Goblin Market

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Recommended: Influences of the romantic period on the Victorian period

Victorian Themes in Imagination: Goblin Market in Relation to Romanticism

There were two principle views concerning imagination, the Victorians and the Romantics, who didn’t accept each other’s ideas about imagination. But, despite their clashes on the status and views of imagination, the Romantics and Victorians share similar ideas through different angles of perspective, which we could assume are linked in part to their era. The long poem, named Goblin Market, written by Christina Rossetti shows the contrast between the ideas of Romanticism and the Victorian image of imagination while utilizing the same motifs. Goblin Market centralizes its theme on the Victorian approach towards Imagination as being a destructive, alien force that leads to grave and fatal consequences. Nature is seen as a demonic force that leads to death, as well as the clear distinction of the imaginative creatures, consisting of the goblins, being portrayed as satanic and evil. In addition, throughout this tale we see how the imagination is constantly blamed for leading to unfortunate situations, while the Romantics would consider the imagination to be doing the person good even if it leads the person astray on a path of death and destruction. Thus, Rossetti’s text demonstrates the Imagination having satanic nature, which portrays imagination as intoxicating and deadly. Also, the author displays her disapproval of nature by demonstrating Laura’s rejection of nature as her enlightenment, whereas the Romantics would do otherwise. The Romantics have different views of the imagination than the Victorians. They consider imagination as a divine force and a pathway to a higher experience and spiritual truth in any form. The Romantics consider that their perc...

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...esides the fact to avoid temptation in the future therefore the story shows no signs of enlightenment and no signs of any core Romantic ideals. In conclusion, Goblin Market supports Victorian based theme concerning the imagination as a dangerous force. In addition, Rossetti disapproves the Romantic ideals about imagination in her text and criticizes them using the core Victorian themes. The text shows no signs of nature being a divine or even imagination as a constructive learning experience; instead it demonstrates the nature as satanic and evil while the imagination provokes no enlightenment. The imagination reveals signs of destruction and looming death, which is not a characteristic of the Romantic principles. To sum up, Rossetti’s poem depicts the basic differences of perspective between the Romantics and the Victorians by utilizing the same motifs. Works Cited

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