Feminism in the Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti The Victorian period marked the first traces of progress in the feminist movement, and the poet Christina Rossetti embraced this advancement as its own long-established principles were slowly becoming publicly acceptable. Her poem "Goblin Market" comments on the institutions of Victorian society that she and her feminist contemporaries wished to see changed, creating modern female heroines to convey her messages. The goblins serve as malevolent male figures to tempt the innocent heroines, sisters Laura and Lizzie, into corruption. According to the Victorian definition, a gentleman "never takes unfair advantage...nor insinuates harm which he dare not speak", and possesses, among other qualities, the ability to avoid suspicion and resentment (Landow 4). The goblins in Rossetti's poem manage to contradict all Victorian definitions of a gentleman throughout the poem; The only male figures present, they represent the deleterious nature of men on the lives of women. In “Goblin Market,” men’s only beneficial goal is “fertilization.” Once the two sisters have gone to the goblins and acquired the juice of their fruits, they no longer need it” (Mermin 291). The poem begins with the goblins drawing the sisters' attention to their delicious exotic fruits, which represent the proverbial forbidden fruit: just one taste leads to destruction. But the goblins describe their fruits as attractive. Rossetti uses rich imagery such as "Currants and gooseberries, / Barberries like a bright fire, / Figs to fill the mouth, / Lemons of the South, / Sweet to the tongue and sonorous to the eyes" (1) to stimulate the sense of the reader, just as the calls of the goblins provoke Laura and Lizzie. The goblins in... middle of paper ......n 'Goblin Market.'" Victorian Poetry. Vol. 21, No. 2. Summer 1983. Phillips, W. Glasgow. "Theme from Christina Rossetti 'Goblin Market '." The Victorian Web. 1992. URL: http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/landow/victorian/vn/victorov.html.Plowman, Melanie. "As a poet speaking of In the limits of women." The VictorianWeb.1990.URL:http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/landow/victorian/vn/victorov.html.Rossetti, Christina. "Goblin Market." Goblin Market Goblins and Other Poems Ed. Candace Ward New York: Dover Publications, 1994. 1-16. Weathers, Winston “Christina Rossetti: Victorian Poetry S. “The Supposed Excessive Sexuality of Lower Classes and Tribal Cultures.” Web URL: http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/landow/victorian/vn/victorov.html..