Feminist interpretations of Goblin Market

I think the strongest interpretation of Goblin Market that we learnt in today’s lesson is the feminist interpretation. This is the idea that woman can prevail over men and that they don’t need them. Throughout the whole poem there is no mention of men except the goblin men and when at the end Lizzie and Laura are married. The goblin men in this poem represent men as a whole even thought they are grotesque and have animalistic features. However in the feminist interpretation we are led to believe that all men are like the goblins and they’re all ‘evil people’ as they are described in poem. As there are no other women in the poem, we are also led to believe that Lizzie and Laura represent all woman and that like Lizzie and Laura women can be the hero’s of the story. This poem also shows how good women are and this is shown when Lizzie is prepared to risk her own life for her sister which also shows the love between the two sisters. The intimacy between the sisters is almost lost when the goblin men try to get in between them, which shows that the men try to destroy the bond that they had.

Marxist interpretation of Goblin Market

In today’s lesson, my group had to study the Marxist interpretation of Goblin market. This is the idea of consumerism and trade and, in my opinion, the most effective way of showing this interpretation is the golden curl. When Laura wants to buy the fruit but has no money, the goblin men are insistent that she pays with a golden lock of her hair. The lines ‘"You have much gold upon your head," They answered altogether: "Buy from us with a golden curl."’ Show that they didn't want money anyway, they had already agreed to ask for a curl as they all ‘answer altogether’. This shows that they are willing to buy at any cost and are really desperate to sell because they didn't say come back another day with a coin, they wanted her to have the fruit this instant. It also shows how the goblin men, who represent big businesses, have bullied someone into buying their products and almost selling part of herself.

Fruit in Goblin Market

In today’s lesson I was particularly interested in the symbolism of the fruit in goblin market.  I think the fruit mainly symbolises temptation and I think this because of the number of fruits listed. Rossetti listed 29 exotic fruits which, in relation to the poem, show how much temptation there is for Laura and Lizzie and how appealing it is to them. It also shows how overwhelming the temptations are as the number of fruits listed are overwhelming for us. Someone in our class likened it to the story of Forbidden Fruit in the Adam and Eve story, and I completely agree. 

Christina Rossetti

Christina Rossetti was a poet in the mid-1800’s and her most famous poems are Goblin Market, Up-Hill, A Birthday and Remember. She found her highest inspiration in her deep religious faith and it features in many of her poems. Many of Rossetti’s poems feature feminism and this is mostly due to her personal experiences. When she wanted to publish any work, she had to do it through her brother because women were not equal to men in the publishing world. I shall leave you with my favourite Rossetti poem which is A Daughter of Eve.

A fool I was to sleep at noon,
And wake when night is chilly
Beneath the comfortless cold moon;
A fool to pluck my rose too soon,
A fool to snap my lily.

My garden-plot I have not kept;
Faded and all-forsaken,
I weep as I have never wept:
Oh it was summer when I slept,
It's winter now I waken.

Talk what you please of future spring
And sun-warm'd sweet to-morrow:--
Stripp'd bare of hope and everything,
No more to laugh, no more to sing,
I sit alone with sorrow.