Goblin Market and its readings
Christina Rossetti was born in London, in a family with a long history of incredibly gifted artists. Nowadays she is considered to be one of the most important female poets of the Victorian Era as well as to be somehow a feminist. Rossetti was a brilliant and beautiful woman, and she never got married. However, apart from her work as a poet, she devoted her time to work as a volunteer with former prostitutes in a refuge. Actually her most famous poem ‘Goblin Market’ is thought to have been inspired in her work with the “fallen women”. ‘Goblin Market’, first published in 1862, is also the poem that has been most taken into account as a matter of discussion from Rossetti’s work. This Pre-Raphaelite poem, because …show more content…
But, in any case, it must be taken into account that Christina Rossetti was a Londoner and she noticed that the people around her were being induced to consume. “The language of the poem is also filled with terms of commerce, economics, and exchange”. A real proof of this is the very well-known idea of ‘the angel in the house’ that was very ingrained in the Victorian society, and women were the main target. Women were not only thought to be an ornament for her husband, the perfect wife and the perfect mother, but they were also in charge of supplying their families with the necessary, and when possible, the not so necessary things, therefore they were also considered as ‘the consuming angels’. ‘Come buy, come buy’ are the repeated lines in the poem that may allow it be given this interpretation, because it was shopping what was tempting people. However, what the goblin men are offering is something that does not give a long-term satisfaction at all. Instead of it, Laura, after having tried the fruit becomes lifeless, and she could not even hear again the goblin’s call ‘Laura turn’d cold as stone /To find her sister heard that cry alone, /That goblin cry, /“Come buy our fruits, come buy.”’ Some critics may argue that Lizzie is the real representation of Rossetti’s thought. This means that the writer may have strongly believed that it was necessary to sometimes renunciate and even sacrifice self fulfilment. Critics may also say that …show more content…
This is true although it was just a beginning on the debatable issues of “women’s education, employment opportunities, marriage, sexuality, psychology, and the right to vote. Avery also says that Rossetti is quite a “complex thinker” when talking about women’s role within the society. He says that in her opinions she does not put them as a radical feminist at all, but, and it could be easily perceived, these same opinions “are usually far from conservative and often questioning, challenging and potentially subversive”. This is definitely true, accordingly to Avery, because her poems may show for instance many “Biblical ideas of woman’s subordination to man and reason for maintaining the status quo”. In contrast, she will also have moments where she speaks against not only sexual exploitation, that is the worst of the consequences of women’s oppression, but also other things that for Rossetti were important, as the lack of education or work, that are the basis in order to later on avoid things such as
Christina Rossetti was born in London, in a family with a long history of incredibly gifted artists. Nowadays she is considered to be one of the most important female poets of the Victorian Era as well as to be somehow a feminist. Rossetti was a brilliant and beautiful woman, and she never got married. However, apart from her work as a poet, she devoted her time to work as a volunteer with former prostitutes in a refuge. Actually her most famous poem ‘Goblin Market’ is thought to have been inspired in her work with the “fallen women”. ‘Goblin Market’, first published in 1862, is also the poem that has been most taken into account as a matter of discussion from Rossetti’s work. This Pre-Raphaelite poem, because …show more content…
But, in any case, it must be taken into account that Christina Rossetti was a Londoner and she noticed that the people around her were being induced to consume. “The language of the poem is also filled with terms of commerce, economics, and exchange”. A real proof of this is the very well-known idea of ‘the angel in the house’ that was very ingrained in the Victorian society, and women were the main target. Women were not only thought to be an ornament for her husband, the perfect wife and the perfect mother, but they were also in charge of supplying their families with the necessary, and when possible, the not so necessary things, therefore they were also considered as ‘the consuming angels’. ‘Come buy, come buy’ are the repeated lines in the poem that may allow it be given this interpretation, because it was shopping what was tempting people. However, what the goblin men are offering is something that does not give a long-term satisfaction at all. Instead of it, Laura, after having tried the fruit becomes lifeless, and she could not even hear again the goblin’s call ‘Laura turn’d cold as stone /To find her sister heard that cry alone, /That goblin cry, /“Come buy our fruits, come buy.”’ Some critics may argue that Lizzie is the real representation of Rossetti’s thought. This means that the writer may have strongly believed that it was necessary to sometimes renunciate and even sacrifice self fulfilment. Critics may also say that …show more content…
This is true although it was just a beginning on the debatable issues of “women’s education, employment opportunities, marriage, sexuality, psychology, and the right to vote. Avery also says that Rossetti is quite a “complex thinker” when talking about women’s role within the society. He says that in her opinions she does not put them as a radical feminist at all, but, and it could be easily perceived, these same opinions “are usually far from conservative and often questioning, challenging and potentially subversive”. This is definitely true, accordingly to Avery, because her poems may show for instance many “Biblical ideas of woman’s subordination to man and reason for maintaining the status quo”. In contrast, she will also have moments where she speaks against not only sexual exploitation, that is the worst of the consequences of women’s oppression, but also other things that for Rossetti were important, as the lack of education or work, that are the basis in order to later on avoid things such as