Goblin Market Sisterhood Essay

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Recommended: The portrayal of women in 19th century literature

Reference
Casey, Janet Galligani. "The Potential of Sisterhood: Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market"." Victorian Poetry 29, no. 1 (1991): 63-78.

Description
This essay, entitled ‘The Potential of Sisterhood: Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market’ (1991) is a journal article incorporated as a book chapter in the twenty-ninth volume of the Victorian Poetry. It was written by American feminist literary critic Janet Galligani Casey. This chapter features as a small part of a much wider study concerning literature from the Victorian period through a range of theoretical and critical angles. Victorian Poetry currently has fifty-four volumes suggesting, that it is a popular landmark text in Victorian literary criticism.

Summary
In this journal article, Casey argues that the notion of sisterhood in Goblin Market is a ‘kinship which is purged of sexual bias,’ allowing for the acknowledgment of all divergent individuals to embrace the positive and negative aspects of life, which are both necessary in achieving a sense of …show more content…

It is relevant to the topic as it uses Laura and Lizzie to explore the potential of sisterhood in Goblin Market and the issues of gender exclusion in relation to the notion of sisterhood. The essay is most effective in its consideration of Laura and Lizzie’s sisterhood as not just a group with a capacity for social power but a bond which is pure and endearing, a title in which woman can play the role of both the saviour and the nurturer. In this essay, Casey explores and rebuts other critical material that have in the past claimed Goblin Market is centred around sisterhood in an attempt to argue that Rossetti creates a world which deliberately excludes men. However, Casey argues that sisterhood is not used as an exclusion term but, ‘implies several meanings in a way that includes both sexes’

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