Nichole's Essay
From English 194 Wiki
A Look into Escape From Goblin Market
Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” has been interpreted in many ways including religious allegory and homoeroticism. The Goblin Team from English 194 at the University of California, Santa Barbara constructed a board game based on this poem. After doing some research involving scholarly essays about the poem, the Goblin Team decided what interpretations to include and omit in the game. Because of time and material limitations the game was not as complete as the team may have wished, but it still represented the poem as accurately as possible.
The basic plot summary of “Goblin Market” consists of two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, who are constantly being taunted by goblin men. These men have the faces of animals and the bodies of human men. They sell the most delicious fruit one could find, however, the ultimate price one pays for these fruits is death. Their friend, Jeanie, was one such victim and fell fatal due to consumption of the fruit. Lizzie must constantly warn Laura not to follow Jeanie’s footsteps and eat the fruit, but it is a temptation which Laura can no longer resist. She succumbs to the goblin men selling a lock of her golden hair and a single tear in exchange for some fruit. After tasting the fruit Laura can think of nothing else but getting more fruit, however, she can no longer see the goblin men. As the days go by Laura grows ill and older. Finally Lizzie decides it is her duty to buy the fruit for Laura in order to ease her desires. She sets out with a silver penny to buy some fruit, but the goblin men grow angry because she will not eat the fruit. They attempt to force feed her, but to no avail except for squeezing the juices of the fruits all over her. Lizzie runs home and has Laura lick the juices from her skin and is thus restored.
Just from a basic plot summary of the poem, one can already begin to see the many interpretations that could be associated with this poem. The temptation of the fruit and the goblin men can easily be associated with the story of Genesis when Satan tempts Eve with the forbidden fruit. Associated with the idea of temptation is the idea of willpower and control. In “Goblin Market” Laura shows she has no self control. Even after she is aware of the consequences that result in eating the fruit, she still cannot resist. The scene towards the end of the poem which involves Laura licking the fruit juices off of Lizzie has been interpreted both as a religious-like ceremony and as a scene of homoeroticism.
The most popular interpretation of this scene is one of homoeroticism. This homoeroticism is played out through the poem as the two sisters do everything together and even sleep side by side in the same bed. When Lizzie returns from overcoming the goblin men she tells Laura “Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices.” (line 468) Laura “Kiss’d her and kiss’d her and kiss’d her” (486) which alludes to the homoerotic feel of the poem. However, this homoeroticism between the two sisters would make it incest as well. Although this could be a valid interpretation, there are others as well. Due to the context of the poem this is less a scene of homoeroticism and more a scene of sisterly love.
Sean C. Grass argues in his essay “Nature’s Perilous Variety in Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”” that instead of this scene being interpreted as homoerotic it is interpreted as an act of communion and resurrection. He argues that because of Rossetti’s religious status at the time, this is more likely the interpretation intended. The act of Laura licking the juices off of Lizzie is imitative of a communal act. The fact that Laura is restored to her youthful state is also imitative of the resurrection of Jesus. This scene also brings out the sisterhood which is mentioned at the end of the poem. The last stanza of the poem states “For there is no friend like a sister.” (line 562) This also seems to support Grass’ interpretation as opposed to the homoerotic interpretation.
Although both of these interpretations are arguable, it seems that the poem shows a strong sense of sisterhood and bonding between the two sisters. In the beginning of the poem Lizzie looks out for Laura warning her not to succumb to the fruit of the goblin men, “Laura, Laura, / You should not peep at goblin men.” (lines 48-49) Throughout the poem Lizzie looks out for Laura warning her against the goblin men. Even after Laura ignores Lizzie’s advice and eats the fruit, Lizzie is still there for Laura and ends up risking her own life in order to saver her sister’s. What the sisters go through in the poem is reminiscent of a close sibling relationship.
This idea of sisterhood is what the Goblin Team in Professor Liu’s English 194 class at the University of California, Santa Barbara was trying to portray in the game they constructed, “Escape From Goblin Market.” Using this poem as the basis of inspiration for their game they made the ultimate goal of saving Laura from death the point of the game. Originally the Goblin Team wanted to include some type of teamwork involved in the game to play up the idea of sisterhood. The teams would be of two players each who would somehow rely on one another to win the game as a team. However, because of time restrictions it was difficult for the Goblin Team to develop a workable team-based game.
The game constructed by the Goblin Team begins after Laura’s corruption. It is Lizzie’s duty to restore Laura to her original state, as in the game. All games need to have some type of goal that needs to be reached which is the point of the game. It would not be a fun game and would probably be pointless. Knowing this the Goblin team began the game after Laura had succumbed to the goblin men making the point of the game for Lizzie to save Laura, as it is in the poem. However, by doing this the first part of the poem is omitted and not really incorporated into the game.
The Goblin Team tried to bring out certain aspects of the poem they thought were important and incorporate it into a game. By incorporating the use of silver pennies into the game the Goblin Team wanted to signify the difference between Laura and Lizzie’s exchange concerning the fruit. Laura gives a piece of herself, a lock of hair and a single tear drop, while Lizzie is only willing to make a monetary exchange. This separates the body from the exchange and makes it more business and less personal. However, because the team wanted to offer the players some type of temptation as well as incorporate the theme of the sale associated with a part of the body versus monetary, the team allowed the possibility of buying fruit with a lock of hair. Of course this comes with consequences and the player’s team suffers.
Even though Jeanie was only mentioned a couple of times, those times seemed to be a significant part of the poem. Jeanie’s death by the goblin men’s fruit proves their fatal power, and it also reminds Lizzie and Laura of why they are to resist their fruits. The death of their friend is a constant reminder, especially to Lizzie, of the consequences at stake involving consumption of the fruit. Lizzie is constantly “mindful of Jeanie” in her ventures throughout the poem. Because of the seeming importance of Jeanie, even though she is not mentioned very much, the Goblin Team thought it was important to incorporate her somehow into the game. Although the “Jeanie Challenge” does not follow any valid interpretation of the poem itself, the Goblin Team decided to make it a challenge for the players to attempt to grow daisies on Jeanie’s grave, even though the poem specifically states that no plant life would grow on Jeanie’s grave because of the way she died. Although this interpretation strays from the poem, it allows Jeanie to be incorporated into the game, and also allows the players to be “mindful of Jeanie” throughout the game the same way that Lizzie is “mindful of Jeanie” throughout the poem.
Temptation is one of the most obvious and important themes throughout the “Goblin Market.” The Goblin Team wanted to address this issue and involve some type of temptation to the players since throughout the poem the two sisters are constantly being tempted by the goblin men. This thought is brought out with the “Temptation” spaces which offer the player an option to either use the temptation which results in a penalty, or resist the temptation and continue on their quest.
The poem “Goblin Market” has a lot of rhyme and meter which the Goblin Team did not want to take away from the interpretation of the poem. In order to incorporate this into the game the team designed a set of “tongue twisters” as a challenge for the players to recite under a time restraint. This exercise allows the players to speak as well as hear the meter and rhyme in the poem. The idea behind this is for the players to recite a set of lines from “Goblin Market” as fast as they can with no mistakes. The goal would be to beat an opposing team’s time to be rewarded. Although there is no direct interpretation of rhyme, meter, and words of the tongue twister the Goblin Team thought it was necessary to add this to the game because the team thought it was important for the players to experience the language behind the game they were playing.
The Goblin Team decided to interpret the “Goblin Market” into its most basic themes that are most apparent on the surface of the poem rather than making the game more complex. This was the easiest way for the Goblin team to get across the basic meaning of the poem which the Goblin Team felt was most important and portrayed which was the idea of sisterhood. If they had more time the game probably would have been more in depth and offered more of a variety of interpretations.
Works Cited 1. Grass, Sean C. Natures Perilous Variety in Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”. Nineteenth- Century Literature, Vol. 51, No. 3. Dec., 1996, pp. 356-376 <http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0891-9356%28199612%2951%3A3%3C356%3ANPVIR%22%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0
