Blog entry 2.1: Symbolism and archeotypes in "Goblin Market"

Christina Rossetti was born on  December 5th, 1830 in London, England. She was educated at home by her mother. Rossetti suffered a nervous brake down when her father's physical and mental health started deteriorating. Therefore, she had to leave school at the age of 14. Because of her depression, her mother and sister became part of the Anglo-Catholic church. Religion devotion came to play a major role in Rossetti's life. Rossetti began writing at the age of 7 and published her first poem at the age of 18. She wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children's poems. She is best known for her long poem Goblin Market, her love poem Remember, and for the words in the Christmas carol in the bleak midwinter. Rossetti was opposed to war, animal cruelty, and exploitation of girls in under-age prostitution, and all forms of military aggressions. In the later decades of Rossetti's life, she suffered a nearly fatal attack, then she got breast cancer and though the tumor was completely removed, she suffered and recurrence. She died on December 29, 1894 and was buried in Highgate Cemetery.

In the "Goblin Market" poem Rossetti talks about these unknown creatures that she describes as goblins, who were the fruit sellers. They only came out at dust or dawn to sell. These fruits were very addictive and harmful to any body who ate them. People did not even know where they got them from. There is also these two sisters named Laura and Lizzie who lived in a farm with their poultry and their cows. Every evening before getting dark, they would go through the forest to get water from the brooks so they could have some for the next day. As they went along the forest they would hear these men singing to people to buy their fruits. Laura and Lizzie would also hear them singing every morning when they were milking their cows.  Laura was a very beautiful and curious girl while her sister was more cautious and beautiful too. After hearing these men singing for a while, they approached Laura to sell her their fruits and she agrees to buy a fruit from them. Even though Lizzie warned her and told her the story about a girl who died after eating these men's fruit, Laura did not listen to her sister. Laura bought a fruit from them but she did not pay with a silver coin. One of the creatures asked for one of her golden hair in exchange for a fruit so Laura paid him with a golden curl. She started eating as many fruits as she could until her lips became soared. She filled herself up and still wanted more. She became addictive to these fruits that she could not stop eating. One day, she stopped hearing the creatures singing. She wanted to eat more but they were not there any more so she became really sick. She tried to plant the seeds she saved form the previous fruits she ate from the goblin market but they did not grow at all. She got worse as days went by. She was basically dying until one day her sister Lizzie could not tolerate seeing her in that condition so she decided to go and find the sellers. Maybe that way Laura would heal by eating the fruits again. Lizzy found the sellers getting ready to eat so they invited her to the table to eat with them. She refused to do so because she did not wanted to waste time while her sister was dying. She only wanted to pay for the fruits and leave. These creatures raped her, beat her, and forced her to eat but she did not open her mouth at all. All the juice from  the fruits spilled on her face and her body. After Lizzie got released, she run through the forest back home. She was crying so much that when she got back to her sister she asked Laura to kiss her and suck all the juice from her. Laura drunk the juice and healed. After this event, they never heard from the goblin market again. Both sisters got married to their husbands and had children and of course, they lived happily ever after.

Some of the symbols that i have found in this poem are the following ones:
FRUITS: Satisfaction, temptation, addiction. I found them in lines 44 "who knows upon what soil they fed" and 45 "their hungry thirsty roots". The author is trying to tell us that sometimes eating the unknown or forbidden fruits could be dangerous and even deadly. HAIR: Beauty, sexuality, value, pureness, virginity, age. This symbol is in lines 123 "You have much gold upon you head" and 125 "Buy from us with a golden curl". Rossetti is trying to tell us that there are certain things in life that have more value than a simple silver coin. Such as her dignity, being pure, innocent, and beautiful. We should always take care of those things because once they are gone, we cannot take them back. Laura sold part of herself and paid a lot more for it. FLOWER: Beauty, fragility, love, sadness, pureness, affection, sweetness, destruction, womb. I ffound it in lines150 "Ate their fruits and wore their flowers" and 151 "pluck'd from bowers". The author is telling us that these fruits were very poisoning and dangerous once they went into an innocent, fragile and pure girl who never tried them before. She is telling us that these bad creatures took advantage of Laura's innocence to harm her. FIRE: Essence, warm, light, reaction, birth, life, and death. Located in line 279 "To swift decay and burn" and line 280 "her fire away". The author is telling us that as Laura became ill, her essence of life starting dying, she lost her temperature and became cold, she could not react to anything but the fruits only, she could no longer see the light she saw when she was born; only darkness and death was part of her world at this moment. Another symbol i found was SISTER: eternal bond, connection by love and by blood, affection, protection. In lines number 299 "Tender Lizzie could not bear" and 300 "To watch her sister's cankerous care". The author tries to tell us here that whatever one sister was going through the other one felt it too. They were connected by a family bond and they would do anything to protect and save each other from anyone who would try to hurt them. FLOOD is another symbol that means destruction, power, danger, uncontrollable. Located in lines 408 "white and golden Lizzie stood" and 409 "like a Lily in a flood". These lines try to tell us that as destructive, powerful and dangerous as these bad elves were, Lizzie stood strong and refused to eat their bad fruits. Otherwise, she and her sister would both die. So Lizzie had to stay strong to a greater force.

Some of the archetypes that i found are obvious such as the fruits, the goblin man, and the sisters: Laura and Lizzie. The FRUITS were the poison that almost took Laura's life. They were the instrument that the sellers used to take everything away from Laura. The GOBLIN MEN were the ones who took advantage of innocent and fool Laura. They also tried to destroy Lizzie's life at the cost of their fruits. These were the evil elves or bad creatures of the poem. LAURA was the beautiful, weak, innocent and young sister who allowed herself to fall in temptation for the fruits that almost caused her death. She was like a daughter learning new experiences. LIZZIE  is the strong protector. She was wise and smart enough to not let herself be fooled by the goblin men. She was like a the mother trying to teach her daughter. She would do anything for the good of her sister.

My conclusion about this poem is that these two girls, especially Laura needed to learn a very hard lesson in order to value herself. Sometimes the lessons we learn in life do not come with enough turbulence to wake us up from our innocence and immaturity. But in this case, these two sisters learned their lesson in a hard way. I am sure that from then on they were more careful and valued each other a lot more as sisters. And as we say, what does not kill you makes you stronger, so this is what happened with Laura and Lizzie. They became stronger and wiser and that is why they got married and lived their lives with their new families. I love Rossetti's message in his poem. She is trying to tell all girls that they should be very careful with their beauty because the more beautiful they are the greater the risk is that some one is going to take it from them.  It happens everyday to those who want to be famous or do not take care of themselves. They end up paying with their virginity, beauty, innocence, and purity. To me there is nothing more important than dignity, wisdom, and humbleness to accomplish the goals we want to reach.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Rossetti