Critics (Rossetti) Flashcards
Women’s Rights
Christiansen
Only maids can hear the goblins cries
Avery
From the Antique is an unflinching expression of despair, sense of longing caught in repetition, annilihilation is preferred
Mold
Rossetti wrote poems that give a vibrant voice to females despite harsh quality of life as a Victorian woman
Rosenblum
In adolescent a woman must make herself or pretend to be an alluring object
Famous of speaking of silence and oblivion
Religion
Christiansen
A christian message about temptation and fall
Christiansen (Laura)
She is Milton’s depiction of Eve in Paradise lost, the eating of the fruit represents biblical descriptions of souls in torment, Laura defiles herself in front of a religious community as she cuts her hair, Laura is under the new testament where there is a view of forgiveness and redemption
Christiansen (Lizzie)
Lizzie equivalates to the virgin mary, Lizzue is the Christ figure even though Laura has a crown of thorns
Christiansen (Jeanie)
Jeanie must die under the old testament where death is the end result to sin
Scholl
Rossetti challenges and reconstructs the Christian ideas of redemption, Laura’s need for salvation is not a result of sinfulness but a dissatisfaction with her society
Avery
Rossetti uses biblical interpretations to display subservience to men
Forbidden desires
Christiansen (Laura)
Laura’s enlightenment is a narcissistic fantasy of fulfillment
Love and marriage
Christiansen (Laura)
Laura not attending to chores places her out of the domestic sphere lowering her marital value. Laura represents the experience with a domestic reality.
Christiansen (Lizzie
Lizzie hides in the safety of her own home, fearful of sexual experiences)
Jennings
Rossetti writes of reciprocal love
Harrison
No idea regarding the fulfillment of earthly love
Sex and innocence
Christiansen (Goblins)
The goblin men are both oral and aural in nature, they are harmless creature that represent animalistic lust, the goblin carry various fruits that resemble female and male sex organs
Christiansen (Laura)
Laura has an active role in her own downfall with the cutting of her own hair, hair cutting illustrates castration, Laura has no moral compass, Laura’s detorioration forces Lizzie out of the safety of her domestic existence
Christiansen (Jeanie)
She is the archaic belief of fallen women dying early
Scholl
Rossetti radically steers away from equating female sexuality with sinfulness
Scholl (Victorian women)
Women are too pure and sacred to share disgusting lust afflicted with men, sexual activity causes reproductive organs to malfunction, a hymen unbroken possesses an innocent integrity that Eve enjoyed before the Fall (the post-lapsarian view)
