Goblin Market Flashcards
“We must not look at goblin men
We must not buy their fruits:”
Goblin Market:
- Frank statement of danger and sexual awakening
- Even “looking” reflects a fascination about the Goblins
- Allusion to the temptation in the Garden of Eden
- Imperative, the girls must remain within the domestic sphere
“Their offers should not charm us,
Their evil gifts would harm us.”
Goblin Market:
- Reference to temptation
- Anaphora
- Poem reflects sexual curiosity felt by virginal females
- While one sister remains curious, the other is weary of danger
- Image of a magical spell manipulating the girls
- Patriarchy presented as an evil curse that must be purged
"”You have much gold upon your head,”
They answer’d all together:”
Goblin Market:
- Choral response, reflects torment
- Historically a woman’s hair was considered extremely precious
- The loss of her hair indicates a depletion of her femininity
- Unified response suggests a united force of oppressive men instead of one in particular
“Sought them by night and day,
Found them no more, but dwindled and grew grey:”
Goblin Market:
- Loss of colour/femininity
- Subplot of Jeanie acts as a warning for women and reveals corruption of the Goblins who have preyed upon women in the past
- Fell into a form of depression and despair about the loss of the fruits
- This is a connection to how society treated ‘ruined’ women who have engaged in sexual activity
“I ate and ate my fill, yet my mouth waters still;”
Goblin Market:
- Laura has become addicted to the fruits
- No matter how much she eats, she is never satisfied by the fruits
- Serves to present the toxicity of a male dominated society, presents females as victims - this is subverted by the end as females emerge as triumphant
“One may lead a horse to water,
Twenty cannot make him drink.”
Goblin Market:
- Idiom applicable to Lizzie’s strength of character against the Goblins
- Lizzie is the stubborn horse, the Goblin’s wares the water
- Metaphorical, regardless of how many are there do drag her away, she would not budge
“But laugh’d in heart to feel the drip
Of juice that syrupp’d all her face.”
Goblin Market:
- Tactile image presenting Lizzie as triumphant over the Goblins, resisting their temptation
- Female power dismissing male assertion
- sexual image of them assaulting her
“Never mind my bruises,
Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices.”
Goblin Market:
- Explicit image of valiance
- Lizzie presented as a symbol of solace and sisterhood, saving her sister from the male threat
“Pleasure past and anguish past,
Is it death or is it life?”
Goblin Market:
- Rhetoric that deliberates the essential importance of life
- Realisation that Laura has overcome her mental suffering
- In questioning life and death, Rossetti may be questioning the meaning of a life that is not immersed in God’s presence
- Rossetti argues that Laura has died as the ‘angel in the house’ and has been reborn as the ‘new woman’
"”For there is no friend like a sister””
Goblin Market:
- Coincides with humanist agenda
- Rossetti valued female companionship, worked with prostitutes at the Mary Magdalene house
- Reflects that even fallen women can find a path to redemption through companionship
