How 19th century children’s fiction became a 21st century tale of temptation
Backwards up the mossy glen
Turn’d and troop’d the goblin men,
With their shrill repeated cry,
“Come buy, come buy."
Despite being a 19th century poem, Goblin Market, continues to be interpreted in new ways in the world of literature. When poetess Christina Gabriel Rossetti, first etched down this poem, it was regarded as children’s fiction owing to its fantastical nature and the celebration of unparalleled love between two sisters. However, Dust Palace’s contemporary circus retelling of Goblin Market nudges you think in a different direction. Is the poem really as innocent as it seems? Or has the 21st century unearthed the dark connotations that were left codified within the text, a secret message, too disruptive to be said aloud by a Victorian poetess?
At the very core of the poem sits the issue of transaction between the goblins, symbolic of men and the sisters Laura and Lizzie, symbolic of women. The “goblin men” with their animalistic facial features, can be heard luring the sisters to “come buy” their fruits. The poem is littered with biblical references thus making it evident that the theme of temptation runs throughout the text with the women being seduced with the “forbidden fruit”. In exchange for the fruit Laura grudgingly pays with a “precious golden lock” of her hair, which was considered symbolic of a woman’s sexuality during that period. Sexuality and commercialisation render the poem its charged atmosphere and you start to wonder if children are the right audience for the text. Dust Palace explores these themes passionately bringing them back into the 21st century.
She suck’d and suck’d and suck’d the more
Fruits which that unknown orchard bore;
She suck’d until her lips were sore;
The overtly sexual language of the poem might also throw you off. While Laura’s sexual desire is made implicit in the way she “sucks” the fruit, Lizzie is man handled by the goblins when she goes to them for Laura’s sake. They “Hugg’d her and kiss’d her: Squeez’d and caress’d”, and ask Lizzie to “pluck” and “suck” their fruits. Moreover when she tries to pay them with her silver penny, they refuse to sell her the fruits unless she ate the fruits with them. The issue of consent is highlighted particularly here when her repeated refusal to eat with the goblins is met by an angry and violent reaction from the goblin men. The trod and hustle her, claw her with their nails, maul, bully her barking and mocking her for being “uncivil”. The goblins go on to tear down her gown, soil her stocking, pull her hair out by the roots and squeeze the fruits onto her shut mouth to force her to it. Needless to say, critics have ventured to point out that this violation of the female body is molestation, symbolic if not real.
Finally Lizzie reaches her dying sister Laura, who needed the fruits to revive her but could not hear the men anymore. She asks Laura to kiss her and drink the juices of the fruits from off her body. With powerful sexual imagery, you might wonder if this is merely a show of sisterly affection or an arrangement of a sorority that is independent of men. Rossetti creates an intense narrative of two sisters, their temptation for the fruits of goblin men and their final homecoming where they create a self sufficient home. A home brought alive with their daughters without any interference from the “market”.
The circus retelling adds new shades of meaning to the poem with surprising aerial acts, vibrant lights and intense emotions. We suggest you to risk that comfortably settled conscience of yours to witness this spectacle and revel in the revival of 19th century poetry.