The Morality of Goblin Market

In Tuesday's English lesson we were put into groups to consider the different themes within Goblin Market. The theme which our group looked at was Morals of the poem.

What I found most interesting about the morality of the poem was how religious based the poem actually is, which isn't at all surprising considering Christina Rossetti's religious background. What I noticed about the poem was how it is linked into the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden from the Bible. In this verse of the Bible, Adam and Eve are forbidden to eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden, however one day a serpent tempts Eve and tells her that if she eats the fruit she will gain wisdom. Adam and Eve give into temptation, however when they do they become aware of their nakedness and are banished from the Garden of Eden. I notice how the Goblin Men in the poem could be seen to represent the serpent in the story, who tempt Laura and Lizzie to buy and eat their fruit. Laura gives into the Goblin Men but once she eats the fruit she becomes vulnerable, depressed and begins to age prematurely. This seems to mirror the Adam and Eve tale.

Also, when considering the morality of the poem we noticed the similarities between the poem and the story of Jesus being crucified in the Bible. In Goblin Market, Laura is suffering extremely badly after eating the "forbidden fruit" and is at the verge of dying. Her sister Lizzie cannot bear to watch her sister slowly die and so sets out to find the Goblin Men to buy their fruit for Laura to try and save her. However, when she gets to the Goblin Men they beat her constantly for not eating with them. Lizzie doesn't give into the temptation of eating the fruit and returns weak and hurt to her sister and saves her. This is similar to Jesus being crucified because in the Bible, Jesus suffered and gave his life to redeem the sins of all the humans even though he hadn't sinned himself, which I believe is shown in Goblin Market when Lizzie suffers to redeem Laura's sin of giving into temptation.

What I also found interesting about the morality of the poem was how in the last stanza the last few lines are similar to what you might hear at a wedding ceremony. What this could be taken to mean is that marriage redeems your sins and gives you a fresh start and will keep you safe.