Discussing Ideas in Goblin Market

In our lesson, each of the five groups discussed an idea associated with Goblin Market. They were eroticism, feminism, marxism, retribution and moral. Some ideas were stronger than others, and I personally believed feminism to be the strongest. There are many sections in the poem backing feminist ideas. On the poem as a whole, you could use the fact that the hero is a woman and that women triumph over men to support feminism ideas. You could also delve deeper and notice facts that even though the two women are both married at the end of the poem, men are never once mentioned, possibly showing that men are not deemed necessary and not needed in love. The love between the two sisters, the two women, is broken up by the Goblin Men, showing that men actually ruin love, not partake in it.

Even though I believe feminism to be the strongest idea in Goblin Market, other ideas discussed also had some interesting points. Moral was often linked to religion which I thought added to the argument for moral, as Christina Rossetti was very religious. There is a part in the poem where the Goblin Men beat and abuse Lizzie as she fights for her sister and her sister's well being. This has similarities to Jesus' crucifixion, as he put pain upon himself for the good of others and linked to the moral idea that your actions could directly cause negative reactions to other people.

I thought marxism and retribution to be weaker ideas, however eroticism seemed to have strong arguments for its case. When Laura cut her hair and gave it as payment to the Goblin Men for fruit, she was literally selling herself, maybe a reference to prostitution. This reference is made stronger by the fact that Rossetti volunteered at a 'house of charity', a refuge for former prostitutes. The section where the Goblin Men attack Lizzie uses phrases such as 'Held her hands and squeezed their fruits against her mouth to make her eat'. This line sees the Goblin Men trying to force something of theirs inside Lizzie, which is a possible sexual and erotic reference.