GOBLIN MARKET ANALYSIS

GOBLIN MARKET 

Because Goblin Market is such a long and complex poem – entire books have been written about it! – I’m approaching this one slightly differently. The full text is at the end of the guide. Below, you’ll find a quick summary of the key interpretations, and some idea of the technical basis for this interpretation, though there’ll be plenty more in the whole poem. You wouldn’t be expected to know the whole poem, and if it’s named on the paper only a section will be used, of course – but it’s worth really getting to grips with this one, because it can link to virtually everything in the rest of the collection.

While Goblin Market can be read as a children’s fairytale -and Rossetti insisted in public that’s what it was – there’s also far darker interpretations, and privately in a letter to her publisher, Christina said it shouldn’t be marketed to children – an interesting conflict to bear in mind! 

INTERPRETATION: CHILDREN’S FAIRYTALE

Morality tales for children were very common, often quite twee or clichéd, with a very obvious moral towards the end. Louis Carrol, in Alice in Wonderland, mocked these when Alice has a conversation with the Duchess about finding morals in other tales. Goblin Market can be read as a fable for children in which Laura’s curiosity nearly causes her death (and does in fact cause Jeannie’s), but in the end she’s saved by her sister’s love and the two of them go on to have happy, loving lives. Moral? Curiosity is bad, don’t look outside your world – but you can be rescued by a loving family. 

Evidence 

•       The goblin creatures, common in fairytales, and described in animalistic terms but at least to begin with not frightening – more like woodland animals.

•       Relative simplicity of vocabulary and syntax

•       The balladesque narrative, which creates a story-like quality, like a fairytale

•       The happy ending when balance is restored - Laura and Lizzie are “wives/with children of their own” and warn their own children 

INTERPRETATION: SEX AND SEXUALITY

 “Curious Laura” explores her sexuality with the Goblin men, who are at first animalistic but become more masculine as the poem continues. She experiences it with pure desire and lust, but her preoccupation with returning for more threatens to destroy her (link: Soeur Louise). Jeannie is the cautionary tale of a girl who similarly experienced desire, and it brought her death (perhaps a comment on the dangers of pregnancy and death in childbirth?) Lizzie, who remains stoic and refuses to give into desire, saves her sister. Even though Lizzie experiences the fruit of the goblins, she doesn’t enjoy it, and therefore is in some ways the ideal virtuous Victorian woman (Link: Maude Clare, From the Antique)

The poem explores rape and masculine power, in the goblins’ assault on Lizzie as they “push their fruits against her mouth”, for example; the men are wholly in control in this poem. There’s also a glimmer of homosexuality (and therefore incest), when Lizzie encourages Laura to “hug me, kiss me, suck my juices”. 

Yet as ever with Rossetti there’s a conflicting undertone – by the end, there’s no real difference between Laura and Lizzie. They both marry happily and have children (the pinnacle of feminine success?!) and so is this a protest that ‘fallen women’ shouldn’t be made to suffer for the rest of their lives, as Jeannie is? (Link: Winter: My Secret)

Evidence 

•       Contrasting descriptions of Laura and Lizzie in their encounters with the goblins. Similarities with Jeannie. Look in particular a the colours and animal imagery of the girls (white, swan etc.) and the way they move – veiled versus looking

•       Description of the rape of Lizzie

•       Happy ending resolution 

•       Contrast of the two sisters’ actions  

INTERPRETATION: PRESENTATION OF MASCULINTIY

Probably the most negative of Rossetti’s portrayals of men! The goblin creatures are animalistic, vicious and controlling – they exert complete power over the girls they tempt. And they do tempt; it’s their calls that bring Laura in, then when they have what they wanted from her they cast her aside, not caring that she is ruined (Link: From the Antique, Winter: My Secret). Rossetti’s work at the women’s refuge made her angry about the double standards for men and women – for women to be prostitutes, men must be buying their services! They assault Lizzie viciously and sexually, and they take both a part of Laura (her hair) and money from Lizzie, indicating that they take everything from a woman, perhaps a critique of the marriage laws restricting property ownership. 

Evidence 

•       Animalistic descriptions of the goblins

•       Goblins’ vicious, active verbs as they assault Lizzie 

•       Disappearance of men at the end – although the girls are wives and mothers, their husbands aren’t mentioned. 

INTERPRETATION: CRITIQUE OF COMMERCE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA

The Goblins’ market cries sell fruit, a rarity and expensive in the era although becoming increasingly common with the improvements in trade, refrigeration and so on. There’s an abundance of it, maybe even too much, suggesting a critique of the consumerism that started with the Victorian development of the leisured classes, increasing wealth n the middle class, and ways to display that wealth. Cities also emerged in the era, and brought with them a moral panic and concern because of the close proximity of a huge population, influx of prostitutes, criminals and others considered to be an ‘underclass’, along with the movement of young people away from the family home completely changing the landscape of family relationships. Herbert Tucker has suggested that the techniques of the Goblins when trying to persuade Lizzie to buy from them are similar to complaints made about the rise of advertising in the era. 

There’s also an argument which looks at the poem as a critique of the marriage market in the era – what women can bring to a marriage determining their value (Link: Maude Clare, No Thank You John) Evidence 

•       Abundance of the fruit which is “all ripe together” no matter what the season, as farmers/grocers started trying to manipulate growing times to suit a demanding population

•       Laura’s temptation to buy and buy

•       The exchanges – Laura’s gold hair, and Lizzie’s coin

•       Listing of the fruits – chaotic, noisy and aggressive

•       Repeated language of sweetness in the goblins’ allure – maybe a reference to the growth of sugar by slaves in America as the civil war was continuing (although this is speculative) . Juxtapose this slightly underhanded production with Lizzie and Laura’s wholesome domestic productivity

INTERPRETATION: RELIGIOUS NARRATIVE OF SALVATION AND SACRIFICE

Laura is humanity, an allegory for Eve’s sin committed by seeking out the fruit from the goblins as Eve sought the fruit from the tree of knowledge. When she obtains it, she is lost – her sinfulness is shown in her lack of interest in life and loss of industry, drawing on the Puritan/Christian work ethic, believing that hard work is a way to praise God. 

Lizzie’s self-sacrifice mirrors that of Christ. As he was crucified on the cross, Lizzie is assaulted by the Goblin men. She returns to Laura, and her words echo the Eucharist, the sacrament following the Last Supper when Jesus said to his disciplines drink this wine and eat this bread, for it is my blood and flesh – the ritual on which Communion is founded. Lizzie’s feeding of Laura is a close allegory of this ritual. (Link: Song, Remember, Good Friday, Birthday)

Evidence 

•       The listing of fruit (acknowledging too that the fruit in the Bible isn’t specific as an apple)

•       Laura’s return – “suck my juices”

•       Self-sacrificing language describing Laura during the Goblin attack 

•       Redemptive ending: both sisters are saved

INTERPRETATION: WOMANHOOD AND POWER

Sandra Gilbert has suggested that the fruit is access to the artistic world – being sold by men and for women to enter they have to give up so much of themselves, the worth is questionable.  Laura wants to be a part of it but it destroys her femininity – her ability to complete the domestic and moral tasks she is responsible for. Laura is creative and free, but that destroys her, and she must learn to control it to be a responsible mother. (Link: Birthday)

The girls are portrayed as the two sides of women – vice and virtue – although Laura is forgiven her misdemeanours. A “happy ending” is the two girls as wives and mothers, telling their own children morality tales. It’s perhaps a bit of a disappointing ending in some respects as after such a dark luscious tale, the girls return to a very stereotypical femininity. Yet Rossetti is a Victorian after all! (Link: Winter: My Secret, Maude Clare, From the Antique)

Evidence 

•       Description of the two girls as “maids”, virginal colours, sweet and elegant creatures

•       The language of desire including enjambment when Laura’s intense need is being described speeding the pace

•       Ending with them both as wives and mothers

INTERPRETATION: AN ADDICTION NARRATIVE

The way Laura reacts to the goblins is classic addition – she grows pale, thin, listless and loses interest in anything else. All she can focus on is finding the next ‘fix’, the next opportunity to see the goblins and get some more fruit. Jeannie, who went before her, is dead of a similar addiction, perhaps through overdose. While this poem pre-dates the addictions of Dante Gabriel and Lizzie Siddal, there are striking similarities in the descriptions of Laura’s state post-goblin to an addict’s withdrawal symptoms. 

Evidence 

•       Description of Laura as pale, thin, losing interest in the world around her 

•       The “juices” functioning as a sort of methadone– a substitute used to wean addicts off the drug

•       References to Jeannie’s destruction, first through what’s thinly veiled prostitution and then through death perhaps by overdone. 

INTERPRETATION: ELEMENTS OF THE GOTHIC

The Goblin men are a typical monstrous feature of Gothic literature – used as ciphers through which to explore the monstrous nature of mankind. Whether Rochester’s supernatural voice in Jane Eyre or the vampiric Dracula, the powers and desires of men are frequently exhibited through otherworldly creatures. 

The two sisters could also be considered doubles – two sides of one person, a common Gothic feature (consider Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason, for example). Laura is the darker, curious side, while Lizzie is the good urges of women. 

•       They often act similarly but are described differently e.g. looking / veiled her eyes

•       All the darker urges are in one, the selfless natue in the other

GOBLIN MARKET: STRUCTURE AND FORM

Meter: 

Mostly written in iambic tetrameter creating the rhythmic, fast pace – the passion of the story, as well as the iambic rhythm echoing natural speech, as though this is a fairytale read aloud in the oral tradition. However, there are many variations, interruptions and changes throughout the poem for different purposes.  

Most of the language associated with goblins is dactylic dimeter – a sense of incantation and, particularly with the listing of the fruits, speeds the pace further to add to the sense of abundance and loss of control. 

Lizzie shouts “no, no, no” – interrupting the rhythm, as well as exclaiming to stop Laura

Laura’s physical illness: “fetched honey', ‘brought water', ‘sat down') verbally indicate the way in which Laura is physically ‘seizing up' as her illness takes hold

In the description of Laura's recovery, spondees are used to give emphasis to the power of the antidote that Lizzie brings her. The repetition of the same initial letters in the phrases ‘Swift fire' and ‘Sense failed' (lines 507-513) further increases the sense of the rush of life that overcomes Laura as she recovers.

Rhyme

The irregular yet insistent rhyme carries the poem forwards. The poem contains numerous couplets which occur especially in its lists. This increases the speed at which the poem is read and creates a rushed and breathless feel. For instance, by framing the goblin's cry using couplets and triplets, Rossetti emphasizes its speed and draws attention to its overwhelming nature as it overpowers listeners with variety and quantity of description.

Repeated imagery

Roots and shoots, including the fruit – searching for knowledge, the idea that the fruit/knowledge reduces growth and fertility, and happiness. 

Fruit – symbolic of knowledge and curiosity, references to the biblical fruit as well as temptation more generally 

Hair – a huge cultural commodity and very popular in the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood as a metaphor. Hair was put into bracelets and necklaces as keepsakes and memorials. Throughout the poetry of the period, women's hair has been variously depicted as a weapon, a veil, a snare, a web and a noose. Laura’s exchange of hair for fruit is also metaphoric of prostitution, handing over herself to the men. 

Narrative structure 

The poem tells the story from a third person perspective, so sounds more like an orally-transmitted fairytale than a written piece. It’s designed to be read aloud in that tradition. The atory begins close to the centre of the action with the two girls seeing the market appear. The height of tension is Lizzie’s travelling to the market and her exchange/assault. The story is resolved when both girls are happy wives and mothers, apparently fulfilled.