Parallels Yo

I don’t know about you, but after reading a Rossetti poem, my mouth tends to make the questionable noise, “huh.” Rossetti goes out of her way to be extremely descriptive in many of her poems, including Goblin Market. You may think she is a little obsessive when it comes to describing the goblins. However, after really analyzing this specific poem, you come to realize the purpose of her excessive wording. Goblin Market can serve as a parallel to three ideas which involve one’s faith. Throughout the poem, I made connections with the goblins and temptation, their fruit and sin, Lizzie and Jesus Christ, and Laura and the human race.

In the very first stanza of the poem, Rossetti describes the fruit of the goblins to a whole other level. When I first read this stanza, I did not think much of it. I really thought she was just thinking of as many fruits as she could. After completing the reading, however, I saw a purpose in this long description of the fruit. I made the connection that the fruit symbolized sin. Sin obviously comes in all different forms, just like all the different kinds of fruits. We all fall into temptation at some point in our life. At the beginning of the poem, Lizzie urges her sister, Laura, to ignore the goblins and their fruit. The goblins call to Laura, creeping her in with their voices of delicious fruit. Lizzie continues to try and keep Laura in line, “‘No,’ said Lizzie: ‘No,no,no;/ Their offers should not charm us,/ Their evil gifts would harm us’” (2). Lizzie knows the ways of the goblins and wants to protect Laura. Goblins represent the temptation of sin because they continue to call out to Laura and reel her in. Their evil gifts, the fruit, represent the actual sin, which the goblins are selling. Laura remains curious, however, because what the goblins are selling looks too good to pass up. Laura cannot resist the goblins just like how we cannot resist sin and temptation. We try to resist as much as we can, but Laura symbolizes us actually falling into that temptation and sin.

When we fall into this temptation it comes with a price. Laura also had a price to pay. The goblins heckle her, “‘Buy from us with a golden curl.’/ She clipped a precious golden lock,/ She dropped a tear more rare than pearl’” (4). These lines show that Laura is conscious of what she is doing. She realizes she should not be buying the fruit from the goblins, which is why her tear is more rare than pearl. This can also be a parallel for when Satan tempts us. We are usually conscious as well when we sin. As humans, we realize we shouldn’t do something, but we do it anyway. When we sin, we also pay a price just like Laura with her lock of hair. The price is simply us giving in to Satan. The golden lock of hair can also symbolize her innocence or purity. Satan tempts us every day, longing for what he doesn’t have, which is that purity.

Once Laura falls into that temptation and eats the fruit, her life starts to change for the worse. She no longer hears the calls of the goblins, because they already had ahold of her. Her innocence is gone because the goblins got what they wanted. She becomes desperate to encounter the goblins and their fruit again. Rossetti goes on into detail about the deterioration of Laura, “She never spied the goblin men/ Hawking their fruits along the glen:/ But when the noon waxed bright/ Her hair grew thin and grey; She dwindled, as the fair full moon doth turn/ Her fire away” (8). These lines basically describe Laura’s slow death. Laura dwindling into old age shows that sin leads us nowhere but down towards death. If we continue to crave that sin and put our focus on it, our lives will also be driven closer and closer to death and life with Satan. Sin can really overtake someone’s life if they focus on nothing else, just like Laura.

Lizzie realizes that she needs to help Laura, because she cannot bear to see Laura in that much pain and suffering. This is where I draw the parallel of Lizzie to Jesus. Lizzie knows that she must go to the goblins and retrieve fruit for Laura. In order to retrieve the fruit, however, Lizzie must pay a price. The goblins claw at Lizzie and tear her clothes, but Lizzie does not give in to fighting back. She absorbs the beating and basically just takes it full on. This can represent Jesus going to die on the cross for us. He was beaten and ridiculed, and He knew it was going to happen. He went through all that pain anyway, just for us. Lizzie also goes through all that pain, in order to save her sister, Laura. Once Lizzie’s price is paid and she’s achieved the fruit, she rushes back to Laura. Laura is overcome with happiness and basically attacks her, realizing Lizzie has the juices of the fruits in her. Rossetti goes into detail again when Laura retrieves the juices from her sister. Referring to Laura embracing Lizzie, “She clung about her sister,/ Kissed and kissed and kissed her:/ Tears once again/ Refreshed her shrunken eyes,/ Dropping like rain/ After long sultry drouth;/ Shaking with anguish fear, and pain,/ She kissed and kissed her with a hungry mouth” (14). Uncomfortable is no where near what I felt when first reading these lines. The way Rossetti describes Laura on her sister like that is not how siblings should interact. If you make the parallel of Lizzie representing Jesus, however, this interaction is not totally uncomfortable. The intimacy between Lizzie and Laura gives us uneasy feelings, obviously. However, Lizzie went through a lot in order to save her sister. Jesus also went through a lot in order to save us. Laura was given life through Lizzie and she shows her gratitude in an up close and personal way. Once we come into fellowship with Jesus, that intimacy is an automatic. Having a relationship with Jesus should be close and personal because He gave His very own life for ours. Lizzie and Jesus both made sacrifices and went through so much pain, because of the love they have in their hearts.