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The Goblin Men’s Fruit
In “Goblin Market,” women’s hair functions as a symbol of their purity and health—both spiritual and physical. At the start of the poem, Laura and Lizzie are both described as having golden hair, a desirable color during the nineteenth century and one that was often associated with youth, beauty, and purity in the literature of the time. Laura’s hair, in particular, might also be read as an allusion to Petrarch’s Laura, the beautiful, golden-haired, idealized woman immortalized as the love interest in the fourteenth-century poet’s sonnets (Rossetti was thoroughly familiar with Petrarch, incorporating allusions to his poetry within her own). When Laura and Lizzie are described as like “two wands of ivory/ Tipped with gold for awful kings,” their hair is associated with treasure, precious and pure enough to crown the scepter of a king. And earlier in the poem, Laura uses her golden hair as if it was literally gold or currency. At the goblins’ suggestion, Laura clips “a precious golden lock,” drops “a tear more rare than pearl,” and uses it to pay for their forbidden fruit. Hair is literally an extension of Laura’s self.
Within nineteenth-century culture, hair had great symbolic significance and value. Locks of hair were exchanged as tokens of love and kept as mementos of the dead. Hair also had material value, as many destitute women sold their hair to wigmakers. The act of giving away her precious hair in exchange for indulging in the sensual pleasures of the goblins’ fruit thus aligns Laura with the figure of the fallen woman. The change from golden hair to gray, then, symbolizes the loss of Laura’s youth and innocence after succumbing to temptation, selling a part of herself, and eating the fruit. As Laura loses her childlike innocence, she begins to physically age and decline, and this change is reflected in the quality of her hair. Laura’s hair only regains its golden color after she drinks the fruit juice that Lizzie brings back to her after a terrifying confrontation with the goblin men. Through Lizzie’s Christlike act of self-sacrifice, the goblins’ fruit is transformed from poisonous to restorative and life-giving. When Laura consumes it, it restores her youth and purity and the golden abundance of her hair.
Hair Quotes in Goblin Market
The Goblin Market quotes below all refer to the symbol of Hair. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Goblin Market Quotes
Crouching close together
In the cooling weather,
With clasping arms and cautioning lips,
With tingling cheeks and finger tips.
“Lie close,” Laura said,
Pricking up her golden head:
“We must not look at goblin men,
We must not buy their fruits:
Who knows upon what soil they fed
Their hungry thirsty roots?”
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On hearing the cry of the goblin merchant men, Laura and Lizzie become alarmed, crouching low to the ground and clasping one another for protection. The sisters know that the goblins are dangerous and that they must not look at them or buy their fruit, but their reasons for hiding are somewhat ambiguous. While they clearly wish to avoid an encounter with the goblins and the temptation of being invited to purchase forbidden fruit, the sisters’ “tingling cheeks and fingertips” and Laura’s fascination with the goblins’ bodies suggest that they are also curious and sexually aroused. The sisters not only Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui di
But sweet-tooth Laura spoke in haste:
“Good folk, I have no coin;
To take were to purloin:
I have no copper in my purse,
I have no silver either,
And all my gold is on the furze
That shakes in windy weather
Above the rusty heather.”
“You have much gold upon your head,”
They answered all together:
“Buy from us with a golden curl.”
She clipped a precious golden lock,
She dropped a tear more rare than pearl,
Then sucked their fruit globes fair or red:
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Laura longs to buy the luscious forbidden fruit, but having no money of her own, she is uneasy about accepting it as a gift. “Goblin Market” was written in the mid-nineteenth century, at a time when women had few opportunities for advanced education and few career options. Unable to earn sufficient income to support themselves, many Victorian women engaged in prostitution in order to purchase the necessities of life. Laura becomes aligned with these “fallen” women when she cuts a piece of her golden hair, metaphorically selling herself in exchange for the sensuous pleasures of the fruit, which she sucks Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem acc
“Do you not remember Jeanie,
How she met them in the moonlight,
Took their gifts both choice and many,
Ate their fruits and wore their flowers
Plucked from bowers
Where summer ripens at all hours?
But ever in the noonlight
She pined and pined away;
Sought them by night and day,
Found them no more but dwindled and grew grey;
Then fell with the first snow,
While to this day no grass will grow
Where she lies low:
I planted daisies there a year ago
That never blow.”
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When Laura returns home following her encounter with the goblin men, Lizzie meets her at the gate and anxiously tells her a cautionary tale about a young woman named Jeanie. Although Lizzie is too late to prevent Laura from eating the fruit, Jeanie’s story—her seduction by the goblin men, acceptance of their exotic gifts and flowers, abandonment by them, and eventual death—ominously foreshadows a probable outcome for Laura. Although “Goblin Market” is a fantasy, Jeanie’s story also conforms to the pattern of many nineteenth-century narratives about fallen woman. For example, like Jeanie, the fallen women in these narratives are often Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accus
Golden head by golden head,
Like two pigeons in one nest
Folded in each other’s wings,
They lay down in their curtained bed:
Like two blossoms on one stem,
Like two flakes of new-fall’n snow,
Like two wands of ivory
Tipped with gold for awful kings.
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After Laura has experienced her metaphorical sexual fall through eating the goblin fruit, and the worried Lizzie has told her cautionary tale about Jeanie, the sisters retire to sleep in the bed they share. This description of the sisters at rest emphasizes their twin-like similarity of appearance—they are “like two blossoms on one stem,” with the same white complexion and golden hair. More importantly, however, it stresses the sisters’ shared moral purity. Laura and Lizzie are compared to pigeons, which are part of the same family as doves and therefore share the dove’s associations with peace, purity, beauty, love, and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. M
One called her proud,
Cross-grained, uncivil;
Their tones waxed loud,
Their looks were evil.
Lashing their tails
They trod and hustled her,
Elbowed and jostled her,
Clawed with their nails,
Barking, mewing, hissing, mocking,
Tore her gown and soiled her stocking,
Twitched her hair out by the roots,
Stamped upon her tender feet,
Held her hands and squeezed their fruits
Against her mouth to make her eat.
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As Lizzie predicted, the goblins’ fruit has destroyed Laura’s health and peace of mind, bringing her to the verge of death like Jeanie before her. Fearing for Laura’s life, Lizzie decides to meet the goblins and purchase their fruit, hoping it will work as an antidote and revive her sister. The goblins, however, refuse the coin that Lizzie offers as payment, and after realizing they cannot make her eat with them, they brutally attack her in a way that resembles a sexual assault or attempted rape. Not only do the goblin men claw at her flesh and rip her hair Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem
White and golden Lizzie stood,
Like a lily in a flood,—
Like a rock of blue-veined stone
Lashed by tides obstreperously,—
Like a beacon left alone
In a hoary roaring sea,
Sending up a golden fire,—
Like a fruit-crowned orange-tree
White with blossoms honey-sweet
Sore beset by wasp and bee,—
Like a royal virgin town
Topped with gilded dome and spire
Close beleaguered by a fleet
Mad to tug her standard down.
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As Lizzie withstands a brutal attack by the goblin men, she is physically vulnerable (capable of bleeding, and of having her clothing torn and her hair pulled out) but, morally and spiritually, she remains strong and impervious. Refusing to yield to the goblins, by keeping her mouth tightly closed, Lizzie rejoices in her quiet strength and resolve, and she is described in a series of images that emphasize strength and uprightness in moments of turmoil. For example, Lizzie is simultaneously described as like the fragile lily and the more durable “blue-veined rock,” surrounded by flood waters. She is also compared Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus
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Hair Symbol Timeline in Goblin Market
The timeline below shows where the symbol Hair appears in Goblin Market. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Goblin Market
...regions the fruit has grown. Yet, hearing the goblins’ call, Laura “pricks” up her “ golden head .”
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The goblins, however, point to Laura’s golden hair as an adequate payment and urge her to clip one of her curls to offer...
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...fruit, and wore their flowers, but then pined away when the goblins abandoned her. Jeanie’s hair grew grey before she died in her prime. No grass will grow upon Jeanie’s grave,...
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The two sisters then retire to sleep in the same bed, “ Golden head by golden head,” and with their arms enfolding one another. They are lulled to sleep...
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...sees or hears them again. In her sorrow and anxiety, Laura becomes decrepit and her hair turns thin and gray. One day, she remembers the kernel stone that she brought back...
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...looks become “evil.” Their anger escalates and they begin to attack Lizzie, pulling out her hair by the roots, clawing at her body, stamping on her feet, ripping her gown, and...
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Laura leaps up from her chair and pulls at her hair. She fearfully asks Lizzie if she has eaten the goblins’...
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...flowers, Laura awakens transformed. She laughs in her old innocent way and embraces Lizzie. Her hair returns to its golden color, showing “not one thread of grey,” and her youthfulness is...
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