Lowri's Agender

Tag: Gothic

  • I Still Am A Dark Romantic Teenager

    I Still Am A Dark Romantic Teenager

    Content Notes: Images of Torture and Discussions of Consumption, Death, Sexual Abuse and Suicide

    I have talked at length about the origins of SCP -166 as well as how the community responded to the article. And although there were positive moments, my reviews have primarily been a downer. Therefore, to round off this trilogy in a joyous fanfare, let’s talk about one of the most depressing pieces of fiction I have read and why it works so well!

    0166 License to Kill

    SCP-0166 is not actually an SCP article. It is from the Tales Series, essentially the fan fiction section of the SCP wiki. This format allows for more conventional narrative stories as well as lore building by creators outside of the official articles. Often it is employed by writers to put their own spin on the lore or allow a more personalised look at different characters. Which is exactly what UraniumEmpire was hoping to do when they posted SCP-0166 on 20/9/2019. [1]

    I frequently state you should read the original literature, but for this story it is rather necessary. This is a extensive piece of work and I will not be capable of doing the details justice in a brief overview. We begin with Epon’s (the name I’m using for SCP-166) Containment Procedures which say she is to be managed by the Pataphysics Department.[1] They are a research division which handles anomalies that treat the universe as if it is materially fiction.[2] Furthering this narrative interplay, changes to Epon are to be examined for “Romantic Repercussions” referencing the Romantic literary movement.

    She is to be housed in an unfurnished containment cell, fed 19th century vegetarian food and to be moved to a new housing unit every week.[1] She is to be contained in Site 166, a set of disposable concrete buildings containing empty holding compartments that are not allowed to exist for more than a year. Asexual or neurotypical personnel are strongly preferred and all feminine attracted employees are denied access to Epon.

    Moving onto the description section, we are informed Epon’s primary anomaly. She is the centre of a reality warping field that transforms the surrounding matter to conform to literary ideals.[1] However she exhibits some control of this as there is a deliberate manifestation of 19th Century Dark Romanticist conventions. Extended exposure to this field is inhospitable due to hostile architecture and pollution. As well, the more things change to these conventions the more the field grows, hence needing to switch where she lives.

    The Cathedral Of Blood from Code Vein (2019) by Bandai Namco
    Retrieved From: Facebook

    After all this preamble we are conveyed some history, in the form of two separate streams. One recounts Epon’s personal history and the other is a set of interviews with a Dr Sophia Whateley. I will try covering all this chronologically but in the story itself, the two sets of information are alternated between.

    Paraphrasing the tale to hell, we begin with Epon in her former teenage succubus form.[1] She is examined by a male doctor, Dr James Dantensen with allusions of sexual malfeasance on the doctor’s part. Eventually, Epon escapes containment and neutralizes him before being re-contained. After this, Epon exhibits signs of recalcitrance, disavowed Catholicism, suicidality and becomes hostile to all personnel.

    However, once she began suffering from malnutrition due to not eating and cellulitis, her hostility lessens. She escapes for a second time but hands herself back into containment six months later, with little discussion as to what she did on her outing. Only that she seems worse mentally.

    We subsequently obtain the interviews with Dr Sophia Whateley. The first is predominantly Epon stonewalling the psychologist, as well as lamenting being emotionally stunted and perceiving a lack of control in her own life.[1]

    In the following interview we find out Dr Whateley was trying to be reassigned due to developing romantic feelings for her patient. But because of anomalous interference she is forced to interact with Epon anyway. Epon monologues about how Dr Dantensen perceived her as a fetish piece, so after his death the teenage succubus transformed into a mid-20s dark romantic. In addition, she blames Whateley, as proxy for the entire Foundation, for their culpability in her abuse. This section ends with Epon recounting a male staffer breaking into containment to elope with her. In response, she told the staffer to kill himself.

    The third interview is primarily Whateley and Epon arguing.[1] The former contends she is trying her best to help. But the latter views the doctor as being impersonal, lacking any care and solely representing another in a extensive line of researchers attempting to control her. To Epon, Whateley is no better than the men who came before her.

    The final interview is the most tragic. Whateley rushes into Epon’s containment cell, her fingers covered in blood. She tries talking but coughs up blood as her words are choked.[1] The doctor pleads to Epon that she wanted to do more and still loves her, as the effects of tuberculosis consume her lungs. Epon monologues that it was inevitable, that this is a terrible way to go, and in response to the declaration of love, tells Whateley to kill herself. Whateley dies in an instant. And Epon retreats to her bed, her back to the camera in her room. With only the sounds of crying disturbing the stillness.

    Transcending American Literature

    There are many directions to take this story, a plethora of things that can be said about it. But I think one of the most important avenues is to discuss the ties to Anti-Transcendentalism or Dark Romanticism. Dark Romanticism is a combination of the Transcendentalist and Gothic literary movements, often typified by the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville.[3][4][5] Transcendentalism is excellently described by Olgahan Bakşi Yalçin in her essay on Moby Dick as:

    “ Briefly, transcendentalism stresses the importance of individualism, intuition, nature, and self-reliance as opposed to Calvinism, or the doctrine of predestination practiced by the Puritans at that time”[5]

    The Gothic movement was based on Romanticism (itself based on Transcendentalism), and focused on the more sordid side of individualism and nature. It often relies on secrecy, illness and horror in everyday occurrences.[3] These genres were uniquely from the United States, as Transcendentalism itself came from the desire of American writers to produce their own literary movement outside of European writing conventions.[4] However, although Dark Romanticism was born of Americana, it ended up less conventional that the other offshoots.

    Depending on the writer, you get a different severity of critiques against Transcendentalism. Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter does depict Anti-Transcendentalist themes but ultimately seems to side with Transcendentalism as the path for humanity.[4] Melville’s Moby Dick has Ishmael gradually lose his Transcendentalist beliefs due to the horrors of Ahab’s lust for revenge. Suggesting Transcendentalisms idyllic picture is not inevitably reflected in reality.[5] And Poe’s The Pit and The Pendulum focuses on the horror people inflict on others, how disgustingly torturous we can naturally be.[6]

    Illustration for The Pit and The Pendulum (1919) by Harry Clarke
    Retrieved From: Wikipedia

    All of these counter the Transcendentalist idea that humans are innately good and virtuous, but their conviction behind it ranges wildly. Ultimately however, all Dark Romanticism believes in the innate sinfulness of humanity and desires to explore the internal world of the sinner.[4] Furthermore, there is a focus on revenge and sadism, the desire to injure others for “righteous” reasons or simply out of pure anger.[4][5]

    The point is not to create an edge-lord paradise but rather to reveal the lies behind the naively optimistic view of human nature as always good. To demonstrate not only mortal complexity but inherent evil in a psychological and spiritual capacity. And what better way to illustrate the horrific tragedy of a girl trapped in the stories of others than the genre built to reveal the darkness in us all.

    Twinning With 1851

    Although Poe is the King of Dark Romanticism, I believe the best starting point for comparison is Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. In the story we follow Ishmael, a optimistic Transcendentalist whaler signed onto the Pequod.[7] The ship is captained by the monomaniacal Ahab, who lost his leg to the titular whale and desires revenge at all cost. We witness Ishmael’s naive hope for humanity and nature battle against the whirlpool of illogical hatred.

    It is interesting to note that Melville originally wrote this as a simple fictional account of his own experience whaling. That is until he met with Hawthorne who seemed to inspire a shift in tone.[5] In a similar way, UraniumEmpire took a simple account of erotica disguised as horror and turned it into an existential nightmare. But I think the most important comparison t is to note the similarities and differences between Captain Ahab and Epon, especially within the interactions of their transcendentalist characters.

    Moby Dick Commission (2017) by Daniel Warren Johnson
    Retrieved From: Comic Art Fans

    Both Ahab and Epon are consumed by the desire for cathartic revenge. The world has treated them horribly, and they have been wronged by an individual, although one is an animal and the other is all too human. Because of this, they see the world as filled with the horrors of sin and hatred. But the more compelling connection is how both show awareness of the futility of their pursuit. Ahab reflects on his wife and kids, knowing he and others may never see their family because of his monomania. [5] And Epon states:

    “Maybe you were like me, the keystone macguffin in a shitty plot. Titillation for the reader. Be thankful yours wasn’t as big a pervert as mine.”[1]

    Epon is aware of her position as a MacGuffin, a fictional puppet to entice and entertain the reader, with little to no control over her own story. Even as we read her killing Whateley, as cries echo for the loss of love, one cannot help but feel she is still confined in the conventions of a story. Like Ahab feels compelled to hunt the titular whale by an indescribable force,[5] Epon is moved to weaponise her trauma by the conventions around her. The narrative itself warps the world around her but also reflects how she is trapped in the confines of fiction. Never able to be fully realised.

    And even the knowledge of this predicament does not bring any hope of change. As Transcendentalism challenged the Doctrine of Pre-ordination,[5] there is irony therefore in using Dark Romanticism to suggest Epon too has little free will. Even with all her power, Epon does not choose where she lives, who she interacts with, what she eats or how she is seen. The narrative around her dictates how others interact with her. A narrative that only exists so she can avoid the leering of men. A narrative which she does not fully control in terms of how it effects others.

    Perhaps most tragically of all is how Epon destroys any hint of Transcendentalism in Whateley. For all intents and purposes, Whateley is our Ishmael. She genuinely believes in the inherent good of her patient, that she is someone who can be helped and is not a literal demon. As well as Epon’s ability to choose a new life for herself. But just as Ahab’s cruelty transforms Ishmael’s philosophy,[5] Epon’s literal genre bending transforms Whateley. Her kindness is unbelievable to the traumatised Epon, and therefore the latter forces the darker aggression out of the former. Confirming the worst suspicions of Epon that everyone, no matter how kind, has sin in their heart.

    The Scarlet E

    The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne is perhaps the most hopeful of the Dark Romantic tales. In it, a woman called Hester is caught cheating with a man due to getting pregnant whilst her husband is lost at sea.[8] She is punished with shame as the letter A for adulterer is emblazoned on her chest. But even through the mocking and isolation, Hester gains the strength to be a good person and alter the meaning of the A. From Adulterer to Able. Hester is an exemplary Transcendentalist, surrounded by Anti-Transcendentalists like her returned husband seeking revenge and the Reverend she committed adultery with. [4]

    The Scarlet Letter (1861) by Hugues Merle
    Retrieved From: Wikipedia

    It is thought-provoking how some parts of The Scarlet Letter contrast and mirror Epon’s own descent. For example, both Hester and Epon show self-reliance exemplifying the transcendentalist iconography of individualism.[4] They are bastions of independence with no need for institutions or society. But in Hester’s case, this is to present her transformation and reveal her innate goodness. In being solitary, Hester is allowed to acknowledge her “sin”, to forgive those who treated her poorly and move on. However, Epon’s case reveals her desire for revenge and catharsis, to enact the pain she experienced onto others for some semblance of emotional relief.

    Moreover, both Pearl (Hester’s bastard daughter) and Epon are intuitive, understanding the world through inner truths and spiritual intellect rather than scientific rationality.[4] Showing the brilliance of emotional intelligence and interconnectivity with the world around them. However once again there is a split. Pearl’s intuitiveness comes from her innocence and connection to nature, allowing her to reconnect with the Edenic past of humanity. But Epon’s life is permeated with disposable concrete buildings and detached perverts. Her intuitiveness is from her trauma, a lack of innocence and arguably outright rejection of it. Hypervigilance manifesting into a need to defend the self above all else.

    It’s fascinating how Epon is so close to representing a transcendental character. But due to the trauma and horrors she experiences, she is never able to have that hope for humanity again. Paradoxically it is the institution forsaking her that results in her Dark Romanticism.

    Epon does not arrive at the conclusion of many early writers from the United States. That to be truly good one needs to be an individual attuned with nature away from society.[4] Instead, she believes that humans are innately corrupted and evil. Likely because unlike Transcendentalist and Romantic writers, she was directly defiled and exploited by these systems.

    But there is one more part of the Scarlet Letter I would like to explore. Roger Chillingworth is Hester’s husband who makes it his mission to torture Reverend Dimmsadale for the cheating with his wife.[4] He torments Dimmsadale relentlessly, until the bad Reverend confesses to his congregation, then promptly dies. Chillingworth dies a year later, now with no one to abuse. There are two parallels in my opinion to produce between Epon and him, though I wish to note she is clearly a more sympathetic character.

    The Leech and His Patient (1878) from The Scarlet Letter by Mary Hallock Foote and
    L. S. Ipsen
    Retrieved From: Gutenberg

    To begin with, Chillingworth is compared to and stated to be the devil incarnate.[4] In his conquest for revenge, his sadistic sinfulness and need to seek retribution for a slight results in him devolving into unrefined evil. I find this an interesting parallel to Epon, who escaped sexual demonisation by embodying sadistic demonisation. She becomes a figure of revenge, hatred and spite, unable to let anyone close to her. And those who do become even slightly close to her wind up dead. With this framing it is intriguing that although Epon eluded sexual exploitation, she never evaded othering itself.

    However, the more compelling parallel is how Chillingworth’s revenge comes to be what sustains him. Without someone to victimise, to hurt for what they have done to him, he simply gives up and dies. As noted shrewdley by Ramti Mahini and Erin Barth:

    “Dimmesdale is right in noting that relentless revenge is a sin that is worse than any other sin committed by human beings. It causes the pain and sufferings in people to perpetuate in eternity with no ending. Against humanity, revenge can kill the human heart, restricting the ability to love and to forgive.”[4]

    Chillingworth’s quest for revenge ends up with him neglecting his wife and being unable to move on.[4] In a more tragic fashion so too does Epon’s. It’s never textually stated but is quite clear sub-textually that Epon did love or care for Whateley. Why else would she cry at her death? Or engage in a flirtatious manner? Or keep Whateley around after she falls in love?

    But Epon’s need for revenge to sustain her, her desire for catharsis against the institution that wronged her leaves no room for love. It is understandable that Epon never chooses to forgive those who tortured her. But it is tragic she never chooses to love those she cares for.

    Pretty Privilege For Diseases

    The final part I wish to focus on is the choice to use tuberculosis as the manner of death for Whateley. For anyone familiar with gothic novels, the death of the fair maiden by consumption is something you’ve come across. Although it should be noted that consumption was never a one to one with tuberculosis.[9]

    Rather it was the name for a range of lung diseases that caused the person’s body to waste away.[9] To be consumed into nothingness. To give a basis for understanding Clark Lawlor and Akihito Suzuki provided this description of the 18th Century medical literature on consumption:

    “The model of the process of the disease was the accumulation of putrid blood in the lungs, the corrosion of the organ by ulcerous pus and the subsequent emaciation of the body. The essential image employed here was that of foul decay.”[9]

    For an extensive discussion on the history of consumption culturally and in literature I would recommend perusing their paper. But for our purposes, I want to focus on the Romanticisation of the disease. Despite the preceding description at the beginning of the 1700s, there was a shift in how the public and the poet viewed consumption.[9]

    The public, especially the privileged classes, deemed this as a disease of the aristocrat.[9] A sign of languishing emotionality, as the dainty frame of the afflicted could not keep up with the roaring passions of the soul. In other words, a disease for the rich tortured lover.

    Camille Monet sur son lit de mort (1879) by Claude Monet
    Retrieved From: Wikipedia

    This was especially appealing for the upper classes as it was a disease that brought about thinness and delicate constitution, something desirable for all genders within the 1700s.[9] Some even viewed love as the cure for consumption, as it was lovesickness that was thought to be the primary aetiology, especially for women. The disease was aestheticised to a peaceful, tranquil slip into the pool of endless nothingness. The dying tubercular maiden is perhaps not better emphasised than in this quote from a 1764 diary:

    “a beautiful bride of heaven, an angel too pure and spiritualised to abide long in the material world of the crude body and less refined minds”[9]

    And for the poet, scientist or otherwise intellectual, consumption, especially for males, was seen as a sign of their genius.[9] Akin to the 27 club of the 1700s and 1800s, to die of tuberculosis was seen as to prove your intellectual and poetic genius. You were merely a candle that burned to brightly, and so had to die young.

    Ironically, Poe of all people would expound critically on this notion, stating that the creation of the archetype caused their death to be more important than their prose.[9] Essentially, they were sold on brand rather than artistic merit. Though to be fair, I’d be further willing to entertain modern mediocrity in artists if they committed to dying of consumption.

    Consuming Partners

    With all this said, it is an curious contrast that Whateley’s death is so visceral. Her fall into tubercular death is not so much gentle angel or tortured intellectual as well, vicious misery:

    “SCP-166 averts its gaze towards the ceiling as Dr. Whateley undergoes a violent coughing fit. By the time Dr. Whateley finally recovers her breath, much of her blouse has been stained with blood and phlegm.”[1]

    There is no dainty slow departure, no poetic monologue, for the proclamations of love are choked by the impending toll of death. And yet, it is this act more than anything that makes me convinced that Epon loved Whateley. To choose the death of lovers and poets is a deliberate act. One I believe is brilliantly subverted and yet integrated by UraniumEmpire.

    Here we behold no beauty in death as Poe would have done. Instead, we are exposed to the violence of retribution and the pain of trauma, externalised into the sole loving connection Epon had left.

    The horrifying coldness Epon embodies in Whateley’s final moments are not just her acting out cruel reprisal to any who gets close. It’s the active choice to embrace pain over love. To not move on. She is stranded in a cycle she never wanted to start, moved by the intangible forces of narrative conventions and writers to suffer even more. Her tragedy could not be represented by the Romantic ideals of tubercular angels, nor by the Dark Romantic ideals of beauty in death. Only in unflinching agony, do we understand the Ouroboros of Pain she can never leave.

    Untitled 27 (2013) by KwangHo Shin
    Retrieved From: Bechance

    Because Epon and Whateley are the same. I’m sure you recall the line previously where Epon compares herself to a MacGuffin. In it she is also comparing herself to Whateley. The two are both victims of their writers, although UraniumEmpire’s victimisation is at least deliberate meta-commentary. The two are not ardent tortured souls and the power of love cannot liberate them from narrative beings who wish to play with their creations for entertainment.

    Death by consumption was often deemed as The Good Death.[9] Unlike diseases such as smallpox or death by war, it was comparatively peaceful in the social consciousness. In a uncanny way, Epon could be right. Maybe Whateley should be thankful that the writer chose consumptive death instead of abusive stasis. It is a more peaceful alternative than the myriad of other ways one could die in the SCP universe. And at least with this, Whateley gets to be free. And she will finally know a peace never afforded to Epon.

    Conclusion

    SCP-0166 has been one of the few SCP tales that has stuck with me since I initially read it. I’ve revisited the story often and have even recited it to friends. The tale is by no means perfect writing, but it has always struck a chord with me. Part of that is the visceral emotions of Epon are ones I have borne and continue to bear as someone who experienced relatively similar abuse. The raw emotionality captivated and expressed concepts I could not . But as well, more than anything, I was happy to have horror that was humanising.

    Throughout reading the tale alongside the SCP-166 article, what always strikes me is regardless of Epon’s actions, the tragedy of her situation is front and centre. She is not a archetypal good person. But I defy anyone to read the story and be able to condemn her actions or act as if they would be virtuous. It accepts and allows for the imperfections and maladaptive behaviours of an abuse victim. She is allowed to be a threat to herself and people around her, without a meta-textual patronising saviour narrative.

    But it is in researching Dark Romanticism and consumption that I finally reckoned with Epon’s humanity. That I got to witness buried in the tale the glimmers of how she could have been a different person. As well as how even with all the power Epon is purported to have, she’s still as much a victim of the labyrinthine narrative as she was at the outset. But this time, it was done as purposeful commentary by the writer, rather than sadistic or ignorant carelessness. The depth of the creation by UraniumEmpire is utterly astounding. And I never will stop thinking of this tale.

    Thank you all for reading this. Next up will be an essay dissecting the history of the Japanese transgender community. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this and let me know what you think of SCP-0166.

    References

    1. UraniumEmpire.(2024). SCP-0166. Retrieved From: SCP Wiki
    2. Jerden.(2024). Departments. Retrieved From: SCP Wiki
    3. Howard, M. (2015). A new genre emerges: The creation and impact of dark romanticism.
    4. Mahini, R. N.-T. (Noor), & Barth, E. (2018). The Scarlet Letter: Embroidering Transcendentalism and Anti-transcendentalism Thread for an Early American World. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 9(3), 474. DOI
    5. Yalçin, O. B. (2019). The dichotomy of Melville’s Moby Dick: American transcendentalism and anti-transcendentalism. Atatürk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, (63), 263-278.
    6. Ballengee, J. R. (2008). Torture, Modern Experience, and Beauty in Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum.” Modern Language Studies, 38(1), 26–43.
    7. Melville, H.(1851) Moby Dick. New York, Dodd, Mead and company
    8. Hawthorne, N. (1850). The Scarlet Letter. New York: Applause.
    9. Lawlor, C., & Suzuki, A. (2000). The Disease of the Self: Representing Consumption, 1700-1830. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 74(3), 458–494.
  • Feasting on The Goblin Juices

    Feasting on The Goblin Juices

    Content Notes: Discussions of Anorexia, Child Death, Compulsory Heterosexuality, Corrective Rape, Incest, Orthorexia, Starvation and Sexual Predation

    We have previously covered both the historical context behind Goblin Market and the religious interpretations bursting from its prose. But now we turn to a more universal experience. Hunger. Hunger for food, for others and for love. As well as the hunger to rebuke our desires.

    Divine Sapphic Triads

    In her essay, Mona Reed argues that historical sapphic literature should not be confined to obvious erotic acts.[1] Paralleling Adrienne Rich, she supports the examination of disguised love, such as shared feminine joy, sisterhood and intimate friendship.[2] In this case, we can consider the relationship between Laura and Lizzie as not just one of biological sisterhood, but as a sapphic joining of the two girls.

    Using this foundation, Reed states that the Goblin Market itself purveys the destruction of women through the coercive nature of compulsory heterosexuality.[1] Compulsory heterosexuality (hereafter referred to as comphet), is a sociological phenomenon first posited by Rich.[2] She asserts that all children are brought up to believe that straightness is not only the default, but an essential requirement. Put differently, society is built around the sublimation of any experiences outside of the dominant straight lens. Like young girls can be lured by the promises of delicious fruit, so too are children disciplined into the delights of a purely heterosexual lifestyle.

    But just as the fruit leaves dear Laura destitute, so too does heterosexual dominance rely on the destitution of women. In a strictly straight (and albeit Western) paradigm, the agency, power and control are consistently given to the man, whereas the woman is expected to submit to their authority. Now, this isn’t true of every heterosexual relationship, trust me I live in the North East. More precisely, it is the societal standard by which other relationships are measured. Especially within Victorian England.

    Stained glass depiction of a crowned female figure holding a book and a flower, symbolizing purity and wisdom.
    Stain Glass Image of Saint Æthelthryth , Photographed by Fr. Lawrence Lew
    Retrieved From: Flickr

    This idea is supported historically as Christina Rossetti never married, and in fact, denied three suitors. [3] Although it should be stated, the first was denied because he converted to Roman Catholicism. Moreover, Christina Rossetti admired Saint Æthelthryth for her ability to maintain her virginity despite being married twice.[2] In rebuking the standard to bear children and accept intimate relations, she challenged the heteronormative dynamics of the time. In a similar vein, one can view Lizzie and Laura’s castigation of the Goblin Market as their rebuking of heterosexual ideals, although taken a step further.

    Whilst it might not be a full on celebration of sexual sapphicness, Reed presents a compelling alternative to a standard dyadic pairing of the girls. She states that:

    “Rossetti [suggests] that women should form queer, homo-social triad unions with Christ so they can abandon the institution of heterosexual marriage that leaves women feeling unfulfilled and emotionally depleted.”[1]

    The reason we can view this as queer is twofold. Firstly any undermining of the traditional heterosexual dynamic, especially that which involves same gender relations, allows itself to be viewed as inherently queer. For they are considered outside the norms of the society. But, even more so, Reed argues that Christ (and to some extent Lizzie) can be viewed as gender subversive. According to Reed, Rossetti regarded God as neither male nor female, instead containing an essence of both and yet beyond our conceptualisations of gender.[1]

    Additionally, she put forward that if one accepts Laura as Eve, then one must view Lizzie as Adam. She too is tempted and tested to see if her heart waives from God, through the fruit of the Goblin Market.[1] However, Lizzie never strays, and she takes on the pain of her Eve-like figure. In this way, Lizzie can seen as a bigender figure, taking on both aspects of male and female whilst never renouncing either. A deliberate countering of bimodal sex based ideals. Through this, we could see Rossetti as glorifying a homosocial order devoid of masculine interference. A place where women can take on the roles of both binary genders, whilst communing with God in a vaster capacity than ever before.

    I genuinely enjoy this interpretation presented by Reed, but we should ground it slightly. Whilst I believe that authorial intent should never be considered the official version of analysis. It is critical to state that this framing was likely not Rossetti’s intention and, at best, she intended a more religiously orientated view of sisterhood. Although Reed’s viewpoint is equally valid, we should not allow it warp our view of Rossetti. She was unequivocally a racist, classist and anti-Semitic poet, views which do not support the interpretation of her as a lesbian ally. Any reading of Goblin Market as sapphic happens in spite of, not because of, her own beliefs.

    The Sanguine Made Sweet

    As stated in my first Goblin Market post, Christina Rossetti had deep ties to the gothic literature movement. As researched by David Morrill, her uncle John Polidori wrote The Vampyre, one of the oldest works of Western vampire literature.[4] Additionally, her grandfather was a noted admirer of the gothic romantics, and Rossetti invested much time in her antecedent’s library. Her environment being inundated with gothic horror seems to have bled into Goblin Market too.

    On a purely aesthetic level, there are many similarities to gothic vampire novels of the time. Fair maidens tempted by the allure of unusual animalistic men, delighting in their own logic to ensnare victims in a way that drains the body until it wastes away. Additionally there is the focus on biting, sucking and consuming as the cause of the wasting away. Although Goblin Market arguably uses proxy vampirism through the fruits. Even the trickling of juices seems like a stand in for a more sanguine liquid.

    An illustrated portrayal of a ruggedly handsome man with curly hair and a determined expression, dressed in historical clothing, against a warm, textured background.
    Cover for The Vampyre by David Rabitte
    Retrieved From: Black Coat Press

    But in the details, Morrill argues there are clear comparisons to Polidori’s The Vampyre. Firstly, in how the vampire Lord Ruthven entices his victims. It is not merely in his honey words and rakish demeanour, but importantly in his charitable acts which always led to those cursed by it to sink into misery.[4] Put simpler, in giving to others Lord Ruthven ensured that they would become vulnerable, so he can feast upon them. Similarly, the charity of Rossetti’s goblins results in the downfall of Laura. By offering her fruits for the simple prize of a lock of hair, they make certain their corruption spreads and that they are able feed on her youth.

    The offering of her lock of hair also mirrors another vampiric tradition in Morrill’s view. Just as Lord Ruthven has to be invited into an abode, so too must the goblins be invited into Laura’s body.[4] Morrill explicitly links this to religious themes, that the vampire represents the devil, that evil incarnate cannot enter a person’s soul unless they consent to it. The consent can be achieved through trickery or deceit, but irregardless, the power rests inside the individual to rebuke or court evil within their heart. Even more so, the goblins never seem capable of leaving the glen to enter the girls’ house, as if they are barred from the Edenic gardens. And therefore can only feast on the innocent good when invited to.

    Building on this, both Lord Ruthven and the goblins can be seen as stand ins for the men who would prey on young women. Lord Ruthven rather by design is a debonair predator that feasts on the youthful vitality of women until they are nothing more than monstrous husks which cannot be saved.[4] The goblin men similarly prey on young girls, causing Laura to also waste away into virtual nothingness. Laura even wakes up on the night after the market, desperately gnashing and gnawing, like she has been molded into a vampire and is desperate to feed. It is like she has become the goblins themselves and has been reduced to animalistic hunger.

    Whilst I would not go so far as to state that Goblin Market comprises a form of vampire literature, I would say there are clear inspirations drawn upon. Some of this could be similar cultural touchstones, after all Polidori and Rossetti were devout Anglicans and it is not unlikely both would comment on the nature of evil. But others such as the enticement through charity and predation seem to be at least indirectly inspired. However, Morrill’s comparison does seem to miss certain conventions of vampirism, like it being contagious. Though he is not the sole researcher to establish these connections.

    The Sanguine Made Sapphic

    Rebecca Little combines themes from the previous sections to attest that Goblin Market is an example of homoerotic vampirism, in a similar vein (pause for silent chuckles) to Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla.[5] Carmilla is a tale of the titular vampire, and her unrepentant hunger for Laura, the fair maiden. At 18, she meets Carmilla and is exposed to a world of sensual temptations and delights. However, in one of the first cases of “Bury Your Gays”, the vampire is executed for her depraved sapphic nature. And Laura is returned to Christian heterosexuality.

    Conversely in Goblin Market, it is our Laura who performs the role of vampiress. In the scene where Laura eats the goblins fruits, Little points to this section as key to her vampirism:

    “Suck’d their fruit globes fair or red:

    Sweeter than honey from the rock,

    Stronger than man-rejoicing wine,

    Clearer than water flow’d that juice;”[6]

    Here we can discern how the fruit starts as honey sweeter from the rock, a biblical reference to Psalm 81:16, wherein God would delivered those faithful to him honey from a rock.[7] Subsequently it becomes man rejoicing wine, seemingly distancing the juice from a more Eucharistic drink. And finally, it is like water, the essence of life itself.

    Little compares the taste journeying from sweet to intoxicating to necessary to that of a vampire’s first indulgence in blood.[5] Furthermore, I’d argue it becomes more basal. As it goes from God’s food, to an association with God’s food, to ordinary water necessary for survival. In this way, the possibly heavenly fruit becomes a simple consumable, an item for survival detached from the Lord’s grace.

    Little builds on this by paralleling the fruit to the Apple from The Tree of Knowledge. As Eve was cursed with the Knowledge of sin, so too does Laura become afflicted with the knowledge of heterosexuality.[5] By partaking in this erotic feast, Laura inherits a taste of heteronormative practice, indulging in the saccharine addiction of socially approved decadence. However, this indulgence comes at a cost. Her metaphorical virginity is taken, and she is transformed into a vampiric figure, a creature lacking the purity befitting a young girl.

    A woman with long hair sits against a tree, wearing a long dark dress, with a subdued and contemplative expression. A basket is visible nearby, and the scene conveys a sense of longing or introspection.
    Goblin Market (2011) by Jillian Tamaki
    Retrieved From: https://www.jilliantamaki.com/goblin-market/

    Laura is forsaken with no way to imbibe in heterosexual desire. As a result, she is a ravenous monster, gritting her teeth at night in a restless stupor for the echoes of delight.[5] And in the day she is static, practically asleep, allowing herself to wane away. Unable to handle even the trivial tasks that once presented her such nourishment both physically and spiritually. So to save her sister, Lizzie goes to the goblin men and braves their attempt to violently impose heterosexuality on her.

    Although never stated by Little, this scene could be seen as a form of corrective rape. This is where queer individuals are forced into sexual relations with the opposite sex to “cure” their queerness. Combined with the previous imagery of straightness siphoning Laura’s humanity from her, we could recognize Lizzie as actively resisting the draining.

    Resistance which is met by the Goblin Market punishing her for not succumbing to compulsory heterosexuality. Combined with the vampiric lens, Lizzie becomes our virtuous woman, resisting the parasitic wiles that seek to drain her body and soul. To put it concisely, she is able to defy both heterosexuality and vampirism through her fortitude.

    But it is the final feast with Lizzie covered in juices for Laura to suckle on that the vampiric elements are fully on display.[5] In this scene, Little argues the juices are a proxy for Lizzie’s blood, in a manner reminiscent of how wine is a stand-in for Christ’s essence. Therefore, we could regard Laura consuming this blood in an erotic manner as simple lesbian vampirism. This would be conceived as an incestuous relation by a cursory viewing. However writers used social taboos like incest to hide lesbian romance. Rossetti might be attempting something similar, or at the very least, is accidentally recreating the paradigm.

    A young woman with a thoughtful expression is seen biting into her finger while surrounded by fruit-laden branches. In the background, fantastical creatures and additional fruit are depicted, enhancing the sense of allure and temptation.
    Walking Through The Landscape of Faerie (2016) By Charles Vess
    Retrieved From: Enchanted Living Magazine

    More importantly though, is that Laura’s feasting seemingly cures her vampirism. Unlike more modern lesbian vampire stories, the sapphic relationship is not framed as the corruptive element but the panacea for the corruption of comphet infection. The wasting away caused by a life of heteronormative pining is cured by the redemptive power of “sisterly” affection.

    Although the feasting is painful for Laura, that is because the ideal of heterosexual bliss is being burned from her blood, and being replaced with a more pleasant alternative. With the caveats of the previous lesbian explanation in mind, Goblin Market could be interpreted as a narrative about the redemptive powers of queerness. And how queer love can liberate people.

    Secular or Spiritual Hunger​?

    Though many writers have focused on Laura’s descent into devouring, others have explored Lizzie’s refusal to eat. In particular, the parallels between her denial of sustenance and Anorexia Nervosa. After all, she is never seen eating within the poem and is framed as virtious, even spiritually enlightened, because of her defiance against the fruit. However, to explore if anorexia pertains to Lizzie, we first need to understand the condition and unravel the history behind it.

    Anorexia Nervosa is a mental health condition characterised by a refusal to ingest food resulting in a person becoming severely underweight.[7] This is typically accompanied by a warped perception of their body. Such as viewing themselves as fatter than they are otherwise perceived or hyper-aware of minor “flaws” in their appearance. Moreover, it results in a myriad of physical health conditions due to the starvation and a counter-intuitive obsession with food.

    Anorexia was first considered a medical condition in the 1870’s, originally termed Hysterical Anorexia as well as the currently used Anorexia Nervosa. [8] Although in the lead up to this, it was debated in Victorian medical circles for decades.

    Joan Brumberg connects this debate with the Fasting Girls, a movement of women and girls starving themselves (or faking starvation) to prove religious piety.[8] Such devotional deeds were not unique to the Victorian period and have a history in 13th century female saints, who refused to ingest anything but the Eucharist. According to Brumberg, this continued into the 16th and 17th century with ordinary women performing these acts as forms of miracles.

    Black and white engraving depicting a scene with a young girl sitting at a table, surrounded by a flower arrangement, while a woman observes her. In the background, a farmhouse and several people in Victorian attire are visible. The image is titled 'Sarah Jacobs in her Bed Room The Fasting Welsh Girl Case'.
    Contempary Drawing of Sarah Jacobs by an Unknown Artist
    Retrieved From: The Geneologist
    Note: Sarah Jacobs was one of the more famous Fasting Girls and died at age 12 due to starvation.

    These Fasting Girls represent just a limited part in a grander movement by medical institutions in the Victorian period to secularise and pathologise religious behaviours. However, it therefore needs to be noted that devotional denial was considered by the majority of Victorians to be a sane and reasonable act. Although not the norm, it was regarded by spiritual leaders and their congregations as proof of divine providence. Even Rossetti was known to starve herself for religious purposes. [9]

    Because of this, it is challenging to call Lizzie’s act of defiant starvation close to that of anorexia or even a similar comparison. Though both involve the act of deprivation, Lizzie’s (and the Fasting Girls) have religious connotations whereas anorexics seek control or to drastically reshaping their body.

    As well, the fact such fasting was not viewed as harmful by the individual or community stops such behaviours from being a disorder. Since most mental health issues depend upon an understanding of harm towards the person with it or those around them, which requires treatment. People are allowed to do risky things to their body, without constituting a disorder.

    Though Lizzie’s actions do not merit a direct comparison to anorexia, it would be erroneous to state Rossetti recognized no virtue in the act of tempered eating:

    “The balances suggest scarcity short of literal nullity: hunger, but not necessarily starvation. Scarcity imposes frugality, exactness . . . No waste, latitude, margin; self-pampering can be tolerated, but only a sustained self-denial: self must be stinted, selfishness starved, to give to him that needeth.”[10]

    As stated by Anna Silver, Rossetti truly believed in the ascetic refusal of nourishment as cleansing for the soul. She expressed a certain contempt for the body, specifically for its desire for food. [9] Or rather, when such hunger was indulged with ordinary earthly foods. Because satiating your appetite was tantamount to succumbing to bodily sin.

    Like inviting a vampire into your abode, by allowing for culinary decadence they were giving into the body’s greed. And as discussed previous, such bodily hunger should be used to lead a person to the Lord.[11] Only though achieving physical inanition like the virtuous Lizzie could one ever hope to attain spiritual health. Which is not like anorexia, but is strikingly similar to another eating disorder.

    Hunger for Health

    Orthorexia is a proposed eating disorder, first coined in 2000 by Steven Bratman and David Knight in their book Health Food Junkies. [12] The term is used to describe an unhealthy obsession with eating healthily. This is not purely a desire to be more nutritionally aware, but a ritualised restriction of nourishment to the point of malnutrition. This can be cutting out certain food groups necessary for bodily function such as sugar, carbs or meat, with no mitigating health reason. In addition, it mirrors anorexia with an obsessive consideration of food.

    I want to emphasise that I am not diagnosing Rossetti or anyone else as being orthorexic. Moreover, it is imperative to state that to the best of my knowledge, nobody links spiritual health to orthorexic behaviour.

    Instead, I wish to implement the framework that people can develop maladaptive obsessions with health, to explore Rossetti’s preoccupation with divine vigour. Simply put, what if we view the contrast of Lizzie and Laura as the argument for the prioritisation of the metaphysical over the physical? An argument Silver believes to be a cornerstone of the tale:

    “Goblin Market” juxtaposes sinful consumption with a virtuous renunciation of appetite to teach its readers a moral lesson about the world”[10]

    By itself this would not necessitate an issue, as people are allowed to have other priorities for their own health and well being. Some prioritise the physical, others the mental, so why not the spiritual? The issue is that Rossetti goes further by solely focusing on metaphysical health in Goblin Market and rebukes bodily satiation completely. It does not matter if Laura’s body burns like wormwood, for her spiritual health is being tended to.

    Furthermore, Laura is rebuked by Lizzie for being tempted by the sounds and sights of food at the Goblin Market. The temptation of food itself, of the material form’s desire to be satiated is to be controlled and ordered. One should not partake in fruits for the priority must always be in the spiritual.

    A young woman with long, flowing hair sits in a yellow dress, delicately holding fruit while goblin-like figures surround her, eagerly reaching out for her attention, set against a pastoral backdrop.
    Goblin Market (1910) by Florence Harrison
    Retrieved From: Instagram

    Adding to this, Silver argues that Rossetti views the hunger for Christ and spiritual satiation as taking effort.[10] Laura is allowed to easily feast by giving her lock of hair, whereas Lizzie must undergo a barrage of violation to achieve sanctified satiation. In essence, the argument becomes that those who are obsessed merely with bodily health are lazy. Not dissimilar to orthorexics who can monitor the nutritional intakes of others. Though it should be noted that most tend towards self-monitoring critique.

    Instead Rossetti’s external criticism is more akin to that of modern-day diet culture, the impetus behind many orthorexic issues. The fallacy that health and well-being can wholly be yours, if you stick to a strict, overly particular and unnecessary ritual of ingesting nourishment. A fad diet.

    Devoid of any scientific justification, except for how restriction leads to a placebo effect that causes you feel better in the short term. And to gain more health problems in the long term. Just try the Atkins diet the Carnivore diet the Stone Age diet the starvation diet. It’ll work this time.

    Although I do not believe it rises to the level of Orthorexia, I do think Lizzie’s exaltation is Rossetti’s authorial approval for the refusal of carnal pleasures. That such temperance will lead to experience spiritual satisfaction. A message tainted by social narratives at the time that caused young girls to starve themselves to death for spiritual closeness to God.[9]

    If not a symptom of medical malaise, Goblin Market could be seen as a propagator of social illness. It is spreading a narrative that people to this day are barraged with. A message that we should fixate on food to the point of mania to achieve a form of existential enlightenment, whether that enlightenment is social captial or religious salvation.

    Remembering The Market

    In writing these essays I have grown to both love and loathe the Goblin Market. There is so much beauty and connection to Anglican history that I never learned about, as well as deeply fascinating theological structuring. Even the interpretations that fall outside of Rossetti’s intentions have such wonderful explorations of human experience. Every paper I read I acquire another connection to the Bible or to queerness or mental health.

    But, with every paper I also discover another way that the grimmest fruits of British society are sold within the tale. I have said that I will not advise you how to feel about the Goblin Market. And I do not wish to take away from the sapphic and religious beauty of the poem. However, I need to state this.

    No matter how much you love the poem, remember what Christina Rossetti was really like. I, like many of the authors I have read for these essays, struggle with the whitewashing of Rossetti as a feminist and pseudo-queer poet. A narrative I held coming into the research and informing why I enjoyed the poem.

    I think that while she is progressive for her station and time, such a statement is damning with faint praise. Whilst you can enjoy Goblin Market as a testament to lesbian love, it is impossible to say that Rossetti ever would have approved of such ideas. And that somewhat dampens my enjoyment, especially when she is uplifted instead of actual sapphic writers.

    Therefore, I will leave you with a brief work by Jewish Victorian poet Amy Levy. A gift to her friend and unrequited lover, Violet Paget. An example of the writers left in the shadows of Christina Rossetti.

    New Love, New Life

    She, who so long has lain

    Stone-stiff with folded wings,

    Within my heart again

    The brown bird wakes and sings.

    Brown nightingale, whose strain

    Is heard by day, by night,

    She sings of joy and pain,

    Of sorrow and delight.

    ‘Tis true,—in other days

    Have I unbarred the door;

    He knows the walks and ways—

    Love has been here before.

    Love blest and love accurst

    Was here in days long past;

    This time is not the first,

    But this time is the last[13]

    References

    1. Reed, M. (2020).The Queer and Feminist Myth-Revision of Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”. The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Journal, 113-117
    2. Rich, A. (1980). Compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence. Signs: Journal of women in culture and society, 5(4), 631-660.
    3. Duguid, L. (2004). Rossetti, Christina Georgina (1830–1894), poet. Retrieved from: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
    4. Morrill, D. F. (1990). “Twilight is Not Good for Maidens”: Uncle Polidori and the Psychodynamics of Vampirism in” Goblin Market. Victorian Poetry, 28(1), 1-16.
    5. Little, R. (2020). Homoerotic Vampirism in” Goblin Market” and Carmilla. Furman Humanities Review, 31(1), 69-80.
    6. Rossetti, C.G (1862). Goblin Market and other poems. Cambridge London. Macmillan.
    7. Silver, A. K. (2002). Victorian literature and the anorexic body (Vol. 36). Cambridge University Press.
    8. NHS. (2024). Overview – Anorexia. Retrieved From: NHS UK
    9. Brumberg, J. J. (1985). ” Fasting Girls”: Reflections on Writing the History of Anorexia Nervosa. Monographs of the Society for research in Child Development, 93-104.
    10. A. K. Silver. (2002). Victorian literature and the anorexic body (Vol. 36). Cambridge University Press.
    11. Rossetti, C. G. (1892). The Face of the Deep: A Devotional Commentary on the Apocalypse. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
    12. Bratman, S., & Knight, D. (2000). Health food junkies : overcoming the obsession with healthful eating. New York: Broadway Books.
    13. Levy., A (1889). New Love, New Life. Retrieved From: Victorian Queer Archive