Consumer Power and the Utopia of Desire: Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” by Elizabeth Helsinger
Elizabeth Helsinger tried to evaluate and discuss the poem “Goblin Market” in which the figures presented by Rossetti was used as the subject. In this concept, the relationships of the women to the markets of the nursery tales were analyzed (Helsinger, 903). The differences and distinction of gender in the market is presented in the poem in which the females are viewed as the buyer and the goblin men are the seller. According to Helsinger (904), the poem Goblin Market is a “transgressive poem” which is against the notion of the Victorian writing that creates the distinction between the morality of female and male in the economy. In this case, females are often not seen as the consumers and that marriage and sex are associated with their economics of consumption (Helsinger, 904).
One major reason that associates women to consumption is that during the 18th and the 19th century, women are used to describe the wealth of their family or their husbands. When they are equipped with luxurious accessories and dresses, they signify the wealth of their family. In this case, women are viewed as the consumers in the market which is mainly controlled by men. Rossetti’s goal in evaluating the gender role in a market lies in her experience. She lived in an era in which women usually sell their body if they do not have anything to live (Helsinger, 906).
The article used the Victorian literature, the personal history of the author as well as the sociological history of the setting to analyze the subject of the poem. The author did not focus on the texts of the poem. Helsinger focused on how Rossetti included gender role in the market and how it is presented.
The Price of Redemption in “Goblin Market” by Jill Rappoport
The article is focused on the experience of Laura from goblin market and how her sister Lizzie saved her and its implication. Rappoport (854) argues that the story of sisterhood in the poem is associated with the historical social notion of sisterhood in which it is valued not only as a blood compact but also as a political, religious and economic relationship. The author also argued that the two sisters depict the two main types of women who have left by their husbands or fathers (Rappoport, 860). The first type of women is the ones which could be subjected to sexual trade which is characterized by Laura. The other type is the women who subjected to religious transaction which is depicted by her sister Lizzie. While women have two roles in the market, men are depicted by Rossetti as unique and only one which is depicted by the goblins. The penny that is controversial to most of the interpreters is viewed by the author as the symbolism to the domestic responsibilities of Lizzie (Rappoport, 863).
Untying Goblin Apron Strings: A Psychoanalytic Reading of “Goblin Market” by Ellen Gollub
Works cited:
Gollub, Ellen. Untying Goblin Apron Strings: A Psychoanalytic Reading of “Goblin Market”. Literature and Psychology. 1975. Print.
Helsinger, Elizabeth. Consumer Power and the Utopia of Desire: Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”. ELH: The John Hopkin’s University Press. 1991. Print.
Rappoport, Jill. The Price of Redemption in “Goblin Market”. SEL. 2010. Print.
