Robert Browning and Christina Rossetti illustrate women’s oppression by men in Victorian society within their poems, “My Last Duchess” and “Goblin Market.” The Duchess, Laura, and Lizzie all counteract this oppression in their own way with varying ramifications. The poets use different perspectives of narration and careful word choice to depict the subjugation of these women, their rebellion against it, and the punishment they face for rebelling in order to call attention to the mistreatment women face. The reader is never given access to the Duchess’s feelings about her own life and her subsequent death. The Duke controls her narrative as much as he controlled every other aspect of her life. By using a dramatic monologue, Browning demands …show more content…
They use this systemic power to coerce Laura into buying their fruits by giving them a “precious golden lock” (Rossetti 126) of hair, sacrificing a literal part of herself to them. Furthermore, there is a superstition throughout Europe that magical beings, such as goblins, can use one’s hair to control them. Therefore, Laura is giving the goblins a physical aspect of herself as well as the ability to wield direct power over her. By succumbing to the goblins and tasting their fruit, an erotic metaphor that is not particularly subtle, Laura relinquishes her virginity, and therefore much of her worth within Victorian society. As punishment for her continual lust for the goblin fruit, she “dwindled” (Rossetti 278), slowly aging and fading away before her sister’s eyes, as if she has lost her youth and her maidenhood in …show more content…
The goblins, enraged by Lizzie’s rejection of their mercantile system, attack and metaphorically gang rape her in retaliation to her unconventional insurrectionism. By confronting the men’s market on her own terms, Lizzie is able to “assert her own sense of female integrity, wholeness, and self-sufficiency, [and] a sense of personal values” (Campbell 400) as well as to ultimately save her sister from the curse of the goblin fruit. Lizzie manages to dismantle the system that threatened her and her sister by refusing to submit to the
A Room of One’s Own and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Aurora Leigh (Book I)”, the women’s voices are muted. Female characters are confined to the domestic spheres of their homes, and they are excluded from the elite literary world. They are expected to function as foils to the male figures in their lives. These women are “trained” to remain silent and passive, not only by the males around them, but also by their parents, their relatives, and their peers.
... men’s fruit. Because of this, she suffers premature aging. Rossetti is conveying the importance of being aware of the possible peril that waits in the outside world, and controlling one’s desires in order to keep oneself from being vulnerable. If one gives in to their desires and makes oneself vulnerable, one will ultimately suffer. Lizzie does not succumb and does not do what the goblin men want her to do. As a result of this refusal, she has the power to bring her sister back to normal and take away her premature aging. Christina Rossetti is conveying the importance of maintaining control over one’s self: if one keeps oneself from becoming vulnerable, resists desires, and chooses the right path, one will remain safe and be rewarded handsomely.
Throughout history, women have struggled with, and fought against, oppression. They have been held back and weighed down by the sexist ideas of a male dominated society which has controlled cultural, economic and political ideas and structures. During the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s women became more vocal and rebuked sexism and the role that had been defined for them. Fighting with the powerful written word, women sought a voice, equality amongst men and an identity outside of their family. In many literary writings, especially by women, during the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s, we see symbols of oppression and the search for gender equality in society.
The goblins tell her that because she has no money, she must give up a lock of her golden hair. While this upsets her and she sheds a tear, she does not give it any more thought. When they tell her to pay in hair, Laura simply “clipped a precious golden lock,/ She dropped a tear more rare than pearl,/ Then sucked their fruit globes fair or red” (126-128). She was so willing to satisfy her hunger and longing for the fruit that she gave up a clearly valuable part of herself without any further consideration whatsoever. She does not pause to think about her decision; she just decides fulfilling her hunger is easily worth relinquishing a part of herself. The use of the word “golden” and the comparison of her tear to something more rare than a pearl show that the parts of herself that she is giving up aren’t just regular locks of hair or regular tears; rather, they are undoubtedly valuable parts of her that she is willing to simply give up to taste the fruits. The lack of protest demonstrated by Laura shows that she does not care about losing a part of herself if it means that she can indulge. Her lack of hesitation and thought shows how willing she is to give herself up; she goes from clipping her hair and dropping a tear immediately into sucking the
Goblin Market contains very heavy, erotic imagery through fruit about sex. In the line above, the reader can see the sexualization of the fruit. It provides the theme of lusting for the body. It has been compared numerous times to the story of Adam and Eve- falling to temptation through fruit. This story is about two sisters who come to realize the importance of sisterhood through temptation, assault, and healing.
Laura tells the story of the goblins and how Lizzie saved her, and how fortunate she was to have a sister to look after her. Mainly because of this verse in the end, the two characters of Laura and Lizzie have been interpreted as representing Christina and Maria Rossetti. I agree with this interpretation of Christina as the easily tempted, tormented Laura, and Maria as the strong, almost saintly Lizzie who rescues her sister from certain ruin. Christina did indeed think that she was dying much of the time of her youth and perhaps she thought that this was her own fault, that she was not good enough to deserve life, or that she must have sinned to deserve the illnesses she suffered from (Sawtell,
Throughout time women have been written as the lesser sex, weaker, secondary characters. They are portrayed as dumb, stupid, and nothing more than their fading beauty. They are written as if they need to be saved or helped because they cannot help themselves. Women, such as Daisy Buchanan who believes all a woman can be is a “beautiful little fool”, Mrs Mallard who quite died when she lost her freedom from her husband, Eliza Perkins who rights the main character a woman who is a mental health patient who happens to be a woman being locked up by her husband, and then Carlos Andres Gomez who recognizes the sexism problem and wants to change it. Women in The Great Gatsby, “The Story of an Hour,” “The Yellow Wall Paper” and the poem “When” are oppressed because the fundamental concept of equality that America is based on undermines gender equality.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning both use a dramatic monologue as a poetical device to capture a reader’s attention and subvert the status quo of political notions that they rail against in order to achieve their ideals of race, gender, and class equality. However, their approach in utilizing dramatic monologue to achieve this goal is substantially different. The differences of tone and context of the dramatic monologue are vividly showcased in the contrast of Barrett’s “The Cry of the Children” and “Robert’s “My Last Duchess.” In Robert’s “My Last Duchess,” the inner-workings of a “noble” man’s (hereafter called, “Ferrara”) mind sets the poem’s tone.
As a woman born in the early 17th century, Anne Bradstreet was naturally destined to a life lived underneath the shadow of the men around her, as were most women of that era; however, Bradstreet had been born into a family that supported her education and learning. While at first glance Bradstreet’s work seems to portray a woman who is highly self-deprecating, her writing style and knowledge of literature and culture beg to differ. In the poem, “The Prologue,” Bradstreet uses literary devices and figurative language to combat the sea of masculine voices surrounding the women of that day. Throughout “The Prologue,” Bradstreet shows a mastery of figurative language and literary devices that contrasts her claims of inferiority, creating a poem that dares to ask for some small recognition of women writers as a whole.
Goblin Market can be seen as a metaphor for the shame and dishonor women in the Victorian era would receive upon being openly sexual and desiring beings. In the poem, Laura succumbing to the Goblin’s fruit represents a woman fulfilling sexual desires, but the fact that Lizzie has to rescue Laura leads one to believe that Lizzie’s satisfaction with the fruits was wrong, and even deadly. Lizzie admonishes Laura by stating, ““No,” said Lizzie, “No, no,
Browning’s works were the primary model for the basic form of the standard Victorian dramatic monologue which was based around a speaker, listener, and a reader. Browning’s poem “My Last Duchess” became a model for the dramatic monologue form primarily because of the strict approach he took while developing the poem. One of the aspects characteristic of this work is the authors level of consciousness. Each element in “My Last Duchess” is thoughtfully constructed with form and structure in mind. This poem is filled with dramatic principle that satisfied the Victorian period’s demand for an action and drama that were not overtly apparent in the work. In the case of “My Last Duchess” the drama of the poem is how his character, the Duke, is introduced. In dramatic monologues the character’s self is revealed through thoug...
In an essay on feminist criticism, Linda Peterson of Yale University explains how literature can "reflect and shape the attitudes that have held women back" (330). From the viewpoint of a feminist critic, "The Lady of Shalott" provides its reader with an analysis of the Victorian woman's conflict between her place in the interior, domestic role of society and her desire to break into the exterior, public sphere which generally had been the domain of men. Read as a commentary on women's roles in Victorian society, "The Lady of Shalott" may be interpreted in different ways. Thus, the speaker's commentary is ambiguous: Does he seek to reinforce the institution of patriarchal society as he "punishes" the Lady with her death for her venture into the public world of men, or does he sympathize with her yearnings for a more colorful, active life? Close reading reveals more than one possible answer to this question, but the overriding theme seems sympathetic to the Lady. By applying "the feminist critique" (Peterson 333-334) to Tennyson's famous poem, one may begin to understand how "The Lady of Shalott" not only analyzes, but actually critiques the attitudes that held women back and, in the end, makes a hopeful, less patriarchal statement about the place of women in Victorian society.
“Girls wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it is okay to be a boy; for a girl it is like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading” (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the “housewife” or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a spot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories, poems, and novels in the early time period of literature. During the early time period of literature, women who opposed the common role were often times put to shame or viewed as rebels. As literature progresses through the decades and centuries, very little, but noticeable change begins to appear in perspective to the common role of women. Women were more often seen as a main character in a story setting as the literary period advanced. Around the nineteenth century women were beginning to break away from the social norms of society. Society had created a subservient role for women, which did not allow women to stand up for what they believe in. As the role of women in literature evolves, so does their views on the workforce environment and their own independence. Throughout the history of the world, British, and American literature, women have evolved to become more independent, self-reliant, and have learned to emphasize their self-worth.
Throughout literature’s history, female authors have been widely recognized for their groundbreaking and eye-opening accounts of what it means to be a woman in society. In most cases of early literature, women are portrayed as weak and unintelligent characters who rely solely on their male counterparts. Also during this time period, it would be shocking to have women characters in some stories, especially since their purpose is only secondary to that of the male protagonist. But, in the late 17th to early 18th century, a crop of courageous women began publishing their works, beginning the literary feminist movement. Together, Aphra Behn, Charlotte Smith, Fanny Burney, and Mary Wollstonecraft challenge the status quo of what it means to be a woman during the time of the Restoration Era and give authors and essayists of the modern day, such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a platform to become powerful, influential writers of the future.
In "My Last Duchess", by Robert Browning, the character of Duke is portrayed as having controlling, jealous, and arrogant traits. These traits are not all mentioned verbally, but mainly through his actions. In the beginning of the poem the painting of the Dukes wife is introduced to us: "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,/ looking as of she were still alive" (1-2). These lines leave us with the suspicion that the Duchess is no longer alive, but at this point were are not totally sure. In this essay I will discuss the Dukes controlling, jealous and arrogant traits he possesses through out the poem.