Critical Analysis of “Goblin Market"

Type :

Presentation

Pages :

7 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

06/19/2008

Category :

Philosophy & literature

Sub category :

Literature

Oboulo.com selection criteria

$ 14.95 Add to cart

Summary :

Barthes was a writer and French critic from Paris.
The notion of the fallen woman stems from the biblical depiction of Eve.
Is assigning an author really an imposition?
Barthes implyies that to incorporate any aspect of the author's life into an interpretation of the work is to cut off all other interpretations or analyses.
If the Queen's looking glass speaks with the King's voice, how do its perpetual kingly admonitions affect the Queen's own voice?
Gilbert and Gubar touch on the notion of women being trapped.
Gilbert and Gubar focus a great deal on the theme of the madwoman.
As feminist critics, Gilbert and Gubar write mainly of the plight of the female writer and character.

Abstract

Sylvia Plath once said, "The blood jet is poetry, and there is no stopping it." This was true for many poets, and especially true for Christina Rossetti. Rossetti had poetry in her blood, art in her veins. When she first wrote "goblin market" in 1859, some critics speculated that it was to be read aloud to the "fallen women" (i.e., prostitutes) in the company of the Anglican Sisters with whom she associated at the St. Mary Magdalene Home for Fallen Women at Highgate Hill. With the poem's embedded images of sex and the allure of sin, one could see why Rossetti would attempt to write such a poem. She may have been trying to dissuade these "fallen women" from a lifestyle of sin. In sway with this argument, still other critics found a religious aspect to the poem, comparing its many lines to passages from the bible and citing the similarities. After all, Rossetti was a very pious woman and clung to her Christian faith like a mother to a child. And yet, throughout all of these possible interpretations, one thing remains certain: there is no one right way to analyze goblin market or poetry in general for that matter...or is there?