Thursday, 22 September 2011

Interpretations

Last lesson, we were talking about the various interpretations of Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti there is. There was erotic, feminist, marxist, redemptive and moral interpretations and I was put in the redemptive group.
We spoke about how Laura has to redeem herself to Lizzie, as Lizzie is the one who sacrifices herself (she gets beaten up by the goblins) for her sisters temptation and addiction. This means Lizzie saved Lauras life and Laura has to redeem herself to Lizzie.
In the last few lines, Laura is indirectly thanking Lizzie for what she did by saying 'there is no friend like a sister' which could be a way Laura feels she is redeeming herself to Lizzie without telling her.
The last verse shows Laura has redeemed herself to God, by leading a traditional Christian life (getting married and having children.) She also avoids sinning, even though the temptation is still there, for her sister, children and God.
Redemption could also be in the form of a kind of rebirth, by the line 'is it death or is it life?' said by Laura after waking up after drinking the Goblins juices Lizzie collected. It is like the evil and temptation in Laura has been killed and the goodness and innocence has been reborn/redeemed. We also said that Rossetti mentions how Laura 'laughed in the innocent old way' which is like redemption has been redeemed and given back.

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