Consuming Virtue. Female Appetite and Moral Strength in Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market"

Female Desire, Virtue and Victorian Gender Ideology in "Goblin Market"

Felix Konermann

• Publisher: GRIN Verlag
• Year: 2026
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9783389192429
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

Essay from the year 2026 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies, grade: 1,3, , course: Survey of British Lit II, language: English, abstract: During the Victorian period, women's roles were a source of much contention. The so-called "Woman Question" concerned women and marriage, domesticity, and their moral roles (Victorian Debates about Women, Gender, and Sexuality). Many Victorians idealized middle-class women as naturally pure and "sequestered from political issues and economic competition", as moral guides to men who faced the rough world of the marketplace (Victorian Debates about Women, Gender, and Sexuality). Within this idealization, female appetite in any sphere of sexuality, emotion, or consumer desire was considered dangerous and needed to be controlled. Christina Rossetti's 1862 poem "Goblin Market" depicts two sisters, Laura and Lizie, who encounter a group of goblins selling forbidden fruit (Rossetti). Laura gives in to temptation, paying with a lock of her golden hair, and subsequently declines physically and emotionally (Rossetti). Lizie later confronts the goblins and, after fending off their assault, brings home a "fiery antidote" to restore her sister (Rossetti). Diese wissenschaftliche Arbeit analysiert Christina Rossettis Gedicht "Goblin Market" im Kontext viktorianischer Geschlechtervorstellungen und der sogenannten "Woman Question". Im Mittelpunkt steht die Darstellung weiblicher Begierde, moralischer Stärke und gesellschaftlicher Kontrolle über Frauen im viktorianischen Zeitalter. Anhand der Figuren Laura und Lizzie zeigt die Arbeit, wie Rossetti traditionelle Vorstellungen weiblicher Tugend hinterfragt: Während Lauras verbotener Konsum der Goblin-Früchte die gesellschaftliche Angst vor weiblichem Verlangen offenlegt, verkörpert Lizzie eine neue Form weiblicher Stärke, die auf Mut, Widerstandskraft und Solidarität basiert. Die Analyse argumentiert, dass "Goblin Market" viktorianische Ideale weiblicher Passivität kritisiert und stattdessen ein alternatives Verständnis von Tugend und weiblicher Selbstbestimmung entwickelt.