At first glance, the poem “Goblin Market”, by Christina Rossetti, appears to be the strange story of two sisters who share more than just the common sisterly bond. Their love seems to extend past the borders of just a familial relationship to the point of a sexual innuendo. However, because Rossetti was a strongly religious woman throughout her life, it would just not be condonable for her to write a story of sisterly incest. By taking a second glance at the text through a religious eye, a different meaning appears. One can recognize several prominent religious themes if the text is further studied, including the goblins representing evil, Laura’s soul becoming lost, and Lizzie reenacting the sacrifices of Jesus Christ.

It is obvious from the beginning that the goblin men are not nice people. However, upon a closer reading, they are actually portrayed as pagan worshippers who worship false idolatry. This can be seen when they are listing all of their famous fruits. “Come buy, our orchard fruits, Come buy, come buy….” This call is like a praise of worship, or rather, a call to non-believers in an effort to convert them. As the Bible says, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (NIV Mk 16:15, 16) However, since they are trying to sell their fruit instead of giving it away freely as faith, they are working against the powers of God. Religion should never come at a physical price, and this is exactly what the goblins are doing.

The goblins fruit is their gods, their one prized possession throughout the earth. This is noted by the way they describe the fruit, as if it is a heavenly substance. “Bright-fire-like barberries, Figs to fill your mouth….” (Line 27-28) The play on the word “fire” here can be related to the fire that is commonly associated with the power of God. However, because it is described as “fire-like”, it is suggesting that it is not as great as true fire. It is a copy, an imitation of the true power of God, something that cannot sustain. Also, the line of “fill your mouth” seems to have religious connotations. It suggests the possibility of figs being a substitute for the Body of Christ – a substitute for eternal life. According to the Bible, “So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.’” (NASB John 6:53) Because it is a material worship, and not the blood of Christ, they become sinners and have lost their eternal life. Another example of their materialistic and pagan ways can be found by analyzing a piece of text on line 58. “One lugs a golden dish Of many pounds weight.” This reference of a heavy gold dish can be likened to the point in the Bible when the Israelites lose faith and form a golden calf to worship. They have created their very “god” out of the gold they had lying around – so therefore it cannot feasibly be their creator. The same is true for the goblins. They themselves grew their fruit, so it cannot be their god. This entire play on the goblins as pagans acts as a derogatory slander towards them. It tries to show that Christianity is the true religion, and will eventually overcome paganism and its falseness.

In this story, Laura is a character who undergoes many changes. She is happy at first, but her actions lead to almost losing not only her physical life – but also her eternal spiritual life. Her downward spiral begins when she first visits the goblins. “’Buy from us with a golden curl.’ She clipped a precious golden lock… (Lines 125-126)” This action has several implications. First, because her hair is “golden”, it symbolizes, once again the materialness of gold. Secondly, because she bargained with the goblins and gave them a piece of herself, it was like she was selling her soul to them. They have converted her to their immoral pagan beliefs, and now she has no more immortal life. She has turned her back on God in order to pursue her own selfish and materialistic ways, and her loss of hair symbolizes this.

But the problem with her new path is that it cannot satisfy. “She sucked and sucked and sucked the more…. (Line 134)” No matter how much she sucks from the false “gods” the goblins have created, she will find no peace. They cannot give her the life she once had from her trust in God. It is, in fact, the greatest of the Ten Commandments to love and worship God, and she has broken that covenant. The downward spiral she now falls into symbolizes how a person’s life is without the presence of God in it. “Her hair grew thin and grey; She dwindled, as the fair moon doth turn To swift decay and burn. (Line 277-279)” As time passes she is starting to die. Her life, which was once eternal because she trusted in God with all her heart, is waning, and she is falling prey to mortality. The very curious use of the words “decay” and “burn” reinforce this idea entirely. Her body is starting to decay, and soon she will become nothing, a faint presence that once lingered in this world. The idea of burning, however, goes far deeper. This represents the idea of her going to hell for her sins of betrayal and abandonment. She turned her back on God to worship the fruit, and he will let her suffer instead in the fiery depths of hell. All of this is placed within the context of the story to show the suffering of those who turn away from God. It is a sort of scare-tactic – causing people to fear the loss of their own eternal life.

In the Bible, there is only one reason why all of humanity does not instantly go to hell – and that reason is Jesus Christ. He died for the world’s sins through His crucifixion, and in this story, Lizzie does a comparable feat for her sister. When she decided to face the evil goblins, she acted in parallel to Jesus – for when it was time for His sacrifice, He too willingly faced the evil priests. Another startling similarity between Lizzie and Jesus’ stories can be found within a few words from lines 324-325. “But put a silver penny in her purse, Kissed Laura...” The choice to use the word “kiss” is very specific. It seems to relate directly to Judas’s Kiss that betrayed Jesus to his hunters. “… the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them; and he approached Jesus to kiss Him. (NASB Luke 22:47)” Although Laura is not the one who kissed Lizzie, it is her fault Lizzie must face the goblins because of her disloyalty. By betraying God, she betrayed those who loved. Now, because Lizzie truly cares, she is going to save her from her self-imposed death, just as Jesus cared about saving all of humanity. The phrase “silver penny” can also be noted. Everything else of value in this story has been depicted in gold, and has also been of materialistic value. However, because this coin is a penny, which is not at all valuable, and made of silver, it acts as the opposite of materialism. It acts as Lizzie’s life. Although it may not have much physical value, to her it is eternity.

As Lizzie meets the goblins, they laugh and joke at her hysterically, nearly attacking her but holding back. Jesus went through this same fate, as the common people of the land joked and made fun him before he was tortured. Then, when she gives them her small and invaluable coin, she gave them her life. It is here she symbolically dies, just as Jesus did, and is tortured and molested just as He was. They try as hard as they can to destroy her, to convert her, to win her soul as they did with her sister, but she will not give in – just as Jesus did not give in to the physical pain that came with His sacrifice. Finally, “White and golden Lizzie stood… (Line 408)” The color white is usually associated with holiness and pureness, and the golden color seems to represent the fact that she has won back her soul as well as her sister’s. She hears “her penny jingle (line 452)”, and she knows her life is restored eternally. Upon her return, she tells Laura to “Never mind my bruises, Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices… Eat me, drink me, love me… (Lines 467, 68, 71)” This is all very symbolic of the body of Jesus Christ. When He returned, He also had scars from his wounds, and reminded people to eat His body and drink His blood, and they would live forever. The same concept is being utilized here. Lizzie is Jesus, and now has eternal life she wishes to share. She has gone through death itself in order to receive this life, and has made “Life out of death. (Line 524”

Rossetti has taken a seemingly perverted story and transformed it into a plethora of Christian values. By closer interpreting the text, one can see her true purpose – to educate and inform non-believers of the love and forgiveness that God provides. By presenting evil pagan goblins and having Laura act as a lost soul, she uses Lizzie as a metaphor for the powers of Jesus. This entire story acts as an allusion to the Crucifixion. It proves that “there is no friend like a sister” (Line 562), and with unconditional love, everlasting life is quite feasible.