Goblin Market

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Recommended: Women in 19th literature

Critical Analysis: The Goblin Market Gender/Feminist Theory Michael Do Many critics consider the Goblin Market as one of Christiana Rossetti’s masterpieces. Written during the Victorian Era, the fairy-tale poem portrays two girls, Lizzie and Laura, tempted by goblins selling a variety of luscious fruits in a glen. As the goblins cry “come buy, come buy” (verse 4) day and night, Laura is subdued by the goblins’ temptation despite Lizzie’s warning “not [to] look at goblin men… not [to] buy their fruits”, and becomes insane for the longing of the fruit afterwards. After Laura’s downfall into temptation, her health deteriorates and she begins to age prematurely. Out of fear for her sister’s life, Lizzie travels to the goblins’ market to purchase a cure for Laura. In the end, Lizzie’s sacrifice and resistance to the goblin physical abuse and temptation breaks the spell cast on Laura. Rossetti’s poem presents presents a perfect interpretation of a gender war between men and women, and becoming a symbol of women’s empowerment. The poem even goes so far as to say that the bond the two sisters share is stronger than between a man and a women for “there is no friend like a sister/ in calm or stormy weather”. Through the lens of a feminist, the characters of the poem represent the two different gender roles during the Victorian Era. Upon reading the Goblin Market, the portrayal of women as innocent beings shows a clear representation of the Victorian perspective. The usage of the word “maid” to describe Lizzie and Laura suggests these women are young unmarried innocent virgins. On the other hand, the goblins represent the role of men. In the poem, Rossetti provides animal characteristics to the Goblins, for example, “One whisk’d a tail…One... ... middle of paper ... ... to help with their desire for greediness, and the author uses the symbol of the goblins within the context of the poem to enforce the male role in the Victorian society. Furthermore, the author uses the language of sexual violence while the goblins are attacking Lizzie to indicate she is in fact being violently raped as “They trod and hustled her, Claw’d with their nails, Barking, mewing, hissing, mocking, Tore her gown and soil’d her stocking,”. However, Lizze is able to hold onto her dignity and virtue through the form of a sliver penny, to which the sliver penny, in an Elizabethan term, is representation for the female genitalia. Works Cited https://depts.washington.edu/egonline/2010/04/2008-09-winner-christina-rossetti%E2%80%99s-goblin-market-finding-the-middle-ground-by-jasmine-yeh/ http://www.gradesaver.com/christina-rossetti-poems/study-guide/section5/

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