goblin market Flashcards
alternative interpretations
religion - Laura Eve, Goblins Serphant
gender and sexuality
cautionary tale of female desire
form
is experimental
it never conforms to a set rhyme scheme or metrical pattern
written
1860s, when Rossetti was volunteering at ‘St Mary Magdalene Penitentiary for Fallen Women’ at Highgate
critics have argued that the themes of temptation and sexual desire are influenced by this
imported fruit
grapes, pomegranates, dates ….
could be a warning of the changing commercial marketplace
“come buy, come buy”
imperatives - insistent voices of men
feminism
although Rossetti was not generally perceived as a feminist in her own day, various critics have applied the term to her
her writing often seems to suggest and promote the belief that women are equal to men - Lisa Scholl
“curious Laura chose to linger”
struggle between the consequences of pursuing lust and the need to explore human desires
victorian women
were seen as passionless angels in the home, but Karen Armstrong believes that in this poem, Rossetti is challenging this
in victorian society
a woman’s loss of virginity was meant to mark her transition from youth to adulthood and motherhood
“my mouth waters still”
challenges victorian ideal that women didn’t feel passion
Laura is “like a leaping flame”
her passion is shown to be unhealthy and dangerous
an alternative reading
a drug addiction or alcoholism - “listless”, “sunk eyes”
loss of innocence
“must she then buy no more”
references to buying and selling
if women in Victorian england failed to meet the standards of ordinary conduct, it would deplete their worth on the marriage market
language of sexual violence
“tore her gown”
“squeezed their fruits against her mouth”
penny
“flung back her penny” - perhaps link to “silver penny”, an Elizabethan word for female genitalia
held onto her virginity
in the end
they both conform to their expected role as “both were wives”
in this poem
there is an absence of a patriarchal figure
Rossetti’s attitude
towards unconventionality and social outcasts is significant, as she seems to encourage an ideology of acceptance rather than judgement
Rossetti addresses
the restrictions placed on women - she pulls down the ideological boundaries of femininity - Lesa Scholl
in Rossetti’s account
Laura’s fall is markedly different from the usual (male) Victorian version
polarized sisters
“Laura bowed her head to hear, / Lizzie veiled her blushes”
Lizzie’s blush implies she knows what enticement is
historical anticipation
Lizzie does not eat Goblin fruit even though they “squeezed their fruits / Against her mouth to make her eat”
the struggle for female suffrage at the end of the century led to the forced feeding of women who had gone on hunger strike
poems last word
“stands” - Laura who is standing
Lizzie “stood like a lily in a flood” which has enabled Laura to stand
Grimm’s fairytale Rumpelstiltskin
goblins disappear as soon as the are defeated, just as they “vanished” when Lizzie resisted them
untypical of folk stories
due to its richly abundant description - much more like a Pre-Raphaelite painting
Jeanie died before experiencing
the “joys brides hope to have” - status of a wife, control of her own home and the pleasures of motherhood
all of which, Nora sacrifices in order to gain independence
in English writing
fruit was often used in descriptions of sexual pleasure - the goblins language can be read as arousing sexual longing - “taste them and try” - invitation to sexual indulgence
rather than saying this poem means this
use : “shows a concern for” or “touches on”
it’s an allegory, fable, parable
conceived as
a moral tale to be read aloud in the penitentiary
her brother’s alcoholism
is reflected in the poem’s themes of the dangers of excess and of unbridled appetite
self-destruction by a means of self-indulgence
