“Despite its Christian morality, Rossetti gives all of the dramatic and poetic power to the character of Laura.” Explore the way Rossetti depicts temptation in Goblin Market in light of this quotation.

In Rossetti's lifetime, her passions and desires were often suppressed due to the expectation of Victorian women to be demure and submissive. In order to control said passions and to conform to the reformations of society, Rossetti channeled her emotional turmoil into her religious devotion and Tractarianism, as well as into her poetry; which often contains themes of suppressed sensuality and scandal.

In this sense, Laura and Lizzie portray the conflicting sides of Rossetti's character; one pious and pure, the other passionate and empowering. Laura's poetic presence gives her character a greater sense of power in comparison to Lizzie, ''reared her glossy head and whispered like the restless brook''. Laura is in this case portrayed as majestic, vibrant and bubbling with life, much in contrast with Lizzie who merely ''covered up her eyes''.

The poetic favouritism directed towards Laura by Rossetti creates a multi-faceted and likable character. Due to Laura's associations with temptation and sensuality, one can only assume that Rossetti is either attempting to defy the attitude of society towards 'fallen women' in the 19th century, or defying the attitude towards sensuality altogether. Portraying passion and temptation as a natural occurrence, not as something originating from evil, as Laura's passions were apparent even before the goblins had influenced her, in her character being similar to a ''restless brook''. Suggesting that her emotions and passions are not suppressed like Lizzie's, but rather create a sense of beauty and life in her.

In portraying Laura's passions and emotional turmoil directly and uncensored, Rossetti may have been attempting to humanise 'fallen women' who were otherwise shunned and outcast from considered 'respectable' society. Rossetti frequently worked with charities in assisting prostitutes and women who had engaged in considered scandalous activities. Laura, therefore, may be interpreted as an outcry against the unjust treatment of these women, as despite her submission to temptation, Laura is no less of a character than when the poem began to introduce her, as ''light danced in her eyes'' after the ordeal with the goblins. Laura retains her passionate character and her lively nature, despite submitting to the temptation of the fruit. If the fruit is translated to mean sex, and Laura has become fallen. Her retaining of a sense of purity and life is thus reflecting on Rossetti's compassion towards fallen women, and on her opinion that sensuality within a persons character does not always equate to evil- nor does it deserve complete condemnation.

Alternatively, the poetic presence of Laura and her relationship with temptation and sensuality could be interpreted as Rossetti's way of channeling her belief towards suppressed passion, a feminist statement in which sensuality is not viewed to be completely steeped in corruption and evil. Similarly to a protest for fallen women, Laura's recovery despite her temptation and her consistent presence within poetic language shows how passion does not cause misery.

Laura's similarity to a ''leaping flame'' and her characters animation despite her submission to temptation portrays that Rossetti does not utterly correlate sensuality with an evil or morally corrupted character. More so that Laura's poetic power and passionate character is created to channel Rossetti's suppressed desire, and to emphasise that sensuality is a part of human nature- giving in to temptation is ultimate for humanity. We should therefore learn from Lizzie and accept the mistakes that our loved ones make; supporting them and helping them recover. As Laura's passions are within all of us- which does not mean we should be shunned nor ridiculed for expression of them.

Maude Clare- Notes minus Quotes

SUMMARY- The poem recounts the story of two women, Maude Clare and Nell. They are both in love with the same man, Sir Thomas, who has chosen to marry Nell- due to her superior social status and wealth. On his wedding day, Maude appears with wedding gifts consisting of the gifts he had presented to her through the course of their unfulfilled courtship. She declares to Nell that she can have what is left of the love Maude and Thomas shared. However, Nell asserts that she loves her husband enough to overlook his past, and will replace Maude Clare despite her moral inferiority and lesser beauty.

WOMEN AND MARRIAGE IN THE 19^TH CENTURY

Many Victorians considered marriage to be at the centre of a stable society. It was widely believed that a happy family contributed to the well-being of the country. Women were forced to rely on men for their financial upkeep since most jobs were closed to them, so a good marriage was important. It was generally believed that if a woman was unmarried she was somehow not complete.

CHARACTERS

MAUDE CLARE-
Moral
Righteous
Proud
Defiant- speaks after mother to defy social hierarchy
‘fallen woman’- suggested to have engaged in a sensual relationship with the lord ‘’ankle-deep’’

LORD THOMAS
Speaks once
His character is only there to represent the cruelty of aristocracy
Weak willed- submitted to marrying a woman more appropriate for his social status
Conflicted- speech is broken into caesurae, suggests confliction and insecurities
Ambiguous character

NELL
Inferior to Maude Clare in all ways ‘’more wise and much more fair’’- aside from her social superiority and wealth
Cold
Shallow
Bitter
Detached- ‘’I’ll love him till he loves me best’’

MOTHER

Wealth

High social status- first character to speak

Controlling- arranged marriage

Proud

Blinded to the scandals her son has taken part of

THEMES

PRIDE
Maude Clare’s pride and awareness of her morality leads to her defiance and scorn of the characters at the wedding. But also gives her the confidence to defy them
The mother’s pride causes her to be blind to Thomas’s mistakes, also emphasises the cruel and lack of empathy in the aristocracy
Nell’s pride results in her misunderstanding of love and emotional connection between MC and Thomas

BETRAYAL
Thomas betrays the love he had with Maude Clare in order to appease his mother and conform to the expectations of the social hierarchy
The mother is suggested to have been in the same position as Nell when marrying Thomas’s father- she betrays Thomas in forbidding him to marry the woman he loves
Maude Clare’s presence at the wedding may be interpreted as a warning to Nell that Thomas is likely to betray her as he betrayed MC

JEALOUSY
Nell’s jealousy of Maude Clare portrays her as petty and selfish
Maude Clare’s jealousy is what causes her to attend and spoil the wedding

IMAGERY

HEARTH
A hearth is the part of a room which holds a fireplace, perceived to be at the centre of the Victorian home. Provided comfort and sustenance, it was seen to be central to well-being and health
By claiming that she wished to ‘bless' their hearth, Maude Clare ironically comments on the negativity her presence brings. Instead of blessing it with warmth, she proposes to bless it with a coldness which is unnecessary and detrimental to the health of the couple. The extent of the coldness of her presence could account for the paleness in the faces of both Thomas and Nell.

BOARD
A board is the table upon which meals are shared, the place where communion and generosity can be found.
Traditionally, the idea of blessing the ‘board' would be providing food for a family to enjoy. By saying that her ‘gift' will bless their board, Maude places herself at the heart of their domestic life and thus stands in the way of the happy communication they might enjoy.

MARRIAGE BED
By claiming that she wishes to ‘bless' their marriage-bed, Maude Clare inserts herself between the intimacy that should exist between Thomas and Nell alone
Maude's presence threatens to disturb their sleep, disrupt their love for one another and threaten the well-being of any future children they may have.

THE GOLDEN CHAIN
Maude gives back to Thomas her half of the ‘golden chain' they had split between them when he was courting her
She suggests that she no longer wants to retain any portion of him. It is the final breaking of the bond that she felt was tying her to him.

LILIES
Maude tells Thomas that she remembers wading through grass as they searched together for ‘lilies in the beck'
On his wedding day, she gives back to him her half of the ‘faded leaves' that they plucked whilst the lilies were in bloom
Lilies have been associated with purity since ancient times. They are widely regarded a symbol of fertility, being used as a wedding flower and are also seen as a symbol of death, being placed on graves
By reminding Thomas that ‘lilies are budding now' Maude Clare both offers an ironic comment on his marriage to another woman and recalls the hope that she once had regarding getting married herself.

BLOOM AND DEW
Maude claims that if the gift she has for Thomas and Nell consisted of fruit or flowers, their bloom and the dew would have long disappeared
Bloom and dew indicate life and growth, Maude suggests that she comes to bring destruction. She hints that the gift she wants to give back is her share of Thomas' ‘fickle heart'
Spoken of ironically as a gift, she presents it more as a burden and a shame she wants to be rid of
Rather than symbolising love, she considers that his heart is a symbol of unfaithfulness and indecisiveness.

BECK
Religious connotations- suggest ultimate corruption and impurity of humanity
Could also suggest MC’s ‘scandalous relationship’ with the lord was in fact one of love and purity, blessed by heavenly powers
A beck is a river/stream with a rugged bed or difficult course- premonition that MC’s affair was never to be happy or to end in such a way which was desirable i.e. marriage

FORM- BALLAD
Traditional ballad
AB AB rhyme scheme
Alternate iambic tetrameter and trimeter lines
Traditional ballads written to make a moral statement, tell a popular story or to celebrate or attack certain institutions or people.
Maude Clare has an ABCB rhyme scheme- avoids fitting the pattern of a ballad smoothly, disjointed

Reflects upon the tone and context of the story, as one of heart break and trial

Goblin Market- A summary

The premise of Goblin market is focused upon two sisters- Lizzie and Laura; young, innocent and pure. They presumably reside on a farm in the country, labouring every day upon the farm until dusk. When dusk comes, however, a troop of goblins pass by their home. These goblins carry with them a plethora of delicious fruits, of every colour and flavour- which look fit enough for a royal feast.

Lizzie, demure and obedient, covers her eyes and ears from the temptations of the goblins, and runs away. Laura, on the other hand, curious as to the nature of the goblins, lingers behind. Seeing a new customer, the goblins are gleeful. They sing and lure her to their feast, treating her like a queen, allowing her to gorge to her hearts content.

Laura eats and eats and eats, until all the fruit is consumed, before returning home to an anxious Lizzie. Lizzie retells the story of Jeanie; who, like Laura, tasted the fruit. Jeanie pined for another taste, turned grey and faded away by the first snowfall. Laura dismisses this caution, elated and euphoric in her sensual experience. However, by the next morning, whilst Lizzie completes her duties with feverously and with enthusiasm, Laura is distant and distracted. By nightfall, Lizzie starts at the sound of the goblins, exclaiming they have to leave. Laura cannot see or hear the goblins, so returns home in shock, pining for the fruit again.

Laura begins to dwindle away, just like how Jeanie did. Lizzie does not act immediately due to her fear of the goblins. She then realises that Laura will die unless she takes initiative and buys her more fruit. That evening she waits by the river bank for the market. When the malicious faeries come into view, she tosses them a coin and requests fruit to take home. They insist that she eats with them; however she is adamant that she must return to Laura. The goblins then turn, snarling and scratching, they torment Lizzie. Tying her down and mocking her, attempting for force fruit into her mouth. 

 Lizzie stands firm, refusing to taste it, eventually the goblins tire of her, and scuttle away into the undergrowth and rivers. Lizzie returns to Laura, her face smeared in the juices of the goblin’s fruit. She kisses Laura, in doing so, allows her to taste the fruit juices once more. This sends Laura into a delirious fever, which burns away the goblins touch and purifies her.

Come morning, Laura is awake and as full of life as always. The poem ends several years later, both the girls are married with families of their own; Laura tells them this tale, of her fatal curiosity and Lizzie’s courage. And besets upon them this piece of advice-

“For there is no friend like a sister

In calm or stormy weather;

To cheer one on the tedious way,

To fetch one if one goes astray,

To lift one if one totters down,

To strengthen whilst one stands.”

Explore the way Rossetti presents nature in her poems

Rossetti uses nature in extensive and subtle ways in order to add depth and meaning to the overall interpretation of the poem and its characters, as well as to add complexities to her works which indirectly challenge the consensus of her time. In her childhood, Rossetti read copious amounts of fairy tales and folklore, as well as romantic poetry and various religious texts. It is clear in her poetry due to the extensive use of natural imagery that she loved writing in a similar style. Adapting techniques used by poets such as Keats, and channelling her deep religiosity by using the power of nature to capture her relationship with God, and her devout Tractarianism.

Rossetti uses many specific aspects of nature to create different meanings and tones within her poetry. One of the most common forms of natural symbolism within her works is water. Water is traditionally used to represent purity, serenity and femininity. Although Rossetti on occasion uses water in this way, she also uses water to represent power, or to invert the nature of a considered scandalous situation.

In ‘Maude Clare’ Rossetti allows the reader a glimpse of the nefarious love affair, and suggests not only a romantic relationship between Maude Clare and the lord, but also a sexual one, “That day we waded ankle-deep for lilies in the beck”. During the 19^th century, any exposure of skin was hyper sexualised, in particular women’s shoulders and ankles. The fact that Maude Clare and the lord were depicted to be ‘’ankle-deep” is a subtle way of suggesting that their relationship was scandalous in further ways than classes intermingling- they may have had sexual relations.

However, the Rossetti uses the term ‘’beck’’ to refer to the river that they were standing exposed in. The term ‘’beck’’ has religious connotations, suggesting perhaps the ultimate corruption of humanity, or, that Maude Clare’s dalliance was not one of entirely malicious content, or of corruption. The relationship between the term ‘’beck’’ and the bible suggests that Rossetti is trying to challenge the social consensus towards sex. The ‘sexual malpractice’ between the lord and Maude Clare although considered to be morally corrupt, was in fact one of purity and expression of love, as the ‘’beck’’ represents purity. However, a ‘’beck’’ is a stream with a stony bed or a rugged course, suggesting that Rossetti is revealing that although this relationship was pure and loving, it was doomed from the moment it began, and the nature of where their love was consummated revealed that it was never to end in a joyful way.

Additionally, Rossetti uses water to capture the vivacity of life, and the power that it holds over nature, by frequently placing vivid imagery of nature alongside water, ‘’flowers bedewed and green’’ and ‘’water’d shoot’’. In this consistent adjoining of water with beauty, life and plenty, Rossetti reflects upon the utmost reliance upon water for life. Due to this, Rossetti associates water in her poetry not only with purity, but also power, and intensity. Her use of ‘’halcyon sea’’ not only portrays the grandeur and intensity of the speaker’s heart- as halcyon is a brilliantly intense blue colour. Not only this, but also the term ‘’halcyon’’ refers to the legend of Halcyon. This legend focuses upon religious devotion and religious experience, and reveals the origin of the term ‘halcyon days’- which are days of utmost calm and tranquillity. This suggests that Rossetti uses this term accompanied with water to emphasise its calm and intensity, as well as religious focus upon water, which relates to her strong, Anglican faith.

Rossetti not only uses water within her poetry, but also focuses upon imagery involving trees. In ‘’Paradise: In a Dream’’ the speaker refers to the ‘’Tree of life’’ to emphasise the fertility of paradise and it’s bountiful ‘’fruits’’. The ‘’Tree of Life’’ is traditionally a medieval analogy for the crucifixion, however, it focuses upon the provision of Jesus’ sacrifice. This correlates with traditional imagery of the tree being a focal point of provision for the environment around it. Acting not only as a source of food, but also as a place of shelter; continuous and stable. This reflects Rossetti’s interpretation of religious imagery and her relationship with faith, which is interpreted to be one of admiration and gratitude, rather than one of fear and subjugation.

Additionally, the usage of ‘’Tree of Life’’ relates to how Rossetti’s works are heavily influenced by fairy tales and folklore. Rossetti’s strong Tractarianism means any deliberate pagan reference within her works would be denied, however, the tree of life has been used across many druidic and pagan religions. This image is deeply embedded within English history due to its old associations with magic and mysticism.

The image of the tree is further used in ‘A Birthday’, ‘’my heart is like an apple tree’’. Although apples have connotations within religion of temptation, and corruption, Rossetti uses the tree to further her interpretation of God and Jesus, not as condemners, but as providers. Who give and sacrifice for the benefit of nature. Despite the tree being used positively within her poetry, Rossetti uses the tree to symbolise death, and the ritualistic obsession with death in the 19^th century.  Rossetti refers to the ‘’cypress tree’’ in ‘Song’ whilst addressing the needless focus of physical acknowledgement of death, rather than the focus on the spiritual side. The cypress tree is traditionally associated with sacrifice and death, although the association with death is not a traditional approach from Rossetti, the link between the tree’s symbolism of sacrifice and the consistent use of trees to represent God and Jesus according to their sacrifice and provision for us furthers the idea that Rossetti uses the tree largely to represent the figureheads of her religious devotion.

Moreover, Rossetti also uses various creatures to add different tones to her poem. In particular, birds. Rossetti uses birds to create a wistful tone to her speaker, as she associates the bird with a certain freedom that humans could never attain. This is explored in various ways throughout her poetry, ‘’soaring bird’’, ‘’the song-birds crossed’’, associating birds with swiftness, their presence often fleeting in her poetry, reflects upon how birds can move however they please with no suppression or regulation. This suggests Rossetti’s desire to be free from her own responsibilities and expectations which she undertook from a very early age. Frequently, the birds’ ‘’tender song’’ is associated with poetry, an adamantly key part of Rossetti’s life. Rossetti often associates birdsong with utmost joy, ‘’sing out thy notes on high’’ in ‘A Summer’s Wish’ and ‘’My heart is like a singing bird’’ in ‘A Birthday’ portrays how Rossetti connects the song of the bird with exultation and passion, not unlike her own towards poetry .The parallels between the role of the bird in nature and Rossetti’s suppressed desires to be expressive are only surpassed by her religious devotion; which, in a sense, contain her, as expected of women in her time.

Likewise, Rossetti also uses flowers to add more depth to her poetry, as well as creating more intense imagery. The flowers Rossetti uses most frequently are lilies and roses. Lilies are used in various works such as ‘Maude Clare’, ‘Song’ and ‘Paradise: In a Dream’. Due to lilies associations with purity and virtue, its usage in ‘Maude Clare’ creates a confliction with the entire context of the poem. Perhaps suggesting afore mentioned proposition that Maude Clare is in fact a pure and moral character, despite her possible sexual misconduct, when wading ‘’for lilies’’. Additionally, the flowers ‘’roses’’ and ‘’lilies’’ are associated with perfection in ‘’Paradise’’ as they are listed with various other beautiful flowers in order to recreate the perfection of the flower the speaker is attempting to describe. The flower in Rossetti’s poetry is not often used for any controversial sub meanings aside from suggesting Maude Clare’s purity with the imagery of lilies. The flower is used to represent utmost beauty and perfection, particularly when Rossetti’s theme is in reference to paradise.

Rossetti uses nature in numerous ways throughout her poetry in order to create intense imagery and varied emotional undertones. As well as to channel her admiration for the beauty that we live amongst, which she interprets to be created by God. In this sense, nature is most frequently used in Rossetti’s poetry when the text has a religious theme or a sub context of religion. Therefore, the focus of nature in Rossetti’s poetry is mainly due to her admiration of God, and wishing to channel her awe and adoration for them through the power and perfection that can be found in natural imagery.