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”. …show more content…
This could be analogous to the widespread belief in Victorian Britain that young women should know nothing about sex, because even the barest knowledge could contaminate them and make them less pure. It’s obvious that Lizzie stands as a symbol of a true Anglican girl who is devoted to her religion, whereas sister Laura seems to be the one who is corrupted by her own evil thoughts – “come buy, come buy!” (Line…) she tells the Goblin customers, lurking them in (maybe for a sexual experience), while Lizzie begs her not to. The two girls who also portray the two types of women in their society, those who obeyed and those who didn’t. Going back to the critics’ argument, the Goblins could also symbolise a lustful male and the two girls the women of their