The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti Essay

The poem 'Goblin Market' by Christina Rossetti uses literature which challenges the readers to interpret and understand various perceptive of life. From the poem, various themes affecting our day to day lives can be easily identified. For example, religious, feminism, and drug abuse are some of the themes addressed by Rossetti in the poem.

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In the poem, Rossetti tells a story of two sisters who lived together and their interaction with the goblins. According to the poem, goblins symbolizes creatures which were neither human nor animals. Often, the goblins would creep around the two sisters' house with the aim of persuading them to come to eat the fruits. "Come buy our orchard, come buy, come buy" (line 3-4), the evil creatures would chant. Lizzie, however, would not easily be persuaded by their chants and had even warned her other sister, Laura, not to even look at the goblins.

Despite Laura being warned not to listen to the evil creatures, one day the goblins managed to trick her. The goblins offered Laura luscious fruit in exchange for her golden hair. After eating the fruit, Laura experienced an unusual moment that left her in an ecstasy mood such that she "knew not it was day or night" (line 139). She returns back to their house where she meets her sister Lizzie who once again warns her about goblins, however, the warning came too late. The desire to have more of the fruits continued to occupy Laura's mind. As the two sisters sleep together "cheek to cheek, breast to breast" (line 197), both of their minds roll in different places since Laura was still yearning for more fruit.

Another day rises and Laura goes to find the goblins but she is shocked that she could no longer find the goblins nor the fruits. However, it was surprising that Lizzie could hear the goblins while her sister could not. Laura's lack of the fruits makes her fall into depression and her health starts to deteriorate. Laura's health worsened such that Lizzie decided to take some coins to buy the fruit for her sister with hopes of improving her health. The goblins continued to force Lizzie to eat the forbidden fruit but she resists the temptation. However, with the aim of helping her sister, she allows the juices of the fruit to stick to her body in order to bring it to her sick sister.

On reaching home, Lizzie asks Laura to "hug me, kiss me, suck my juices" (line 468) in order to bring the fruit juices to Laura's skin. Lizzie and Laura feasts upon each other skin taking all the juices, and, at that moment the juices sparked suffering and blisses. After this dramatic moment Lizzie sleeps off, and, in the morning, she wakes up being herself. Lizzie and Laura later lived a married life and they would tell their children stories of their love and how they overcame the evil creatures.

Although some can interpret the poem being addressed to children, the choice of words and language in the poem can be interpreted in several ways. Firstly, the aspect of temptation in eating the Goblin fruits can be compared to the religious story of Eve. Just like in the Bible, the goblin fruit was forbidden and Laura had been warned against it by her sister Lizzie.

Additionally, just like in the Bible, the forbidden fruit in the poem brings suffering to extent that Laura gets unwell and almost died which symbolized a downfall. At a glance, Laura's actions on eating the forbidden fruit can be viewed as a negative downfall, however, it is through the temptation that she discovered the true nature of the world "Would talk about the haunted glen / The wicked, quaint fruit-merchant men / Their fruits like honey to the throat / But poison in the blood" (lines 552-555). Laura gains knowledge of the world works and she would carry share the knowledge with her future children.

From the poem, Rossetti addresses the issues of feminist using different uses of words. Firstly, the issue of sexuality is widely addressed. Her vast use of words relating to sex is consistent in the poem. From the author's description of the nature of the relationship between Lizzie and Laura suggests it was an erotic relationship. "Like two pigeons in one nest / Folded in each other's wings" (lines 185-186), "Cheek to cheek and breast to breast / Locked together in one nest" (lines 197-198), and "Kissed and kissed and kissed her" (line 486) all illustrates a sexual language that suggest a possible romantic relationship between the two sisters. Additionally, the poem does not mention the husbands of Lizzie and Laura in their later years which suggest they would have been romantically involved. Also, the poem does not involve any male figures and this could show Rossetti's negative attitude towards the male gender who ruins the lives of innocent women.

In the modern society, the strength and efforts of women are always downplayed. Rossetti uses the personality of Lizzie to illustrate how the female heroism of women is ignored. Lizzie is a strong woman who manages to remain strong despite the temptations surrounding her. She ignores the persuasion to eat the forbidden fruit by the gobbling creatures. Also, Lizzie sacrifices a lot to save her sister's life by allowing herself to be abused by gobbling creatures. Despite this heroic gesture of Lizzie, her actions seem to be irrelevant as it is only mentioned in a few lines of the poem.

The aspect of drug abuse and addiction is another theme that relates to Rossetti's poem. Today, drug addiction has ruined the lives of many youths leaving them to suffer to the extent of even some people dying. From an early age, children are persuaded to avoid taking drugs which in the poem symbolizes the "goblin fruits". However, some youths are not strong enough to say no to drugs, and, after their first experience their start yearning for more which leads to addiction. From the poem, Laura feels to take more goblin fruits after having the first experience. The goblin fruits compare with drugs such as heroin which leads to addiction. Laura, for instance, becomes sick after lacking the fruit which compares to the negative effects of lack of heroin to an addicted person.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the poem "Goblin Market" illustrates the elements of religion, feminism, and drug abuse. The relationship between the two sisters living in a society surrounded by evil creatures symbolizes the modern society. The poem enlightens the audience on the nature of the world by using a special kind of literature that explains different perceptive. Basically, Rossetti uses the poem to warn, educate, and spread civility in the society.