Diana Hallam — Goblin Market lecture (ideas, A05, context points) Flashcards
(28 cards)
Summarise the Rossetti household.
The 4 hugely gifted children of king’s college poet and lecture, Gabriel Rossetti, and educator Frances Polidori
- Dante — Artist (PRB), writer and poet
- Christina — Writer, poet and lyricist
- Maria — Autobiographer and writer
- William - writer and critic
What does John Ruskin describe Goblin Market’s lyricism as? (A05) What does this highlight? What is Rossetti’s use meter?
He describes it as ‘irregular measures’
Highlights the disorienting lack of regulation in the market.
She uses unusual combinations of accentuated stresses, dactyl meter as well as trochaic foot and double stresses.
What does Hallam suggest about almost mouth-watering use of metre that Christina influences? (A05)
It energises Goblin Market, like an ‘assault of the senses’
What tone is conveyed throughout in GM, what does ‘sound to eye’ suggest?
- A sinister tone is prominent throughout, immediately through the unnatural harvesting of all the Goblin’s fruit.
- ‘Sound to eye’ is unsettling as it perceives safe but poses a sense of deception
How are Goblins mythologically presented?
- Immoral, predatory and villainous figures of vice
What is the poem perhaps stressing between the two figures, how and what does this suggest?
It’ could be stressing the equivalence of the two sisters — ‘Liz-zie’ ‘Lau-ra’ both contain similar syllables and begin with ‘L’
Perhaps they are two versions of the same woman?
What does Dante intensify within his illustration ‘Golden head by Golden head’ and how is this conveyed?
He intensifies eroticism within the poem as he positions both of the sisters in an intimate embrace, akin to a romantically involved relationship.
The goblins are almost gravitational and revolve around the sleeping sisters — conveys the inevitability of their presence.
What does Christina use Lizzie, the virtuous sister, giving the allegorical example of Jeanie to convey in Jeanie and what is she a symbol of?
She had fallen prey/captive to the goblins and pursued desire.
Rossetti uses her as a microcosm to highlight social ostracism of fallen women.
As Laura states she has ‘no coin, to take were to purloin’, what two things do the Goblins do in return?
They instantaneously commodify her rejection
They exploit her body for the sole purpose of transaction
What poem and by which poet captures Victorian society’s outlook on women’s role?
‘The Angel in the House’ by Coventry Patmore conveys women’s role in society to remain in the sphere of absolute domesticity.
After Laura had indulged in the Goblin Fruit, what two things occur?
- The account of her enjoyment is purely erotic ‘yet my mouth waters still’
- She no longer has anything to offer, she metaphorically has lost her virginity.
What did Hallam use as a synonym regarding Laura metaphorically losing her virginity?
She is ‘like hollow fruit’
What biographical point relates to many critics highlighting the addictiveness of the fruit?
Key biographical point — Elizabeth Siddle, Dante’s partner, so Christina’s sister in law, died of an over consumption of Regina Cordium in the same year as GM was published in 1862.
What did William Gladstone do to attempt at decreasing the rampant prostitution in Victorian society?
He made the declaration ‘The Great Social Evil’ aimed to ‘rescue’ fallen women with his wife at his side.
He was a prominent member very engaged with this subject — accentuates its issue.
Where did Christina train to work as a household servant and what two views are there on a) why women may fall and b) society’s view on them?
St Mary Magdalene Penitentiary for Fallen Women
- Many prostitutes either ‘fallen’ by mistake and wrongly deemed for it or engage wilfully in it.
- ‘Fallen’ women often shunned by society’s encouragement in not communicating with them
What is used to show Lizzie avoiding bodily contact with the Goblins when she tosses her coin?
5 ‘virginal’ metaphors
Who does Lizzie parallel with in her character and what figures do the sisters both display?
There are parallels between Lizzie and VIrgin Mary, ‘The Second Eve’, who is man’s chance of redemption
Laura - female vice
Lizzie - female virtue
What do the 2 critics, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, in ‘The Madwoman in the Attic’ highlight?
They highlight that the forbidden fruit could relate to women’s desire to write and publish.
Summarise Lizzie offering herself as a ‘redemptive eucharist’
She is like Jesus, he asked for the purging of sin to be done via communion.
She is like this to Laura, an antidote.
What interpretation relates to Lizzie’s redemption?
Her response reads as a type of exorcism, she is released of her sin and is restored.
What are the 2 points regarding the quote ‘is it death or is it life?’
- Moment of ambiguity in the poem
- The revelation in the final stanza exemplifies that it is life that has prevailed.
What is the key idea that links to the sisters being secure and that they tell their experience as a story / cautionary tale to their children?
Multi-generational presence of temptation, sin and the need to remain exempt from such condemning pursuits
What are the 2 contextual points regarding Christina’s religion and how do these relate to GM?
— She experienced a remarkable mental breakdown over spiritual risks of damnation at the age of 15.
— Extremely pious
— GM could be written regarding the influence of Maria on Christina
What is the quote that regards Caroline Norton’s review on GM? (Assessment, imagery, Coleridge)
She ‘offers a favourable assessment of “Goblin Market”, maintaining that the work is Christina’s best, that its linking of fantastic imagery to everyday life allows “Goblin Market” to “view with Coleridges ‘ Ancient Mariner ‘ ‘
