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Goblin Market Essay

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Even though Christina Rossetti claims that her 1862 poem, “Goblin Market” is supposed to appeal to children, through feminism and sexuality it is more PG-13. In the poem “Goblin Market”, one thing Christina Rossetti focuses on is feminism. The story starts off as introducing the two girls, Laura and Lizzie that are also sisters. The two girls decide to go on a walk. They run across a little fruit stand where these goblins are selling fruit. In the poem Rossetti describes the goblins as very gruesome and ugly. Also in the poem, the two girls appearance is never mentioned which can make the reader think why they were approached by the goblin men. At the end of the poem, although it mentions that they both have husbands, it never says anything else about the two husbands in the rest of the poem. Christina Rossetti uses “Goblin Market” to comment on feminism by showing how independent and …show more content…

Typically when a woman is married, the woman will have her husband to rely on for almost anything. In this case in “Goblin Market” Laura had to be reliant on Lizzie to help her after she ate the fruit. According to crossref-it.info, “Like a lily in a flood - A lily has traditionally been considered as a symbol of purity and innocence. A flood is an overwhelming deluge of water that is both destructive and indiscriminate. By describing Lizzie as a ‘lily in a flood', Rossetti suggests that she is able to retain her purity and innocence even under pressure and the force of destruction” (“'Goblin Market' - Imagery, symbolism and themes” 1). This text from the website is accurate because during the poem Laura is the one basically blamed for eating the fruit that the goblins gave her while Lizzie was able to hold off. Although Laura needed Lizzie to help her get out of the bad situation she was in, Lizzie stood her ground when the goblin men tried to also shove the fruit in Lizzie’s

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