During the Victorian era, the role and expectations of women is an issue of much discussion throughout the period. While there are instances of individuals challenging the social constructs that prevent a woman from expressing her own self-interests, many still support the idea of women being inherently self-sacrificing. Women are expected to be the epitome of elegance and womanly virtue, and should — above all else — maintain this idealized self-sacrificing attitude in all aspects of their lives. These Victorian notions of the ideal women are reflected in the literary works written in this historical period. In Christina Rossetti’s poem, Goblin Market, she emphasizes this concept of a self-sacrificing woman who will sacrifice her own happiness
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This alludes to the physical damage that is being forced on her body by the goblin men. The comparison that Lizzie’s body is “honey-sweet” (416) like a blooming flower being “beset [upon] by wasp and bee” (417) likens the lustful inclinations of the goblin men for Lizzie’s innocent body to the need of bees to pollinate a flower. The imagery evoked by this comparison of bees pollinating (a word in itself that holds enormous sexual connotations) a lone flower is dramatic, but effective use of imagery utilized by Rossetti because it fits thematically within framework of the entire poem. Specifically, the word “beset” (417) suggests that the undignified advances on Lizzie are threatening and persistent like a swarm of bees. Consequently, this physical trauma is detrimental to Lizzie’s emotional well-being. Christina Rossetti’s use of the words “flood” (409), “tides” (411), and “sea” (413) all depict imagery associating with water. However, the emphasis on water in this passage is not incidentally utilized by Rossetti. Fitting with the nature of the poem, these particular words are interpreted as a euphemism for body fluids. These fluids being the tears Lizzie sheds and the fluids emitted during the defilement of Lizzie’s virtue. The language Rossetti utilizes places emphasis on the physical and emotional trauma Lizzie experiences. However, suffering is not a foreign idea associated with sacrifice. By enduring the traumatic experience for her sister’s sake, Lizzie ascends the pedestal of self-sacrificing women portrayed in Victorian
This alludes to the physical damage that is being forced on her body by the goblin men. The comparison that Lizzie’s body is “honey-sweet” (416) like a blooming flower being “beset [upon] by wasp and bee” (417) likens the lustful inclinations of the goblin men for Lizzie’s innocent body to the need of bees to pollinate a flower. The imagery evoked by this comparison of bees pollinating (a word in itself that holds enormous sexual connotations) a lone flower is dramatic, but effective use of imagery utilized by Rossetti because it fits thematically within framework of the entire poem. Specifically, the word “beset” (417) suggests that the undignified advances on Lizzie are threatening and persistent like a swarm of bees. Consequently, this physical trauma is detrimental to Lizzie’s emotional well-being. Christina Rossetti’s use of the words “flood” (409), “tides” (411), and “sea” (413) all depict imagery associating with water. However, the emphasis on water in this passage is not incidentally utilized by Rossetti. Fitting with the nature of the poem, these particular words are interpreted as a euphemism for body fluids. These fluids being the tears Lizzie sheds and the fluids emitted during the defilement of Lizzie’s virtue. The language Rossetti utilizes places emphasis on the physical and emotional trauma Lizzie experiences. However, suffering is not a foreign idea associated with sacrifice. By enduring the traumatic experience for her sister’s sake, Lizzie ascends the pedestal of self-sacrificing women portrayed in Victorian