Fairytale Feminism

Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market offers up a tantalizingly Victorian contradiction. The poem has clearly erotic and homoerotic passages laced into the form of children’s fairy tale written by a notably pious woman. This makes an interpretation of the poem difficult without resorting to postmodern indulgences and gross speculation. The effort is further complicated by Goblin Market’s delineation into children’s literature which has entailed specialized editing over the years which interestingly illuminate as much as they obscure. However this poem is clearly revolutionary not because of its often shockingly frank sexual nature, but because of its frankly radical feminism.

            The poem opens with the scene of the fall, here the common theme of the fall of man becomes the fall of Laura who like her biblical counterpart Eve falls through the consumption of fruit. However the tempting fruit here is that of “goblin merchant men” rather than a subtle serpent. However in a departure from the myth Laura must buy the fruit and is tempted to do so by its verdant nature. In a haunting scene she purchases the fruit with “a precious golden lock,/She dropped a tear more rare than pearl,/Then sucked their fruit globes fair or red”(126-129). The fruit though fails to sate Laura’s appetite and leaves her “longing for the night”(214). Already Rosetti has established a complex sexual metaphor, Laura has surrendered her body to experience the sensual fruits of “goblin men” which represent sexual encounters with men. Interestingly it is not the fruit itself that harms Laura but the fact that the goblin’s withdraw it from her. This is a particularly interesting point “because as a lay sister at Highgate Penitentiary, a home for the reclamation of “fallen women.”  it is highly likely that [Goblin Market] was inspired by Rossetti’s work [at Highgate]”(Rowanchild). It seems from the poem that Rosetti’s view of “fallen women” was that the real issue was that men had abandoned them.

            In proper Christian fashion the fall of the poem is balanced by redemption. Laura’s sister Lizzie decides to go buy the fruit for her sister who is fading away without it. Lizzie though has no interest in the fruit herself and in response to be entreating to dine with them replies “So without further parleying,/If you will not sell me any/Of your fruits though much and many,/Give me back my silver penny/I tossed you for a fee”(385-389). This forms the central difference between the two encounters with “goblin men,” while Laura gave up her body for her personal delight, Lizzie deals with the goblins as an equal trading wealth for a commodity. This is the central crux for the feminism of the poem because Laura is enslaved by dealing with “goblin men” through her body while Lizzie remains free because she uses the medium of money. This is very much the issue of women’s rights in the Victorian period, whether married or “fallen” women ultimately were left to bargain themselves away for financial security, a paradigm that Rosetti challenges here. Indeed the response of the “goblin men” reinforces this interpretation where they “called her proud,/Cross-grained, uncivil;/Their tones waxed loud”(394-396). This would likely be the typical response of Victorian society to a woman attempting to deal in society as men did. This is followed by the “goblin men” attempting to force their fruits upon her, which in the context is clearly a metaphor for rape which Lizzie endures stoically, her body marred but the fruit un-tasted. She then bears the juice of the fruit back to her sister Laura who, upon the licking the juice from her sister, finds herself free of her desire and redeemed. In this manner Lizzie acts as a Christ-like figure surrendering her own body to redeem the sins of her sister.