Christina Rossetti grew up in a family of talented writers and artists whose muses were tied to contemporary life and past studies, but who were strictly evangelical Christians . Christina Rossetti strictly followed the expectations of this ideal (Everett). It was widely assumed that she lived a self-repressed life in which she revealed her passions for certain men through her poetic works since they did not share the same religious values, and that she lived vicariously through her younger brother. repressed and his friends (Gilbert & Gubar 874). The implications of these incompatible and contrasting dynamics can be read through his poetry, particularly "Goblin Market", published in 1862 (RPO). "Goblin Market" uses the erotic imagery, symbolism, and characterization of sisters Laura and Lizzie to symbolically discuss how women's relationships with men undermine women's worth and value, and how women do not can realize their full potential only through relationships with other women. Although these relationships are not limited to sexual or romantic relationships, the relationship between the sisters is eroticized in order to clearly emphasize the way in which women can bring out the beauty and greatness in other women, while the degradation of men tends to to only exhaust women. no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get an original essayThe fruits of this poem are described in a sexual way through the words “free-born wild cranberries”, “sweet to the tongue” and “succulents,” and the way Lizzie describes them as “evil gifts” (lines 11, 30, 61, and 66). The fruits also come from various places around the world and are fresh at different times of the year, but they are all part of the goblin market, which suggests a supernatural or otherworldly aspect of these goblin men, and is also enough to make the fruits tastier. coveted and no longer forbidden. The goblins who sell the fruit are inherently deceptive; Laura and Lizzie's attempts to resist their offers show that they are chaste and would like to avoid giving in to such tricks that might cause them to "[pinch] and [pinch] themselves", and "diminish and [become] gray”, like their friend Jeanie who gave in (lines 154, 156). However, Laura is slightly more receptive and curious to their forbidden offerings, which is detrimental to her. It could have been just as dangerous for a woman in the second half of the 19th century in England, especially if she had focused on her rigorous Anglican lifestyle. This danger is evident when the goblins sneak up on Laura and shoot sly glances at each other, signifying their licentious plot (lines 95-96). The golden buckle they ask of Laura indicates a change; since she cried while handing it to him, it is clearly valuable to her in a personal way, and she is struggling with her emotions as she submits to his golden curls. However, as this is a payment for the goblin men, it shows that they value her hair as a commodity, but also as hair can represent female beauty, they take away some of her beauty in exchange for “fruits” which represent brief sensual pleasure then decadence. This is interesting considering the late 1800s, a time when marriage was increasingly based on “mutual love” rather than dowry or social advancement (Yalom 180). Social conventions and views of women at that time went hand in hand with the new ideals of marriage to the extent that, because marriage was about love, women tried to attract thatlove by being “as physically attractive as possible” (Yalom 183). This part of the poem suggests that women's beauty and youth are their only importance to men, and that once it is taken away from them, their lives begin to fade away, they are no longer wanted, and they wither away afterward. brief moments. of pleasure. Eating the fruit can be likened to Laura (and previously Jeanie) losing her virginity. However, giving up one's beauty or vitality to a man can be considered in a more general sense; for example, a woman's main roles in this era were "to obey and satisfy her husband [by] keeping her children physically and morally healthy and maintaining the household", and all of this could be seen as a way of which she only “sold” herself. be exploited and used, but never actually realized (Yalom 180). The fruits had an intoxicating effect on her as she "sucked their globes of clear or red fruit", until "her lips were sore", but she left without knowing what time of day it was (lines 127, 136). Laura is noticeably changed and her connection with her sister is somewhat severed due to the connection with the goblin men and their fruits that have replaced it. Interestingly, this sexuality evident when Laura eats the fruit is replaced by a more natural and innate kind of sexuality. sexuality to which Rossetti refers when she describes the two sisters – now inevitably distinct from each other – as "folded into each other's wings", "cheek to cheek and chest to chest, locked together in a nest” (line 186 and line 197-98). Although it's not as visibly eroticized as Laura's goblin encounter, there is a lot of attention paid to their closeness and the way their bodies gently touch each other. Laura's anxieties when she realizes that she no longer hears the goblins while her sister does, resemble the thoughts a woman may have once she has wasted the early years of her youth and her happiness in giving too much of herself to a man, in the lines “Must she no longer find such successful pasture, has become deaf and blind? His tree of life has fallen from the root” (lines 257-60). This anxiety once again contrasts with the potential gratification she might experience through her relationship with her sister, like the night before, but instead she is struck by a "passionate desire", which feels like a kind of evil- be. The desire, worry, and palpable emptiness that followed his brief rapture are significant in comparison to his earlier serenity of mind. The encounter where she eats the fruit and the frenzied obsession she had afterwards even represents a drunken ecstasy that blinds a woman until the sobering light of day, much like the way Laura's hair become "thin and gray" and the rapid progression of time "burn[ed] its fire out" when "noon became clear" (276-280). The goblin men didn't literally lead Laura to decay, but they played a big role in persuading her to make the choice that did. The goblin men represent a destructive sexuality, manifested in the way they initially sexualize Laura and she begins to break down, but most explicitly when they "hugged and kissed [Lizzie]: squeezed and caressed her", then violently “tore her dress and defiled it.” her bottom" when she refuses to eat the fruit (348-49 and 403). The once romanticized notion of forbidden men with their forbidden fruit transforms into a violent and terrifying reality that they shamelessly enact, and deny the possibility that Laura succumbs to their deception sooner" (559, 562).