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ENG 201 Essay #2: Exploring sexual repression of the Victorian woman…
ENG 201 Essay #2: Exploring sexual repression of the Victorian woman through Christina Rossetti's "The Goblin Market", "An Apple Gathering", and "No, Thank You, John"
Questions: was Rossetti trying to deliver any message through her writing about the status/lives of women in her time, or was she just writing?
compared with other woman writers of her time (eg E.B.B) what seems to be Rossetti's view of her own gender? Does she have a specific point of view?
We've read so many works by women that seemed "ahead of their time" in their work. Was Rossetti the same, or was she more of a product of her time?
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Rossetti intelligent, thoughtful woman. Educated. But repressed because of her time/potential sexuality? Very homoerotic tones in some of her poetry. Repressed maybe also because of her religious beliefs, or religious beliefs a way to not be involved with me? (too speculative)
Introduction: context of Victorian era: social mores, roles of woman in the home and in the arts. Changing times, effect on art produced by women? Social conservationism vs changing social landscape
First body paragraph: Context of Christina Rossetti's life and education. Was she educated differently than other Victorian era women? Religious beliefs, etc. "The Goblin Market": her most famous work.
3rd body paragraph: "An Apple Gathering" (notes) compare and contrast with "The Goblin Market"- draw attention to parallels/similar themes
4th body paragraph: "No, Thank You, John" as contrasting with arguably "pro-marriage" theme./ends of previous 2 poems. reversal of gender roles (notes)
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Build up to thesis Rossetti's work can be interpreted in many different ways depending on the lens through which it is viewed. Her work can either be viewed as the product of an individual who has been so deeply repressed by the society she lives in that she doesn't realize how it comes through in her work, or the product of someone who was clever enough to subvert the social mores of the time while seeming to encapsulate them. (???)
Thesis All interpretations of Rossetti's work are valid, even as they contradict each other. Rossetti's work stands apart from her Victorian peers because it was progressive not for it's outright flouting of Victorian ideals, but because she wrote poetry that showed a duality of mind that would not have been (??) for Victorian women at the time.
Q: should I focus on the work of this one author, or bring in another author's text?
"An Apple Gathering"
Again apple blossoms, fruit as a symbol for fertility/sexuality
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counterpoint: Rossetti showing the damage that woman's worth being place on fertility/sexual purity does?
Very hard to tell what "side" Rossetti ever takes, if any. Her work is so open to interpretation it's hard to know what authorial intent is at all.
Rossetti was religious, so probably not pro sex before marriage, but also had a life and interests outside men. (never married)
"Jeanie" in "The Goblin Market" that "should have been a wife" buried because of scandal? No flowers grow on her grave. Speaker in "An Apple Gathering?"