The Fallen Woman in Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market" (eBook)

Essay from the year 2016 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 13, University of Sheffield, language: English, abstract: This essay explores how "Goblin Market" deals with the concept of the fallen woman, personified in both Jeanie and Laura. In Victorian times, one of the virtues associated with the ideal middle- and upper-class woman, the so-called 'angel in the house', was chastity. Women who lost their virtue out of wedlock or had sexual relations with a man other than their husband were considered 'fallen woman'. For these women, finding a suitable husband was usually out of the question. They could try to find a job, and in the worst case, ended up as prostitutes. Christina Rossetti helped reintegrate fallen women into society. Nevertheless,
Rossetti probably did not think that women should have the same sexual freedom as men. Many of her works deal with innocence and temptation, and the consequences of becoming a fallen woman. In this essay, it shall be explained how Goblin Market deals with the concept of the fallen woman, personified in both Jeanie and Laura.