Christina Rossetti was born in London on December 5, 1830. She was one of four children. Her father, Gabriele Rossetti was a professor at King's College. All four children in the family became writers. Rossetti was educated at home by her mother, Frances Polidori. She got her passion for poetry from her parents. Rossetti began to write at the age of seven and published her first poem at 18. “Goblin Market” was written in 1859. Rossetti’s source of writing this famous poem was the bible and knowledge of the power of sexuality and education of women.
“Goblin Market” begins with the goblins advertising their wonderful fruits and bragging how plump and juicy the fruits are. Sisters, by the names of Laura and Lizzie hear the goblins cry out about their fruits and Lizzie encourages Laura not to look at the goblin men or buy their fruit. All of the goblins had some sort of animal feature or characteristic to them. One had a tail; another had a rat’s speed, one dragged like a snail, the other had a face of a cat. Etc. Laura and Lizzie was approached by the goblins, while Lizzie ignored the persuasive goblins, Laura spoke to the goblins and said she has no money to buy the fruits. The goblins convinced her to pay with her hair and she did. Laura bought the fruit, took a bite, and looked as if she never had such wonderful fruit in her life. She was distracted by the goodness of the fruit that she did not know weather it was night or day. When Laura finally got home, Lizzie warned her about staying out late and reminded Laura about Jeanie who was out late and met up with the goblins. Laura later told Lizzie that she ate the goblins fruit and how she will go buy more the following evening. The next morning Laura and Lizzie both woke up to do their morning chores. Lizzie was in a happy mood; her heart was filled with joy while Laura was very grumpy and waiting for the night to come. Laura turned cold and did not see or hear the goblins cry. Worried Lizzie went to Laura and told her to go look at the goblins. Laura did not move. It was as if she was not on the same planet as Lizzie. This went on for days until Lizzie could no take the sight of her sister being like this. Lizzie went to the goblins and tried to buy some fruit. She tossed them her penny and the goblins began to try to persuade Lizzie to eat the fruit with them. Lizzie denied the offer and told them if they would not sell her, the fruit then give her back her money. The goblins became angry and started to beat her up. Lizzie stood strong and they finally stopped. After the beating Lizzie was filled with the goblins fruit, she went to Laura and told to taste the fruit that was on her. After that night, Laura and Lizzie were back to normal because of Lizzie’s wonderful deed.
In this poem, I think Rosseti wanted her readers to know the significance of a good family and consequences of not listening. The many symbols I saw in this poem were one: The fruit- the fruit symbolizes the temptation. I saw Laura give in to temptation in line 115. Two: Goblins- Tempter. The goblins were tempters by persuading Laura to buy the fruit with her hair. Three: Laura symbolizes Eve. Laura knew not to eat the fruit because of the future consequences but ate it anyways. Four: Lizzie symbolizes hero because she was beaten up so that her sister can get out of the horrible stage she was in. The archetype I found in this poem was the story of Adam and Eve. I chose this story because just like Laura, Eve was tempted to eat the forbidden fruit and was finally persuaded by the devil to eat the fruit. I think this archetype means that people should be careful of what they do because it can have long-term consequences.
In conclusion, I think “Goblin Market” a lesson learned because people need to listen and be aware of any future consequences that can be a result to your actions. At the end of the day, there will be someone to save you from your mistake but not always.
Works sited:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Rossetti
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