Comparative essay Rossetti pdf
Alba Andreu Casalins
English Literature XVI - XX
Sonia Haiduc - G1
!
Comparative essay on Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti
The aim of this essay is to compare and contrast two critical essays on Christina Rosetti’s
Goblin Market. This work will be based on Elizabeth K. Helsinger’s Consumer Power and the
Utopia of Desire: Christina Rosetti’s “Goblin Market” and Victor Roman Mendoza’s “Come Buy”: the Crossing of Sexual and Consumer Desire in Christina Rosetti’s “Goblin Market”.
Goblin Market is a narrative poem published in 1862 by the English poet Christina Rosetti. It tells the story of two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, and the goblin merchants of the fruit market near the girls’ house. Even though they try to ignore the chants of the goblin men, Laura eventually gives in to temptation and leaves the house to see what’s going on. The merchants offer their fruits to Laura, and although she has no money, she eats the fruit voraciously and gives up a lock of her hair to the goblin men to pay for it.
After eating all that goblin fruit, Laura starts to decay. Her sister Lizzie gets worried and decides to go to the goblin market. There, the goblin men try to tempt her as they had tempted her sister, but Lizzie is able to remain steadfast. The merchants then try to force her violently to eat the fruit, but they just end up squishing it all over her. When Lizzie goes home, Laura kisses the juice off her sister’s cheeks and, miraculously, she heals.
The poem ends describing the picture of Laura and Lizzie, who are both mothers, and how they tell the experience in the gobling market to their own sons, emphasising the importance of sisterly love.
The poem deals with the topic of Victorian economics, as well as sexual politics. Although
Goblin Market may seem written just as a fairy tale, a didactic narration, both Mendoza and
Helsinger agree that it can be analysed much more in depth.
First of all, there are some facts in Christina Rossetti’s
English Literature XVI - XX
Sonia Haiduc - G1
!
Comparative essay on Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti
The aim of this essay is to compare and contrast two critical essays on Christina Rosetti’s
Goblin Market. This work will be based on Elizabeth K. Helsinger’s Consumer Power and the
Utopia of Desire: Christina Rosetti’s “Goblin Market” and Victor Roman Mendoza’s “Come Buy”: the Crossing of Sexual and Consumer Desire in Christina Rosetti’s “Goblin Market”.
Goblin Market is a narrative poem published in 1862 by the English poet Christina Rosetti. It tells the story of two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, and the goblin merchants of the fruit market near the girls’ house. Even though they try to ignore the chants of the goblin men, Laura eventually gives in to temptation and leaves the house to see what’s going on. The merchants offer their fruits to Laura, and although she has no money, she eats the fruit voraciously and gives up a lock of her hair to the goblin men to pay for it.
After eating all that goblin fruit, Laura starts to decay. Her sister Lizzie gets worried and decides to go to the goblin market. There, the goblin men try to tempt her as they had tempted her sister, but Lizzie is able to remain steadfast. The merchants then try to force her violently to eat the fruit, but they just end up squishing it all over her. When Lizzie goes home, Laura kisses the juice off her sister’s cheeks and, miraculously, she heals.
The poem ends describing the picture of Laura and Lizzie, who are both mothers, and how they tell the experience in the gobling market to their own sons, emphasising the importance of sisterly love.
The poem deals with the topic of Victorian economics, as well as sexual politics. Although
Goblin Market may seem written just as a fairy tale, a didactic narration, both Mendoza and
Helsinger agree that it can be analysed much more in depth.
First of all, there are some facts in Christina Rossetti’s
Bibliography: HELSINGER, Elizabeth K. (1991). Consumer Power and the Utopia of Desire: Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”. The Johns Hopkins University Press (Accessed 11/12/2014 JSTOR) MENDOZA, Victor Roman. (2006). “Come Buy”: The Crossing of Sexual and Consumer Desire in Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”. The Johns Hopkins University Press. (Accessed 11/12/2014 JSTOR) ROSSETTI, Christina. (1862). Goblin Market. Goblin Market and Other Poems. ! ! !