Fallen Women

A fallen women could mean many things, for example: A women who has tripped and now lays splayed across the floor, a women who has "fallen" from a high social standing to a lower social standing, a women who has been consumed by depression and sadness, a women who has become obsessed with drugs and has sacrificed her health because of it.

In my opinion, all of these ways of describing a fallen women seem reasonable, whereas I think the view taken by the villagers in Cousin Kate is not a reasonable view of a fallen women. I think that having sex out of wedlock does not take away a women's virtue or purity, but rather suggests a strong attraction to someone, in most cases anyway. Kate takes the same opinion in the poem, saying " to lead a shameless shameful life" showing that whilst she does not think it is a bad thing that she has done, others do.

I feel that women are viewed quite unfairly by society, in that they are seen in a bad light if they have sex with many people, whereas for a man it is fine to sleep with as many people as he wishes. The general view is quite a sexist one, but I can see why some people may take it. In some peoples eyes, it is easier for a women to have sex than it is for a man, so having sex with many men is abusing this "power", whereas for a man it requires more effort for him to have sex, so it is seen as an achievement, or in other words, not seen as a bad thing.

I feel it is unfair to consider a women a "fallen women" just because she has had sex before marriage. Although, nowadays, this is not as much a prominent view as it was years ago. It usually a view taken by the religious, and because I am not religious, I do not take this view.

On the topic of cousin Kate, I find her treatment unfair. I feel the poem has an underlying message of what I mentioned earlier, that men are allowed to do as they please and women cannot. The fact nobody challenges the man in the poem, and that he is described to be "sitting on high" makes him seem godlike. This may be trying to tell us that the view of men back then was they were more important than women, but not all women thought this way,as Kate feels her treatment was unjust and she is a strong enough women to figure out a plan to get her own back. This may be trying to show that not all women thought that men were so great, and that they could stand up for themselves.

Goblin Market + Erotic Interpretation

Goblin Market by Chistina Rossetti can be interpreted in many different ways. Some of these interpretations are strong and some are weak, depending on the amount of evidence that can be found to back up the interpretation. The interpretations that we looked at were: Erotic, Feminist, Marxist, Moral and Redemptive.

The group I was in looked at the erotic interpretation. We found that the fruit could be representative of the body, and partaking in the delights of eating the fruit could also be delights of the body. Fruit could also represent sperm, or "fruit of the loins", showing that Rossetti was trying to tell us that the goblin men want to spread the fruit of their loins, or tempt the girls into having sex. One of the descriptions of the fruit is"Unpecked cherries" which could represent virginity (unbroken hymen). Thus the eating of the fruit could represent the loss of virginity, and because Laura later eats the fruit, this could mean that she is losing her virginity. Laura's hair is golden and could represent innocence, but when she clips off a "golden lock" she is giving up her innocence to the goblin men, which could represent her succumbing to temptation. Also, the way she uses her hair as payment could be a reference to prostitution, as it is like her selling part of herself away in order to eat the fruit, or in other words have sex.

Also the goblin men are represented as very animalistic, they are shown only to have base desires such as mating and getting food. Rossetti shows this by showing only their desire to sell their fruit, which if interpreted in an erotic way could mean their desire for sex, or spreading their sperm. We also get an idea of Rossetti's thoughts on sex. Laura becomes very ill after eating the fruit, showing that it was a bad thing to do. This could represent Rossetti's thoughts which are sex is a sin, which is why Laura falls ill.

Throughout the poem there are various lines which could be interpreted to be implying sexual meaning such as "fruit globes" and "sucked and sucked". In my opinion, this interpretation of Goblin Market is not the strongest because there is only scattered examples throughout the poem, whereas with the Feminist interpretation, you can find eveidence for the poem as a whole but also smaller examples throughout the poem.

Christina Rossetti + Goblin Market

Christina Rossetti was an English poet whose poems contained much religious symbolism and connotations. This deep religious influence may have come from her childhood, where poverty and depression steered her towards becoming involved in the Anglo-Catholic movement, which developed into the Church of England. Religion then played a huge part in Rossetti's life, which is probably why her poems contain many religious related ideas.

One of the poems she wrote that could be interpreted to contain religious symbolism is Goblin Market. We are bombarded with a list of fruit at the start of the poem, with various descriptions that make the fruit sound appealing. This could be linked to how Eve is tempted by the devil into eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge. This could also mean that fruit in the poem represents temptation, and temptation can lead to doing bad things such as stealing, or in this case eating the fruit.

Other religious ideas that could be taken from Goblin Market are how "eating the fruit" is like giving in to temptation. In this case, giving in to temptation leads to bad health, which shows that it was wrong to give in. This could show that Rossetti believes that you should not give in to temptation, and due to the sexual implications in Goblin Market, it could be assumed that Rossetti is referring to giving in to sex as a sin.

Destination

Destination

In a novel, destination is where the story is eventually going to lead up to. Events in the novel can hint at or even just tell the reader the destination. The way the writer presents certain lines or passages of text can give us hints as to what is about to happen, or what will happen in the future.

As the reader we usually know the destination before the characters in the novel do, as we are provided with more information, whereas they only know what directly affects them.

For example, in Pride and Prejudice, we can work out, or have a good guess at, the destination at which we think the novel will arrive at even from the first line. The line "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife". This line is set apart in its own paragraph. This tells us that it is important, and draws our attention to it. As a result, this idea is stuck in our heads, making us think upon its importance. We can only speculate as to whether this relates at all to the main plot line of the novel, but due to the layout of the text, we must assume so. The line gives the reader the thought that the novel will contain themes of marriage and class. The following conversation also gives us these ideas, whilst also introducing a potential main character, which may in some way be connected to the destination.

At the end of this chapter is the line "The business of her life was to get her daughters married". Due to the content of the previous conversation, and also the first line, we can assume that that is the potential destination of this novel, or that the novel will contain Mrs Bennet's efforts in achieving this destination.

It is through these subtle hints and techniques that the reader can start to piece together what he/she believes the destination will be.

Paper

Paper.

If a writer were to include a description of a piece of scrunched up paper on the floor, then we are to assume that this piece of paper is related in some way to the main story. For example, the paper could be an item of interest to the main character, such as a map or a list. It could also just be a piece of paper, but has been mentioned so as to add to the description of the scene, in this case perhaps a messy classroom. The paper could contain a list of names, a map of the school, a secret or may even just be a distraction. The paper will however link into the story, otherwise it would not have been mentioned, a writer does not describe a scene, place or person, only for it to be never seen again. This idea does not stop at paper. If a writer were to include a particular scenario or event, however minor, we have to consider the importance of it, as it has been included for a reason. For example: a confrontation between a main character and a bully may be included, at first glance it may just appear to be a fight, but when properly inspected we could find that the writer used this event as an opportunity to describe the main character, some of his characteristics, his relationships with other characters etc.