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.
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