Christina Rosetti's Goblin Market

The taunt of goblin men beckoning women to “Come buy, come buy,” still captivates readers decades after the publication of Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market.” Though many have deemed the poem a simple children’s fairy tale, Rosetti’s “Goblin Market” offers several levels of meaning simultaneously (Casey 63). The poem is innately complex, like its author, and lightly operates within the gender ideology that women like Rosetti were expected to uphold during the Victorian era. Her poetry was to focus on the domesticity of the home and household with an emphasis on language that is sentimental and sweet sounding (D’Amico 18). But, in many ways, “Goblin Market” moves beyond the home and focuses on what happens to women who venture outside of the innocent, domestic space. And, it is almost impossible to critique “Goblin Market” without uncovering the vitality of sisterhood. Though the story has a “happy” ending, Rossetti warns of the consequences of breaking away from gender norms. Through Rossetti’s depiction of two sisters who make contrasting choices in the face of temptation, “Goblin Market” portrays a powerful and

Mary Magdalene Home where she volunteered in the 1860s. Her experiences with this community of prostitutes along with her experience in the religious community may have allowed Rossetti to create a “marketplace” in which temptation and “appetite” puts a woman at risk—her only savior being from the help of another woman (Carpenter 417). After Laura gives into the temptation of the goblin men, the “real” conflict in the story arises. The consequence of eating the forbidden fruit is that Laura is completely separated and different from her sister. As Lizzie continues to live her life, Laura is plagued by the desire of the fruit she can seemingly never have again. Rosetti