Christina Rossetti and the fear of sense in Goblin Market
The poem "Goblin Market", by Christina Rossetti, relates the ethical tale of two sisters, Laura and Lizzie. Rossetti constructs the poem surrounding the two women who are unable to access their fully developed intuitions without being subsumed by the men who provide sensory delights. Rossetti establishes this through characterizing the base physical senses as an unfit endeavor for young women to experience. The character Laura, in the poem, is led through a tortuous experience because she follows her intuitions to follow the Goblin men, who through Rossetti's richly laden verse, are characterized as animalistic and morally debase. Laura is saved by her sister Lizzie, whose character reveals Rossetti's wish to propagate a life devoid of sensory experience, because it will lead to a greater reward after death. Therefore, Christina Rossetti deems the physical senses as an inappropriate and unholy means of expression for women in her didactic poem "Goblin Market". Laura is more willing than Lizzie to induce her sensory perceptions and this leads to her demise. Laura the unwholesome sister of "Goblin Market", is stimulated and seduced by the Goblins. The first movement of the poem adheres strictly to he
Through sound and sight, the Goblin men lead the sisters to involve their sensory perceptions of taste, touch, and smell. The Goblin men invite Laura and Lizzie to partake in the physical realm and Rossetti's imagery insinuates the hedonistic value of their indulgent pleasures. The reader is inundated by the "Come buy" phrase that becomes the signature phrase of the Goblin men. Rossetti goes to elaborate visual lengths to describe the animalistic creatures that entice the young Laura. After the sisters decide to engage with the Goblin's, Lizzie is besieged physically by the Goblins and Laura's sense of smell and taste are enriched directly following her occurrence with the men. Through these examples, it is proven that Goblin men are directly correlated with the world of perception and senses, and that the two sisters cannot comply because it will lead to their ruin. Lizzie's character is the one who will receive the greatest rewards from her vigilant defiance to the Goblins and their pleasure filled sensory experiences. Lizzie is characterized in the following passage as Christ-like: With the phrase "Come buy", the sisters are lured into the goblins world and their procurements. The poem opens with the familiar phrase of "Come buy" (ln. 3), and it is repeated eighteen additional times in the 567 line poem. The phrase when read aloud could also indicate that the Goblins want the maids to "come by" their haunts. For the goblins never take money from either Laura or Lizzie, but the goblins wish for some company and eventually kick back the coin that Lizzie gives them. Poetically, the phrase is so oft repeated that it becomes a subliminal message to the reader, and is no surprise when Laura takes the goblins up on their offer. This symbolization is analogous to Christ's crucifixion. Rossetti deliberately sets up this parallel, so that we see that the road of resistance is difficult but is Christ-like, and it will be compensated for in the after-life.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1513
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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