first time one uses the drug it is said to cause disagreeable feelings and nausea. But following further use it causes a sudden rush in your brain, lasting 1 to 2 minutes, that feels as if it is relieving all the tension one has, followed by a calm and relaxed state that can last a few hours (“Heroin in the Brain”, n.d.). These feelings of satisfaction and ease make this drug ...

    Read More

  • Drug Addiction: A Brain Disease?

    746 Words  | 2 Pages

    Drugs seem to cause surges in dopamine neurotransmitters and other pleasure brain messengers. However, the brain quickly adapts and these circuits desensitize, which allows for withdrawal symptoms to occur (3). Drug addiction works on some of the same neurobiological mechanisms that aid in learning and memories (3). "This new view of dopamine as an aid to learning rather than a pleasure mediator may help explain why many addictive drugs, which unleash massive surges of the neurotransmitter in the brain, can drive continued use without producing pleasure-as when cocaine addicts continue to take hits long after the euphoric effects of the drug have worn off or when smokers smoke after cigarettes become distasteful." (4)

    Read More

  • The Myths Of Addictions : Addiction

    1385 Words  | 3 Pages

    So, it is clear that addiction is all around us and can attack anyone of us at any given time. Even studies conducted show that people neglect to speak around their dependency for two primary reasons. Foremost, because people do not comprehend, or they bear a total misconception to their addiction, that they do not realize that addictions can be critical to their overall wellness. Moreover, second, many people believe being an addict will never happen to them, but, in reality, most addictions start off as simple little habits. Such as starting with one drink after dinner and before you know it you are drinking several drinks a day. However, one does not opt to be addicted to a substance, because addictions are physical defects in the brain, a disease, and not one’s choice.

    Read More

  • Goblin Market

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    The dangers women face and the negative impact show why it's important to educate today's youth on the marriage market. Throughout Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” the reader is able to see the negative impacts of the marriage market, especially in terms of the symbolism, objectification of women and overall dangers that women face. The goblin merchants are directly related to the parents involved in the marriage market. This is apparent by the constant haggling done over their fruit.

    Read More

  • Consequences: The Cause and Effect of Drug Use

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    The use of drugs is a controversial topic in society today. In general, addicts show a direct link between taking drugs and suffering from their effects. People abuse drugs for a wide variety of reasons. In most cases, the use of drugs will serve a type of purpose or will give some kind of reward. These reasons for use will differ with different kinds of drugs. Various reasons for using the substance can be pain relief, depression, anxiety and weariness, acceptance into a peer group, religion, and much more. Although reasons for using may vary for each individual, it is known by all that consequences of the abuse do exist. It is only further down the line when the effects of using can be seen.

    Read More

  • An Essay About Drug Addiction

    1114 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are many addictions in the world, and drug addiction is the biggest. People may experiment with the drug for many reasons. “If your drug use is causing problems in your life, then you likely have a drug abuse or addiction problem”.(Lawrence Robinson pg.1) Many people start out using drugs by peer pressure or out of their own curiosity. Stress, anxiety, lows self-esteem and depression could be another factor to start using drugs. The drug takes over your body and gives you a good feeling that many people tend to enjoy. The urge to use the drug can keep increasing rapidly after the first use. The urge can become so severe that your mind can find many other ways to deny the factor of addiction. Very few drug addicts can feel and realize when they have crossed the line with drugs. A drug addicts mind can build up a very large tolerance for the drug that they start to abandon the activities they used to do on a daily basis like showering, hobbies, socializing and even being associated with family members. The person with the addiction will continue to use the drug knowing that it is harming there body, but they don’t have any remorse. A drug addict will often try to hide their problem, so they can continue to use without anyone’s input. Family and friends may try to use preaching methods or tell the user that they need to stop using the drug. This method is not ...

    Read More

More about Addiction In Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market

Open Document