The Rebellious Woman:
Gender and Sexuality in Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market
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date published 08/04/2008
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SummaryOne cannot help but notice the numerous interpretations of Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” that pertain to either gender, sex, or religion. The poem itself has been scrutinized more often than one can count, critics often referring to its erotic subtext and similarities to various biblical passages. In this essay I intend to expand on those sentiments, suggesting that there does not need to be one simple explanation, but rather a series of interconnected theories, central to the poem’s theme of temptation, sin, and the Fall. I will focus on the specific aspects of gender and sexuality and how conjecture surrounding “Goblin Market” is rooted in these inferior female roles, roles that stem from and are caused by what Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar refer to as the “submissive silences of domesticity” (Gilbert and Gubar 1537). In addition to this, there are several aspects of Rossetti’s poetic fable that critics have yet to examine thoroughly. One of these is the notion of the “madwoman,” and how female behavior of a rampant, rebellious or sexual nature is seen as unnatural or “mad”. In the sexually repressed Victorian society, women weren’t allowed to openly enjoy sex, not if they wanted to remain “good” and “chaste.” The alternative would be to go the route of Rossetti’s fallen woman Jeanie, which—the poem shows—leads to death. Simply put: good girls live; bad girls die.
Table of Contents- Perhaps the notion of the fallen woman stems from the biblical depiction of Eve.
- This causes one to wonder what makes the fruit'both the biblical fruit and the goblins' fruit'so enticing.
- Rossetti's sexual relationships with men were, in fact, cut short.
- Other critics have used Rossetti's faith to refute any such sexual undertones the poem may have.
- This raises the question as to whether Rossetti's faith would have indeed kept her from writing a poem with sexual undertones.
- The themes of evil and sin are similar to those surrounding the dangers of premarital sex.
- The lines that follow those of Laura selling her curl also contain ambiguous sexual imagery.
- Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, co-authors of The Madwoman in the Attic, touch on this notion of women entombed in their homes.
- One idea in particular, that of the presence of a homoerotic subtext, I believe to be misguided.
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