Rosetti’s “Goblin Market” displays the female body in two contrasting lights- one of vulnerability, and one of strength. Laura’s body is marked by descriptors of fragility; her eager consumption of the goblin men’s fruit in exchange for a “precious golden lock” leaves her “wasted,” “undone,” and “knocking on Death’s door” (8, 13,17). This reflects traditional ideas which profess that women’s bodies are readily receptive to, and easily “ruined” by the temptations presented by men.
Yet, through Lizzie’s resilient body, these conventional conceptions of femininity are challenged and rejected. In the passage wherein she goes to the market as a customer, the goblin men “[tear] her gown,” “[twitch] her hair out by the roots,” and “stomp on her
Yet, through Lizzie’s resilient body, these conventional conceptions of femininity are challenged and rejected. In the passage wherein she goes to the market as a customer, the goblin men “[tear] her gown,” “[twitch] her hair out by the roots,” and “stomp on her