Throughout her life as a poet, Christina Rossetti was not recognized as a feminist writer. However, her work continuously examined the many different relationships among women and the limitations that female writers dealt with. Even though most of her views were formed through her religious beliefs, some of Christina Rossetti’s works were critical of the gender society she experienced. She would include different feminist viewpoints into her poems while highlighting that she may not have agreed with all of it. She had much interest in women and their status within the Victorian era, including the outlook on marriage and the concept of being treated more as objects instead of people.
In the poem “Goblin Market”, Christina Rossetti focuses on a more female dominant world by creating a story about an unbreakable bond between two sisters. Terry L. Spaise writes, ““Goblin Market” is a particularly good example of this feminine dominant world since the focus is on the relationships between the two sisters, Lizzie and Laura, and the threat to their bond by the goblin men” (55). Here, the clear focus is to shed light on the positive relationships between women and to teach them that there is no friend like a sister. The goblin men serve as the male figures in the Victorian Society and how they threaten the bonds of women. Christina Rossetti uses the character Laura to go against the values of the society by engaging with the goblin men. However, as the story progresses, she is forgiven and wakes up from her pain and suffering with the help from her sister Lizzie. With this being said, Christina Rossetti states, “For there is no friend like a sister In calm or stormy weather; To cheer one on the tedious way, To fetch one if the one goes astray, To lift one if one totters down, To strengthen whilst one stands” (815). Here, Laura is speaking to her children and teaching them the importance of sisterhood. In a feminist perspective, instead of only speaking about sisters in a genetic sense, she may be explaining the connection between women in general. Rossetti created a way to make the men seem less powerful to women. Her poem brings out the powerful and independent traits that every woman has and she shows her readers that a female can exist without the help from a male figure. This questions her views on the supportive relationships that husbands and wives should have during this century.
Another work by Christina Rossetti that highlights the value of women and the inequality that they faced is “From The Antique”. From beginning to end, this poem establishes a negative tone. In the first stanza, she states “It’s a weary life, it is, she said: Doubly blank in a woman’s lot: I wish and I wish I were a man: Or, better then any being, were not” (Rossetti). Here, she highlights the alienation that women felt and how her life will not have meaning until women are portrayed as equal in society. This embodies the burden that females faced during a time where they were not accepted as anything besides a mother and a wife. Rossetti embraced the role of the ideal class, however her voice behind this poem challenges these female and social expectations. In this poem, she describes the terrible reality that women faced but also learning to accept her fate.
Christina Rossetti was a woman who was able to speak her mind without finding herself in a place of controversy. In her poem The Prince’s Progress, she gets the reader to sympathize with the woman in the story by creating a man who is self-indulged and careless. In this poem, the prince takes years to return back to his princess, leaving her alone which eventually leads to her death. Rossetti writes, “We never saw her with a smile Or with a frown; Her bed seemed never soft to her, Tho’ tossed of down;” (Stanza 83). Here, she speaks about the people that surrounded the woman and how each of them never saw her happy or sad. She creates a female character that is admirable but also passive, just like women were forced to be during this time. She highlights the concept of betrayal and uses the female as the main focus without providing a woman point of view. Dorothy Mermin states, “In their revisionary stories the crucial shift in point of view is incomplete and usually concealed, and Victorian readers apparently never saw it” (71). Here, Mermin speaks about Barrett Browing and Christina Rossetti’s form of writing. She points out that unlike most women poets during the Victorian period, they concealed their views on women which created a way for people to read their work in a different light.
Christina Rossetti was not a recognizable feminist or advocate for women during her lifetime. However, her work continuously examined the many different relationships among women and the limitations that female writers and females in general dealt with. Her writing continuously sympathized women and the hardships that they went through on a daily basis. She often created positive relationships between females while excluding men from the entire story. Even though she was a very religious woman, some of Christina Rossetti’s works were critical of the gender society she experienced. She included different feminist viewpoints into her poems but only to a certain extent. She had much interest in women and their status within the Victorian era, including the outlook on marriage and the concept of being treated more as objects instead of people.
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