Rossetti, Goblin Market

students' notes

Comparing poem to Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner"

• something insignificant leading to enormous consquences (strand of hair in payment)
• possible religious interpretations
• shooting of the Albatross a manifestation of original sin; goblin fruit?

Garden of Eden

• forbidden fruit
• Laura parallels Eve in giving in to temptation; Goblin men as snake
• Lizzie as saviour: warning her sister, then redeeming her through self-sacrifice
• As Adam and Eve are one person, so Laura and Lizzie are intertwined and share a closeness
• sisterly love: "two in one"; "locked together"; "tender Lizzie could not bear..."; "For your sake..."; "would tell them how her sister stood / In deadly peril. . ."

Note. For a discussion of the Eden parallels, see Lesa Scholl's essay on the Victorian Web.

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Document created February 9th 2009