Goblin Market
"Unholy Senses"
The poem "", by Christina Rossetti, relates the ethical tale of two sisters, Laura and Lizzie. Rossetti constructs the poem surrounding the two women who are unable to access their fully developed intuitions without being subsumed by the men who provide sensory delights. Rossetti establishes this through characterizing the base physical senses as an unfit endeavor for young women to experience. The character Laura, in the poem, is led through a tortuous experience because she follows her intuitions to follow the Goblin men, who through Rossetti's richly laden verse, are characterized as animalistic and morally debase. Laura is saved by her sister ...
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adheres strictly to her senses. This is all the while Lizzie reprimands Laura for "loiter[ing] in the glen", (ln. 144) with the Goblin men. Although, Laura is severely punished because of her greedy pursuit of pleasure by Rossetti.
The dichotomous position of the two sister's moral stances on the fulfillment of pleasure in eating the "fruit" is exampled in the first two stanzas of the poem. Laura pronounces, "Look, Lizzie, look, Lizzie" (ln. 54), as she tries to engage her sister in sharing a glance at the Goblin men. Lizzie is the consummate modest woman as "She thrust a dimpled finger/ In each ear, shut eyes and ran" (ln. 67-68). Lizzie refuses the "eye candy" that Laura indulges in. Lizzie tries to get Laura to resist by stating that "Their offers should not charm us/ Their evil gifts would harm us", (ln. 65-66).
Laura does not heed her sister's warning, but rather satisfies herself with the Goblin men, and consequently, her senses dry up and she quickly ...
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that Goblin men are directly correlated with the world of perception and senses, and that the two sisters cannot comply because it will lead to their ruin.
With the phrase "Come buy", the sisters are lured into the goblins world and their procurements. The poem opens with the familiar phrase of "Come buy" (ln. 3), and it is repeated eighteen additional times in the 567 line poem. The phrase when read aloud could also indicate that the Goblins want the maids to "come by" their haunts. For the goblins never take money from either Laura or Lizzie, but the goblins wish for some company and eventually kick back the coin that Lizzie gives them. Poetically, the phrase is so oft repeated ...
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Goblin Market. (2007, May 10). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Goblin-Market/64653
"Goblin Market." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 10 May. 2007. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Goblin-Market/64653>
"Goblin Market." Essayworld.com. May 10, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Goblin-Market/64653.
"Goblin Market." Essayworld.com. May 10, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Goblin-Market/64653.
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