Goblin Market Critic

Feminist critics have argued that Rossetti has created a world and deliberately excluded men from it. For these critics, the word ‘sisterhood’ has reconfirmed the potential that they had for women’s independence and productivity. However, Goblin Market has also been interpreted as reducing the concept of ‘sisterhood’ as a single and unhesitant level of meaning. Feminist critics, are disregarding that the sound/voice of the poem is the ‘hallmark’. Also, the term ‘sisterhood’ is not exclusive in Goblin Market and can imply several meanings, like how it can include the experiences of both genders.

Another way Goblin Market has been interpreted is as a poem that Rossetti uses to symbolise her opinions on society and the fact that she wants to be independent. Rossetti uses the character of Lizzie to represent society, and she uses Laura to symbolise herself. As Lizzie tells Laura “You should not peep at the goblin men” this could represent society telling Rossetti how to act as she was a Victorian woman, and women were owned and controlled by men. However, when Laura ‘sucked and sucked and sucked the more’ this could represent Rossetti not wanting to live a life where she is limited to only doing what she’s told.