In “Goblin Market,” Christina Rossetti discusses three main characters involved in the poem and the different experiences they encounter with these Goblin Men. In this essay, I will compare and contrast the different experiences, while describing what message Christina Rossetti is trying to formulate from these different experiences. Each character has a unique encounter with the Goblin men that has many different meanings to them and different messages being sent by the Author. The young, naïve, not very knowledgeable maid is known as Laura. Lizzie is known as the older, knowledgeable maid, and sister of Laura. Beings Maids brings us back to the book “How to be a Victorian” where they have a many maids in their homes doing daily work.
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Knowing right away what these men are capable of, Lizzie tries to warn Laura to not even look at the Men. She states that these Men are here to contaminate are land, infect it, make it dirty and use their evil against women. As Laura is getting intrigued by the Goblin Men’s offer of fruit, Lizzie then tells Laura “No, no, no; their offers should not charm us, their evil gifts would harm us” (Rossetti 233), meaning Laura must avoid these Men. Laura then gave in and after she returned from eating the fruit, Lizzie met her and told her you cannot be out at moonlight, reminding her of Jeanie as a warning to try and get her to stay in. Lizzie is serving as the voice of reason to Laura, while Laura becomes sick, craving the fruit at all times. Laura doesn’t listen to Lizzie and comes back to try and convince her to try the fruit, but Lizzie is content and wont budge. Lizzie then is sitting back watching Laura struggle and then hits a breaking point to where she can’t watch anymore. Realizing that her sister is in trouble, Lizzie puts a silver penny in her purse and heads out hoping to find the Goblin Men so she can save her sister. For the first time Lizzie geos out to listen and look for these Goblin Men in desperate need of some fruit for her dying sister. She meets the Goblin men in hopes they will give her a lot of their fruit. …show more content…
What I thought it kind of related too was Biblical times in a way, such as the temptation, the fall, the redemption, and restoration. She really follows it and the article I researched backs this up greatly. Rossetti sets this story up as a “sinner and savior” type story with Laura being the sinner and then Lizzie becoming the savior. This also ties into Victorian Audiences as well because it is Women playing these roles and not men which would take away some confusion of the gender roles in the Victorian Era, making it more of a feminist story. The Goblin Men are in a way looked at as Satan and they are trying to deceive Laura, like Satan did to Eve but Laura never gets deceived she gains more knowledge, which is why these Goblin Men don’t give her any more fruit. This is where Lizzie comes into play. Lizzie is definitely looked at as a Jesus type Figure who is knowledgeable and mature. Laura’s dwindling away and diminishing health ultimately leads to Lizzie doing what she has to do. Having fallen into the Goblin Men’s trap, Laura has to then be saved by Lizzie. Realizing this, Lizzie gives up any rational thinking and decides to go out to find these men in search of their fruits. Fortunately, Lizzie finds the Goblin Men but refuses to eat their fruit, which also ties back into the feminist outlook on the story by having Lizzie deny men’s crude sexual advances that are
Knowing right away what these men are capable of, Lizzie tries to warn Laura to not even look at the Men. She states that these Men are here to contaminate are land, infect it, make it dirty and use their evil against women. As Laura is getting intrigued by the Goblin Men’s offer of fruit, Lizzie then tells Laura “No, no, no; their offers should not charm us, their evil gifts would harm us” (Rossetti 233), meaning Laura must avoid these Men. Laura then gave in and after she returned from eating the fruit, Lizzie met her and told her you cannot be out at moonlight, reminding her of Jeanie as a warning to try and get her to stay in. Lizzie is serving as the voice of reason to Laura, while Laura becomes sick, craving the fruit at all times. Laura doesn’t listen to Lizzie and comes back to try and convince her to try the fruit, but Lizzie is content and wont budge. Lizzie then is sitting back watching Laura struggle and then hits a breaking point to where she can’t watch anymore. Realizing that her sister is in trouble, Lizzie puts a silver penny in her purse and heads out hoping to find the Goblin Men so she can save her sister. For the first time Lizzie geos out to listen and look for these Goblin Men in desperate need of some fruit for her dying sister. She meets the Goblin men in hopes they will give her a lot of their fruit. …show more content…
What I thought it kind of related too was Biblical times in a way, such as the temptation, the fall, the redemption, and restoration. She really follows it and the article I researched backs this up greatly. Rossetti sets this story up as a “sinner and savior” type story with Laura being the sinner and then Lizzie becoming the savior. This also ties into Victorian Audiences as well because it is Women playing these roles and not men which would take away some confusion of the gender roles in the Victorian Era, making it more of a feminist story. The Goblin Men are in a way looked at as Satan and they are trying to deceive Laura, like Satan did to Eve but Laura never gets deceived she gains more knowledge, which is why these Goblin Men don’t give her any more fruit. This is where Lizzie comes into play. Lizzie is definitely looked at as a Jesus type Figure who is knowledgeable and mature. Laura’s dwindling away and diminishing health ultimately leads to Lizzie doing what she has to do. Having fallen into the Goblin Men’s trap, Laura has to then be saved by Lizzie. Realizing this, Lizzie gives up any rational thinking and decides to go out to find these men in search of their fruits. Fortunately, Lizzie finds the Goblin Men but refuses to eat their fruit, which also ties back into the feminist outlook on the story by having Lizzie deny men’s crude sexual advances that are