Christina Rossetti was a woman who had a very avant-garde approach to writing poems. She stepped outside the box and spoke about so many things that were not orthodox in a subliminal way. I got a brief biography of her here. Rossetti was a girl who was born in London and was home schooled by her mother. She had brothers and a sister who became very prominent artists, writers, and poets of their time. After her family went through some issues she became very depressed and decided to become a Christian. Rossetti also became some sort of a muse for her brother.
Rossetti started writing at the tender age of seven, and her first published poem was at the age of eighteen. She is categorized as having a feminist sense of style in most of her poems. Most of her characters are women who slowly have the archetypes of heroes, and innocent people who end up transitioning to a good person or present demonstrations of selflessness. “Goblin Market” has to be one of her most well known poems. In this poem she has two women as the characters who sacrifice their lives to save each other. Also it shows a bond that two sisters have together that may seem inappropriate, I don’t believe that the text she has chosen is meant to be taken literally. For example when she mentions in the poem for the sister to suck the juice out of her body for the sake of her own life. Also this poem may seem feminist because this is really similar to the story of Adam and Eve but instead of an Adam character she chose another woman.
The plot to this story has to be compared to the tale of Adam and eve in the sense of the forbidden fruit but I believe the symbolism means much more in both tales. The tale starts with two sisters named Laura and Lizzie who collects water from a river each night. They hear the songs of the goblins as usual who sell fruits. Everyone knows not to talk or attempt to purchase anything from the goblins. The reason why is because there was a girl in the same town who ate the fruit and became very sick then eventually died. But that did not stop Laura from the curiosity and craving of the fruit. Since she did not have any money she decided to trade in a lock of her hair for a fruit. The goblins agreed and she received the fruit. She ate the fruit and became frantic and engorged the taste and experience of eating that "forbidden fruit". Laura starts craving the fruit again and was impatiently waiting for the goblins song indicating that she can buy some more fruit. To her surprise she could not hear the goblins but her sister Lizzie did hear the goblins songs.
Afterwards Laura starts to become very sick because she does not have any more access to the fruit. Time passes and Laura is about to die so Lizzie goes to the goblins and tries to buy some more fruit with money for the sake of her sister's life. The goblins became upset because she wanted to pay for the fruit with money. Also they became upset because wanted the fruit for her sister and not for herself. With that said they become violent and forcibly make Lizzie drink the juice of the fruits and she rushes home and tells Laura to drink the juice from her body. Laura does so and by the next morning she becomes healthy.
The symbolism in the poem is all about trends. The main trend I see is details. When it comes to the fruit she makes the fruit sound so amazing and she is also very detailed about the experience that Laura is going through while eating the fruit. What I believe the symbolism is that it’s the pureness of her body, maybe her virginity. Also the fruit has to be a reference to the forbidden fruit as its stated in the bible. I believe it’s a legit analysis, considering that she converted into Catholicism.
Another symbol is the chants and cries of the goblins. Its represents the people who everyone sees doing things that we all wish we could do but know that its morally wrong. I believe that Rossetti wanted a certain reaction to the story and its confusion. The reason I say that is because a mixed review is the best because you have to link a personal experience and connection with the poem which will be resulting the ultimate reward.
In line 20-25 it states “Our grapes fresh from the vine, Pomegranates full and fine, Dates and sharp bullaces
For the archetypes in this poem it has quite a few. Laura has to be the Adventure seeker, the person who wants to find out what something is like, hence tasting the forbidden fruit. I believe that is Laura’s archetype because she is so tempted to try the fruit since she knew that it would have a negative impact. Maybe she wanted to see what the big deal was. Lizzie would be the hero because the selfless act that she did to save the life of her sister, Laura. If it was not for Lizzie, Laura would’ve eventually have died and Lizzie would’ve died shortly after if she did not make Laura drink the fruit’s juice out of her body.
I believe this poem is about losing their innocence like when a young girl loses her virginity before being ready, just because they become tempted. I believe that this is much more deeper. My analysis of this poem is that Rossetti is dealing with inner demons, and the only way she can cope is by writing hidden messages within the poem. I believe that she might be talking about her sexuality and how much she is trying to stay away from temptations. She knows the consequences because of her religion so she decides to shut that part of her life off. So this may seem some sort of escape for her because she can make believe that she did give into temptation but she had a very bad result afterward so she needed to be saved. Maybe this is a cry for help for the real life “Lizzie” to come and revive her.
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