“Forbidden tastes are sweetest.” Consider ways in which
writers explore the attraction of the forbidden.
In Henrik Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’, and Christina Rossetti’s poem ‘Goblin
Market’, we see that several things that are forbidden appear better or
more appealing than the acceptable pastimes or feelings, but the
consequences of disobedience appear quite different depending on the
figure of authority that has forbidden the action.
Firstly, in both ‘A Doll’s House’ and Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market’ there is a
seemingly naïve and innocent girl who shouldn’t eat a certain food but
does so anyways. Nora loves macaroons, but Torvald forbids her from
eating them. She buys them anyway and “pops the bag of macaroons into
her pocket and wipes her mouth” which conveys a sense of how she
knows that it would upset Torvald to see her eating macaroons, after he
forbid them. She clearly disobeys him, and then lies to Dr Rank saying
that Mrs Linde bought them for her, as he explains that he “thought they
were forbidden here.” It appears that Torvald’s rule on macaroons is quite
open, and so makes her disobedience more obvious and deceitful if she
then lies to Dr Rank about it too. Although quite a small act of rebellion, a
Victorian audience would have still frowned upon this behaviour as she
clearly disobeys her husband, and the husband should have had full
influence and authority over his wife, who should have been submissive
and obedient to him. Torvald is worried that the macaroons would ruin
Nora’s teeth as they are so sugary, but this could also reflect a desire in
Torvald to keep Nora uncorrupted and as perfect as she was when they
first married, which is then seen later in the play when Torvald explains
his fantasy about pretending to himself that he’s “alone” with her for the
first time, which hints at a desire to preserve her virginal state in his mind.
However, in Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”, the warnings behind not eating
goblin fruit convey a much more sinister atmosphere especially when we
see the consequences of Laura eating the fruit. Laura actually initially
warns her sister Lizzie stating that “we must not buy their fruits:/ Who
knows what soil they fed/ Their hungry thirsty roots?” This conveys a
much more cautious and sensible attitude to Laura than we see later in
the poem, when “sweet-tooth Laura” can no longer resist the cries of the
goblins and must taste the forbidden fruit, with disastrous consequences.
Christina Rossetti was devoutly religious throughout her life, and as Mary
Werner points out in her article “forbidden foods and guilty pleasures”,
“Laura’s association with Eve, tempted by the forbidden fruit, and Lizzie’s
with Christ the redeemer, reinforces the moral code of the poem.” Laura is
saved by her sister’s love and bravery, where she is willing to sacrifice
herself so that Laura might recover from her addiction-like symptoms.
There are sexual connotations to Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market” throughout,
which seem overtly promiscuous to a modern reader, but whether these
themes were intended is another issue. ‘Goblin Market’ was published as
a children’s poem, which makes an intentional sexual theme even less
likely. In Lesa Scholl’s article ‘Fallen or forbidden: Rossetti’s Goblin
writers explore the attraction of the forbidden.
In Henrik Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’, and Christina Rossetti’s poem ‘Goblin
Market’, we see that several things that are forbidden appear better or
more appealing than the acceptable pastimes or feelings, but the
consequences of disobedience appear quite different depending on the
figure of authority that has forbidden the action.
Firstly, in both ‘A Doll’s House’ and Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market’ there is a
seemingly naïve and innocent girl who shouldn’t eat a certain food but
does so anyways. Nora loves macaroons, but Torvald forbids her from
eating them. She buys them anyway and “pops the bag of macaroons into
her pocket and wipes her mouth” which conveys a sense of how she
knows that it would upset Torvald to see her eating macaroons, after he
forbid them. She clearly disobeys him, and then lies to Dr Rank saying
that Mrs Linde bought them for her, as he explains that he “thought they
were forbidden here.” It appears that Torvald’s rule on macaroons is quite
open, and so makes her disobedience more obvious and deceitful if she
then lies to Dr Rank about it too. Although quite a small act of rebellion, a
Victorian audience would have still frowned upon this behaviour as she
clearly disobeys her husband, and the husband should have had full
influence and authority over his wife, who should have been submissive
and obedient to him. Torvald is worried that the macaroons would ruin
Nora’s teeth as they are so sugary, but this could also reflect a desire in
Torvald to keep Nora uncorrupted and as perfect as she was when they
first married, which is then seen later in the play when Torvald explains
his fantasy about pretending to himself that he’s “alone” with her for the
first time, which hints at a desire to preserve her virginal state in his mind.
However, in Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”, the warnings behind not eating
goblin fruit convey a much more sinister atmosphere especially when we
see the consequences of Laura eating the fruit. Laura actually initially
warns her sister Lizzie stating that “we must not buy their fruits:/ Who
knows what soil they fed/ Their hungry thirsty roots?” This conveys a
much more cautious and sensible attitude to Laura than we see later in
the poem, when “sweet-tooth Laura” can no longer resist the cries of the
goblins and must taste the forbidden fruit, with disastrous consequences.
Christina Rossetti was devoutly religious throughout her life, and as Mary
Werner points out in her article “forbidden foods and guilty pleasures”,
“Laura’s association with Eve, tempted by the forbidden fruit, and Lizzie’s
with Christ the redeemer, reinforces the moral code of the poem.” Laura is
saved by her sister’s love and bravery, where she is willing to sacrifice
herself so that Laura might recover from her addiction-like symptoms.
There are sexual connotations to Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market” throughout,
which seem overtly promiscuous to a modern reader, but whether these
themes were intended is another issue. ‘Goblin Market’ was published as
a children’s poem, which makes an intentional sexual theme even less
likely. In Lesa Scholl’s article ‘Fallen or forbidden: Rossetti’s Goblin
