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Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market

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“What is the beginning? Love. What is the course? Love still. What the goal. The goal is love,” this is a quote from Victorian writer Christina Rossetti and it and its meaning can be seen throughout her writing. What Rossetti believes love to be, can be greatly seen in her famous poem, Goblin Market, which was written in 1862. In this poem, Rossetti displays and shows the answer to a great question, what is true love? From the start of birth humans have tried different ways to show and display their love for others, whether, by terms of words, objects, sexual acts, and emotional acts, humans not only want to show love but also get love from others. The Goblin Market is an example of a kind of love show to someone by someone, however, the “love” …show more content…

Who do these “goblin men” and “maids” symbolize? The goblin men can be seen as many things, they can be seen as some kind of salesmen or just men in general, however, referring to the symbolism of Christianity in this poem, Rossetti is possibly referring to them as those in the world who tempt others to fall into sin or they can be seen as Satan himself, the one who is tempting those around him with “fruits” that seem great but are not really good. This can be seen in the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, where a snake a.k.a. Satan, temps Eve to eat the fruit (might or might not be an apple, the Bible does not specify) of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, “And the serpent said unto the women, ye shall not surely die: for God does know that in the day you eat, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3: 4-5, KJV). Eve does indeed eat the fruit as well as Adam does, even though they knew it was wrong and because of it, they knew good and evil. The goblins are doing much of the same in this poem, trying to sell the fruit to the maids. These “maids” that “heard the goblins cry” (Rossetti, 1862, line 2) can be seen as those in the world who are in a word, sheltered from the knowledge of the world of good and evil. They are innocent and young

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In most cases the “monster(s)” are perceived as the “others,” which at the beginning of Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market seemed to hold true. At the start of the poem, lines such as “We must not look at goblin men, we must not buy their fruits” (42-46, Rossetti) help set a tone of us versus them. Throughout most of the beginning of the poem both Laura and Lizzie are described as being cautious and weary of the goblin men trying to get maidens to buy their fruits. Rossetti’s word choice included an abundance of “us” and “their” with more negative connotations surrounding “their”. Though after Laura gives into temptation and bites into the fruit, her withdrawal symptoms isolate her from her sister who has not yet eaten the fruits from the goblin

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In the world of Goblin Market, we do not meet any male characters and it is occupied with women all around. The only occasion we assume there are male characters is when Laura and Lizzie become wives. In lines 190-191, it states “Like two wands of ivory tipped with gold for awful kings.” The description of Lizzie and Laura’s are compared to two white wands of ivory tipped with gold. Given that their skin is pale and their hair is golden blonde, the “awful kings” justify these beautiful women to themselves.

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Throughout Christina Rossetti poem, Goblin Market, there is a running theme of addiction, and the overwhelming effect that it can have on a person’s body and soul. In the poem, two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, are tempted by goblins selling luscious fruit. Only Lizzie becomes overwhelmed with her desire, and succumbs to this temptation. Upon trying one of the fruits she is unable to stop until she has consumed so much of it that she physical hurts. Thus begins the addiction, one that she thinks is she is in control of, but will quickly spiral out of control.

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In this essay, I will argue that the poem, Goblin Market by Christina Rosetti, is a biblical allegory that compares Laura’s temptation, indulgence, and losing herself to the story of Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit. This expression, as a biblical allegory, is critical to a reader because the theme of experiencing temptation, indulging in it, and suffering the consequences of it are relevant to many people, and has been present for a longggg time. Additionally, there are many metaphors and uses of literal imagery in the poem that allude to sexual desires, which can have the same ideas from the thesis applied. Understanding this progression provides insight into common behaviour from people who suffer the consequences of their indulgence.

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Laura and Lizzie and the goblins’ haunted glen – can stand for a number of opposites: rural/urban, the domestic/the public, masculine/feminine, heterosexual/non-heterosexual a critic argues. Ultimately, although all of these could be true – the poem is widely known as a gothic, proto-feminist poem. It’s known that Rossetti became devoted to high Anglicism at a young age, and so as an audience we can understand that she had strict religious beliefs and values, which was also motivated by the era she grew up in. Traditional Anglicism teaches that women are to stray away from lustful men, and only obey and serve their husbands who are chosen for them by their parents when they’re ready. Rossetti shows this through protagonist Lizzie, “Their offers should not charm us, their evil gifts would harm us” (Line 65-66) who in the poem offers refers to the Goblins as “evil”.

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Goblins on the other hand are shown through variety of views of water, sea and the most aggressive forms of these forces – “a flood”, obstreperous “tides”, alliteration “hoary roaring sea” and “fleet”. Through these symbols Rossetti shows unfamiliarity of goblins and danger that they as an evil presents - the sea unlike the land has always been seen as dangerous, alien, unpredictable or even deadly - but also gives a perfect sense of Goblins’ fast, uncontrolled, variable and unpredictable attack on Lizzie. She is then being shown as “a lily in a flood,” which is very significant – the flower is sometimes considered a synonym for white or soft but also as a symbol of earlier mentioned purity, it can be seen as image of perfection, and an ideal which Lizzie in many ways is. Her strength and willpower is highlighted when she is mention as “a rock of blue-vein'd stone/ Lash'd by tides obstreperously”.

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'Goblin Market ' by Christina Rossetti is centered heavily around the Christian faith. Rossetti makes many parallels between the characters and circumstances in the poem with stories and people of the Bible. Rossetti uses the characters Laura and Lizzie as representations of Eve, a sinner, and Jesus Christ. 'Goblin Market ' shows parallels with multiple parts of the Bible throughout the entire poem. The introduction of the allegory begins when two sisters, Lizzie and Laura, are tempted to buy wicked fruit by a clan of male goblins.

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