The Never Ending Goblin Market

Christina Rossetti wrote a poem called the Goblin Market that featured two sisters trying to fight off the different goblin's in their society. If there is one clear metaphor in the entire poem, it is that the goblins are men. The goblin's represent man and all that he does to women. The positions he puts them in, the things that he tempts and scares women with, and the unfortunate situations that men put women in and then ridicule them anyway. A large issue with men, and the goblin's in this story, is that they demand and put women into professions like prostitution, but then insist on disrespecting them because of their profession. It is the largest double standard that women still contend with in the 21st century.

Women are looked down upon for what they do, and what they get into, but it's overlooked that it's men who get them involved in the first place. The goblins of the world is what women should really look out for and be wary of. This is not a common theme in the literary world because men are consistently the hero's of all the popular stories, but Rossetti made a sister the hero of the Goblin Market. A woman was a hero in this story and I personally believe this should grow in the literary world. It is starting to change in YA novels such as Divergent and The Hunger Games, but there is still major room to improve.