The Sisterhood of the Traveling Goblin Market: The many avenues of femininity explored in Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market" as seen through Dorothy Mermin's journal article "The Heroic Sisterhood of Goblin Market.”

(drawing by Dante Gabriel Rossetti used in original text of "Goblin Market")

The sisters of Goblin Market, Laura and Lizzie, operate as two separate parts of the same person and as catalysts for its author’s, Christina Rossetti, personal views of art and politics in the Victorian era, according to journal article “The Heroic Sisterhood of Goblin Market” by Dorothy Mermin. The poem is a fantasy tale of feminine freedom written during the morally upright Victorian era. And, it being written by a woman shows the many facets to the female personality and outlook that were not given the public space to exist. The fruits, the sellers, and easiness of life “represent a desire for a paradise of the imagination that does not exist and therefore can be only desired, never obtain.” The way that Dorothy Mermin sees the text of Goblin Market is heavily connected to the Pre- Raphaelite artistic movement, which would regularly paint objects of desire. Based on this, thematically this poem is similar to that movement, but Rossetti is able to create an even more unique point of view that captures female love and sexuality, as well as challenging literary norms popular during the Victorian era. 

The eroticism in this imagined world that Christina Rossetti created is interesting because the wanting and taking of fruit as a sexualized object, is what causes the first problems and illness of Laura. Mermin sees that “the fruit both attracts and frightens Laura by suggesting a combination of sensuous richness, moral irresponsibility, and sinister eroticism that is frequent in Pre-Raphaelite.” Laura is put at the center of the story as a woman taking and wanting what she can’t have for herself and throughout other works by Christina Rossetti such as “Commonplace” a character like Laura has a very similar arc. But, Laura though eventually is saved by realizing that what she desires is not attainable and Lizzie’s jubilation of saving Laura can be connected to the Pre-Raphaelites connection to pleasure and pain, as well as harkening back biblical forms of jubilation of being able to serve God. 

Mermin argues that the story is set up as a fairy tale the sisters don’t want for a prince (as archetypal fairy tales go). Unlike famed fairy tale princess Snow White, who also ate poisoned fruit and had to be rescued by a prince, in Goblin Market, Laura and Lizzie solve their problems for each other without needing outside help. Bucking other story tropes, Lizzie becomes the folktales savior of her sister, as Mermin puts it, “she [Lizzie] brings the ‘fiery antidote’ and she is the antidote.” Rossetti also employs the “fallen woman” trope which was popular in literature during the Victorian era, but unlike the predominantly male writers she treated her fallen women with sympathy not with scorn. Rossetti takes story tropes from the time period, such as showing sympathy to the fallen woman, and proves that women can solve their own problems with the outside help of a man. 

There is overt and palpable eroticism in this story but, Dorothy Mermin, makes the point that as readers in the 21st century “we are more nervous about manifestations of affection between women than Victorians were, and we find it hard to allow a 19th century religious poet the conflation of spiritual and erotic intensity,” which is allowed in other male artists of the time period. Also, this being a relationship between two women (who are sisters) brings another homoerotic as well as warped incestual aspect to the story. Love stories are very common, but this piece stands out because it is about two women who care for each other, instead of a man and woman.

But even as they start as two women living alone, solely loving each other and saving themselves, Lizzie and Laura end the story as “wives” with children. Their being married with children fully legitimizes them in society, but by only having daughters they still keep the circle of femininity complete (with no mention of the men they are likely married to). women of the Victorian era were valued only as objects which were impregnated, in Goblin Market their male husbands are put into that slot as the impregnators, who are not central or get to be mentioned in the story. Many of the central female characters in Rossetti’s other pieces follow a similar pattern, and there is always heavy emphasis on female familial relationships between mother and daughter, sister to sister, but men are peripheral or ignored. In this pattern, Rossetti once again takes a topic of the time period and acknowledges it while showing another female-focused way for something like pregnancy and marriage to exist. As Mermin puts it, “once both sisters have gone to the goblins and acquired the juices of their fruits, they have no further need of them.” 

In Christina Rossetti’s other works she “presents frustrated, unhappy women yearning for love,” but uniquely in Goblin Market, she allows women to explore the space of sexuality that is allowed by men. In this journal article “The Heroic Sisterhood of Goblin Market,” Dorothy Mermin connects Christina Rossetti’s femininity and interest in exploring female relationships devoid of men, celebrating women's abilities, as well as including feminine sexuality in an unexploited way. Goblin Market is an optimistic story that credits women as people who can make mistakes, but also save themselves.

Work Cited:

Mermin, Dorothy. “Heroic Sisterhood in ‘Goblin Market.’” Victorian Women Poets, 2017, pp. 145–157., https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315293738-10.