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Robert Dollins Dr. McBride ENGL.2323. 3 May 2023 Christina Rossetti and the Fruits of Her Labor Christina Rossetti was one of the most prolific writers of the Victorian era and is extensively studied, especially through her most notable work, Goblin Market and Other Poems , published in 1862. Rossetti had a rich upbringing in the literature sense which influenced her own writings and the modes she used. In addition, her strong devotion to religion heavily impacted her daily life as well as her works. These can be seen in the story of Goblin Market which takes on a variety of interpretations and messages. Rossetti was born in 1830 as the youngest in a family of 6, with 2 brothers, a sister, a mother, and a father. Both her father and mother were well-read and were educated in the ways of politics and culture. Her father, Gabriele Rossetti, wrote poetry and her mother, Frances Polidori, had worked as a governess and was adequately educated to be the teacher of her two daughters (Greenblatt et al. 535). Growing up in a home where there was rich discussion of politics and experiences, Christina Rossetti was thrust into a situation of scholarly conversation within her home and by this was encouraged to develop a love for art and literature. She began writing poetry at a very young age due to the influence of her environment and the people around her. When her father walked out on their family, they sought refuge within the Anglo-Catholic movement in the Church of England (Greenblatt et al. 535). The church and religion became key components in Rossetti’s life and because she followed them strictly, it determined many of her
decisions such as her marriages. In an overall view, she led a structured and private life which she filled with poetry, charitable work, and taking care of her family (Greenblatt et al. 535). Her first volume of poetry was Goblin Market and Other Poems and became a way to observe her writing as a whole because it contained all of the poetic techniques that illustrate her success. These include narrative fables, ballads, pure lyric, and devotional poetry. In addition to these, Rossetti used attention and vigil as both a religious and literary mode. While this is not a typical form taken on by literary scholars, Rossetti is a prime example of it working in her favor. This is recognized through her use of vigilance as a way of exploring the idea of constant awareness and attentiveness, particularly concerning faith, morality, and the journey toward spiritual enlightenment. With her desire to focus on religion both in her life and intertwining it into her literature, some people use that as a way to say she “refuses to engage with the vegetal fecundity of life” and in doing so she allows “her poetic gift to go to waste” (Miller). Even so, her “renunciation of worldliness as a rejection of the natural world” guarantees depth of meaning in her writing (Miller). Furthermore, Rossetti in and of herself is connected to ecology and the principles of botany. She was an amateur botanist who “collected ferns, owned books on botany, visited the Botanical Gardens, and became increasingly interested in gardening throughout the 1860s” (Miller). If this understanding of her interest in plants and spirituality is grasped while digesting her work, the idea that the material world is a gift, and a reflection of God’s work can arise. Rossetti’s interest in the natural world is brought into a complication when using this lens because she rejects worldliness but depicts it as a reflection or representation of the spiritual. In the depiction of the natural world in her writings she challenges the idea of women being connected to plants and the fragility of such botanical metaphors. She complicates this view of the world and relates the characteristics and nature of plants to how humans are understood
easily imagined as being juicy and full of flavor. Because these fruits are from the goblins and are not store-bought like the ones of today, there is a sense of freshness and something fascinating about them coming directly from the earth. The poem then shifts perspective off of the goblins and into the eyes of the two sisters, which are introduced as Laura and Lizzie. It states that both sisters heard the goblins as they passed in their vicinity; however, there is a distinct difference in the sisters' reactions. While Laura “bowed her head to hear,” Lizzie did nothing of the sort and “veiled her blushes” (Greenblatt et al. 542). As the sisters walked on Laura continually warned Lizzie against listening to the goblin men. She told her to stay close to her, to not look at them, and by all means to not buy their fruit. Her warning against the fruit in particular is due to her concern about “what soil they fed their hungry thirsty roots” (Greenblatt et al. 545). While there is a depiction of Lizzie heeding her sister’s cautions, they are immediately debunked by the line directly after it says that even though her eyes are covered they still look. While looking at the goblin men she is entranced by their spectacle of lavish fruits and the methods by which they haul such fruits. Even though Laura was succumbing to their display, Lizzie is unfazed by it and repeatedly tells her sister no and that “their offers should not charm us, their evil gifts would harm us” (Greenblatt et al. 543). After she says this, Lizzie plugs her ears, closes her eyes, and runs away. Unfortunately, Laura did not have that level of self- control and found herself lingering. Even though she was not moving, her eyes still were. Moving from each goblin man to another and taking note of each of the keen details of how they looked and moved. What captivated her, even more, was a voice she heard that is described as that of doves cooing in sync and intoxicating to the ear. As if like the sound of a siren, she was drawn in. She waited for the goblins to reach her, hearing now the words they were saying, “Come buy, come buy” (Greenblatt et al. 544). Once the goblins were within distance, they
jabbered amongst themselves and then extended their fruits to her in offering. Oblivious to their intent, Laura admitted to them that she had no coin to exchange for their fruits. She then cut a golden lock of her hair in payment for their fruits. She ate hastily and with disregard for any warnings. When she got home her sister became very worried for her because she had eaten the fruits that killed Jeanie. Laura silenced her sister and told her of the great satisfaction that came from the fruit and promised her that she would buy more and bring them for Lizzie to try. The next morning when they rose to partake in their daily activities, Laura became more sluggish by the hour and when night finally came and they were to head home, Laura waited among the brushes for the goblins. Lizzie knew not to leave her sister once again and when she heard them call out to advertise their fruit, she urged her sister along. However, while Lizzie heard the goblin men, Laura did not. For she had already fallen for the temptation and lest they not need to persuade her anymore. Laura then fell into deep despair, not hearing the goblins any longer. Day after day she searched but never saw them. In her depression and now apparent illness, she no longer was able to tend to her home nor would she eat anything. On seeing this, Lizzie set out in search of the goblins to bring home fruit for Laura to eat. She was easily led to them, however when she went to buy the fruits the goblins insisted that she stay and eat with them. Lizzie knew not to do such a thing and tried to get her coin back and leave. The goblins did not agree with this and shifted to a mood of evilness. They began to beat and scratch her, but Lizzie remained unmoved in her stance. For they could bring the fruits to her, however they could not force her to consume them. They tried and tried by smashing fruits in her face and attempting to force them in her mouth. After they recognized that their efforts were for naught, they scurried away. Lizzie managed to find her way back home and offered the juices that were on her body to Laura. Laura was worried about her at first but took to sucking the juices to quench her temptation. In this
Consecration in the Communion liturgy; and we note that, in a pointed convergence, although the juices on Lizzie’s face were squeezed from goblin fruits she is now calling them “my juices,” almost as if they have come from her body. Those “bruises” echo the wounds inflicted on Christ (the suffering servant “was bruised for our iniquities” in Isaiah 53.5, a text taken as prophetic of Christ’s suffering and used in the Good Friday liturgy). Perhaps even the precision of “Goblin pulp and goblin dew” is a crafty parallel to Communion in both kinds, bread and wine. (394) Furthermore, there is an interpretation that takes the poem as a critique of Victorian Christianity and society’s normalities for women. This ideology in particular was that of repression and denial of desire. The fruit that the goblins tempt the sisters with can be seen as a representation of the pleasures that Victorian society deemed inappropriate notably for women. The giving into the temptation of the fruit is taken as giving into sexual desires and by eating it is to break from chastity and discard virginity for which women were shamed. In Victorian society, “a woman’s respectability, unlike a man’s character, hinged upon her unblemished virtue” (Escobar 130). It was this that was being attacked through the main discrepancy that while women during this time were shunned and never forgiven for sexual misadventures, Laura was able to be reclaimed and redeemed by her sister. This was radical because it was not seen as normal to help “fallen” women nor to treat those women the same as ones who were abstinent. Christina Rossetti and her work Goblin Market were undoubtedly influential and were risk-takers. Rossetti’s strictly religious lifestyle and ideology were commanding factors in both her everyday private life as well as her writings. While she does garner feminist meaning in this particular poem, it is more along the typical lines to understand it as a religious story because of her beliefs. The way that she writes Goblin Market induces contradiction and therefore
uncertainty that can be discussed. She can both include and manipulate the religious stories of the Garden of Eden and the coming of Christ to confront the mistreatment of women who succumb to sexual desires. It is in this variation of meaning that people can obtain a grasp on how Rossetti both lived and wrote.
