Marxist

One interpretation in the "Goblin Market" is Marxism and in my previous lesson I got given the task finding out how this interpretation is shown in the poem. The poem could link to the economic state of time when the poem was written in many ways which shows the reader the importance of trade and market stalls and the need for Marxism in that period of time.

The goblin men could symbolise and represent many things, but we concluded that they could represent businessmen or con artists due to their sly attitude which is shown when it says "signalling each other, brother with sly brother". Businessmen and, especially, con artists are known to act slyly towards people and their sales techniques and ways of persuading and tempting anyone who takes interest in what they are selling is similar to how the goblins tempt Laura into eating their fruit. The fact that she eats the fruit shows that the flaunting of their fruit and repetitive use of persuasive words such as "look" and "come buy" is very effective, therefore the goblins obviously have experience and efficient ways in selling the fruit so the argument that they could represent skilled businessmen is, in my opinion, a strong one.

Furthermore, the goblins know that once Laura tries the fruit she will become hooked onto the "sweet", "strong" and "clear" taste and will desire to eat more of it. This is why they are desperately trying to sell the fruit as once she has had a taster of the substances then they will have succeeded in making another person addicted to what they are selling so they will then want to come back and buy more. If the goblins represent businessmen then the selling of the fruit represents part of their business, therefore her addiction will make their business more sustainable. However, when Laura goes back to buy more of the fruit the goblins have disappeared which tells us that once they have got what they want they depart from the area. This could mean that the goblin men in fact represent con artists who are crafty people that attempt to sell something that is deceptive, such as the fruit that makes you ill and age prematurely once you have eaten it, and once they have sold their product they leave so that they cannot get caught. The goblins therefore have bad intentions and their misleading appearance and product causes problems that they evidently indented to do which means they are creatures, or in other words monsters, that cannot be trusted.

Moreover, when Laura sells her "golden curl" to the goblins this links in to the idea of Marxism as the fact that the lock of hair is described as "golden" makes us believe that it is seen as valuable to the goblins. Due to this we might start to think that she is selling something more than just a golden curl and that perhaps she is selling her innocence or part of herself. However, the curl could mean nothing to the goblins and they might actually intend to sell at any cost as they know the fruit is very addictive and that she will return to buy more.