Sex and Religion in “Goblin Market”

Friday, November 16, 2018

Sex and Religion in “Goblin Market”

Rosetti was a religiously devout woman so it is not surprising that her works reflect a lot of her religious beliefs. But the more interesting thing about one of her works, to be more specific “Goblin Market”, also one of her most famous works, has been published in Playboy but also as children´s literature. How is it able to appeal to such diverse audiences?

About Sex in Goblin Market

One comment from Norton about “Goblin Market” is about that one possible regarding of the poem to see it as an exploration of sexuality. Laura and Lizzie are enticed by the repeated imperative “come buy”, as if it was a siren call in reverse, men luring women. The way Rosetti describes the fruit, the colour, smell, texture and taste, combined with her describing listening to delicious mouthful sounds, makes it appeal to all the human senses at once. At the same time she uses single complex sentences with rhymes and half rhymes, plosives and alliterations to portray almost all the fruits someone can think of. But from the beginning, even before Lizzie brings up the “evil” about these fruits, it is easy to recognize that there is something not right about this fruit. There is also something unnatural about this abundance and as the poem develops further this hurried ripening of fruits can be compared to a rush into sexual maturity. If we go further into the poem, the virginal innocence is shown by the “unpecked” cherries. Also maturity is shown by the “summer weather” which a spring weather could not present. There is also an opposition embodied in the two sisters. When both of the sisters are introduced an abrupt scene change is marked, which immediately shows the difference or contrast between the two of them. Laura made an effort, by bowing her head towards the goblin men, to understand them better. Lizzie on the other hand was veiling her blushes, modestly hiding, which was considered an erotic response during the Victorian literature.

About Religion in Goblin Market   

Even though a lot of the sexual content in “Goblin Market” was veiled by Rosetti, which was absolutely normal for the Victorian time, Rosetti always denied that “Goblin Market” was actually a religious work, as most of the people saw it. But there is no denial about Rosetti putting a lot of religious and biblical symbolism into her poem. The most obvious one is the “forbidden fruit”. From there on it pretty much takes the same course as it did in the bible with Adam and Eve. Laura could not resist the temptation of the fruit and went to the Goblins and traded it with a piece of her hair. She ate it and was poisoned by it. Her Sister Lizzie could not see her sister suffer like that and she offered herself to the goblins as a kind of sacrifice. We can clearly compare that to a Christ-like symbolism.

Dominik König