Goblin Market - Notes

Goblin Market (Victorian poetry) by Rossetti
Goblins sell exotic fruits that they describe in sensuous terms including “plump unpeck’d cherries,”
“bloom-down-cheek’d peaches,” “wild freeborn cranberries,” and “figs to fill your mouth.”
Laura and Lizzie hear. Lizzie blushes – tries to hide
With “tingling cheeks and finger tips,” they crouch close together
Lizzie covers her eyes “lest they should look”
Laura describes the movements, dishes, baskets
Laura speculates on the environment imagining “How warm the wind must blow
Thro’ those fruit bushes.”
Lizzie warns her sister
Thrusting a “dimpled finger” in each ear, Lizzie runs away.
Goblins approach. Bodies common characteristics with animals - including a cat, a rat, a snail, a wombat.
Voices sound like the cooing of doves.
Holman Hunt’s famous painting of a fallen woman, includes the image of a cat playing with a bird before
killing it, symbolizing the predatory behaviour of men who seduce women and then discard them
Laura stretches her “gleaming neck” like “a vessel at the launch / When its last restraint is gone.”
One weaves a crown of exotic tendrils, nuts, and Leaves. while another heaves a heavy golden dish laden
with fruit.
No coin to pay - clip one of her curls - “a tear more rare than pearl.” symbolically sells herself for
the forbidden fruit, and this act strongly aligns her with the fallen woman in Victorian culture.
“Sweeter than honey from the rock, / Stronger than man rejoicing wine.” - lips are sore – still does not
grow tired – fruit pit – total bewilderment – Lizzie scolds – offers to bring home to her sister next night
Lizzie says about Jeanie – ate fruit – pined away – Goblins abandoned her – no grass will ever grow on the
grave
Sleep - “Golden head by golden head,”
Morning – domestic chores - fetching honey, milking cows and feeding livestock – Laura absent-minded
Evening – Laura loiters in hope of the Goblins. “I hear the fruit-call but I dare not look.” Laura, on hearing
this, turns “cold as stone.”
Hair turns thin and grey – plants kernel stone – waters with her tears – abandons household chores -
“listless in the chimney nook,” and does not eat.
Jeanie - “should have been a bride;/ But who for joys brides hope to have/ Fell sick and died”
Silver coin – search Goblin men
They hobble, run, and fly toward her - hug, kiss, squeeze, and caress her - “Bob at our cherries” and “Bite
at our peaches,” urging her to “Pluck them and suck them,”
Toss the coin – sit and eat with them – fruits will lose its flavour if transported – Laura waiting – toss back
the coin if they do not want to sell - Their once sweet toned voices become loud and their looks become
“evil.” - pulling out her hair by the roots, clawing at her body, stamping on her feet, ripping her gown, and
attempting to force their fruit into her mouth – sexual assault
Resists “Like a royal virgin town/ Topped with gilded dome and spire/ Close beleaguered by a fleet/ Mad
to tug her standard down.” – worn out by resistance – Lizzie victorious
“Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices.” “Eat me, drink me, love me.”
Mary was the second Eve who reversed the curses brought on humanity by the first Eve’s disobedience to
God. Lizzie, aligned with Mary, saves her fallen sister, Laura, who is aligned with Eve.
Aligns her with Christ, who experienced the pain of crucifixion and death in order to save the world from
sin. Lizzie’s Christlike nature is emphasized by her instruction to Laura: “Eat me, drink me, love me.” This
echoes Christ’s words to his disciples at the Last Supper, during which he told them to eat his body and
drink his blood.
Laura fears Lizzie’s life will be wasted like her. Laura’s lips begin to “scorch” as she sucks the juices from
her sister’s face, and the once deliciously sweet fruit becomes bitter and repulsive like “wormwood.” Like
someone “possessed,” Laura writhes, leaps, sings, and tears at her clothing. Unconscious - “Like
the watch-tower of a town/ Which an earthquake shatters down.”
Nurse - counting Laura’s pulse and checking her breathing, giving her water and cooling her face with
tears. – morning – youthfulness restored
Years pass – wives & mothers – Laura tells stories to her children - “wicked, quaint fruit-merchant men,”
whose fruits were “like honey to the throat/ But poison in the blood.” Laura’s instruction to her own and
Lizzie’s daughters to support one another and cling together “For there is no friend like a sister,”
Lizzie shares many characteristics in common with mid-Victorian cultural figure: the “Angel in the House.”
- woman who is moral and committed to securing her family’s domestic comfort.
Rossetti thus seems to argue, that fallenness is not a permanent state and that fallen women can be
saved and reintegrated into their communities through the compassion.

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Goblin Market (Victorian poetry) by Rossetti

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