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Of The Fallen Woman In 'A CastawayAndGoblin Market'

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The figure of the fallen woman has been using differently by many writers. In this essay, it is explained the concept of the fallen woman and, specifically, its use in the 19th century Britain and the Victorian society. Moreover, it is going to explore how the English writers Augusta Webster and Christina Rossetti portrayed the figure of the fallen woman in their poems “A Castaway” and “Goblin Market”, the similarities and the differences between the two fallen women.
According to Cambridge dictionary, a fallen woman is “a woman who has lost her good reputation by having sex with someone before she is married.” However, the meaning is not that simple and it has a deeper background. The term “fallen woman” became famous and important in …show more content…

Laura represents the fallen woman in this poem. As the poem narrates, both sisters, Laura and Lizzie, are innocent and pure but in spite of Lizzie’s warnings “We must not look at goblin men, we must not buy their fruits”, Laura feels tempted to eat one of the goblins’ fruits. In exchange for the fruit, Laura gives the goblins a lock of her hair (“Buy from us with a golden curl.” She clipp’d a precious golden lock,) and after eating the fruit, she loses her “virginity”. She is not pure anymore. Due to her curiosity, Laura is seduced by the goblins and now she has to deal with the consequences of following her human desires.
In the Victorian society, Laura is a good example of the idea of what a fallen woman is. Laura is not married and has lost her purity so now she is a fallen woman with no chances to get married and be accepted by the society. However, she finds redemption and is saved by her sister, Lizzie. Lizzie is also tempted by the goblins but as opposed to Laura, she is not convinced to eat the fruit. So Lizzie sacrifices herself in order to save Laura, and finally she achieves it. With Laura’s redemption and her becoming a mother and wife at the end, Rossetti shows the possibility of returning to society from the status of the fallen woman.
As regards Augusta Webster, she was an excellent English writer in every genre. Webster worked as a poet, essayist, translator and dramatist. Her best-known

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