“Goblin Market” Historical/Cultural Biographical Mythological Feminist Only men present = goblins (men are conniving, animalistic; will lead women astray) Women save each other Sisterhood defined not just by blood Marxist Commodification of the body Lizzie rebels against the status quo by offering actual money and resisting the Goblins—successful rebellion because she saves Laura Goblins=government Laura=lower class Lizzie=middle class Lower class is oppressed by government, but middle class intercedes on their behalf and is successful (rebellion!) Psychoanalytic Lizzie and Laura’s names are very similar and easy to confuse—perhaps we are meant to see them as the same person, or the conflict within one person, rather than 2 separate characters Fruit=drug addiction and withdrawal Lizzie=superego Laura=ego or id (knows that she shouldn’t eat the fruit but eventually does; impulsively eats the fruit because she just wants to) Goblins=id or ego (represent impulsive desires, but also are the middle ground between the extremes of Lizzie and Laura) Historical/Cultural Mid-19th century Rise of mercantile and middle classes Prostitution seen as sinful and an indelible mark; cannot recover from “The Woman Question” Segregation of spheres (domestic vs. public) Lizzie is transgressive because she goes into the public sphere Biographical Religious, well-educated Worked at Highgate House—rehab prostitutes Women could change each other’s lives—fallen did not mean unredeemable Mythological “Fallen Woman” archetype White and golden=innocence, purity Hair=symbolic of body and soul Maids=virgins; fruit could represent sexuality Laura eating the fruit (and cutting her hair/giving her body) could suggest her loss of virginity (Fallen) Last Supper and Garden of Eden allusions Woman tempted by animal Lizzie=Christ figure offering salvation to her sister [for her sins] “Eat me, drink”=Last Supper