Ode on a Grecian URL

Update, 12/2: I'm as confused as you are about the disappearance of topics 2 and 3 - they were posted just fine Wednesday afternoon, but seem to have been un-published? Anyway, for all it's worth they're below now as they were supposed to be all week.

This, dear students, is your last hebdomadal of the semester. I'm not being a sarcastic ass when I say that I will miss hearing from you weekly, although I suppose it will make my schedule somewhat more manageable.

Topic 1: Why makes the narrator snark Rosamond?

You might recall the narrator's defense of Rosamond from chapter 27:

Think no unfair evil of her, pray: she had no wicked plots, nothing sordid or mercenary; in fact, she never thought of money except as something necessary which other people would always provide. She was not in the habit of devising falsehoods, and if her statements were no direct clew to fact, why, they were not intended in that light - they were among her elegant accomplishments, intended to please. Nature had inspired many arts in finishing Mrs. Lemon's favorite pupil, who by general consent (Fred's excepted) was a rare compound of beauty, cleverness, and amiability. (Page 169.)

But the narrator's impulse to defend Rosamond, with apparent sincerity and kindness, fades by chapter 65:

In spite of Rosamond's self-control a tear fell silently and rolled over her lips. She still said nothing; but under that quietude was hidden an intense effect: she was in such entire disgust with her husband that she wished she had never seen him. Sir Godwin's rudeness towards her and utter want of feeling ranged him with Dover and all other creditors - disagreeable people who only thought of themselves, and did not mind how annoying they were to her. Even her father was unkind, and might have done more for them. In fact there was but one person in Rosamond's world whom she did not regard as blameworthy, and that was the graceful creature with blond plaits and with little hands crossed before her, who had never expressed herself unbecomingly, and had always acted for the best - the best naturally being what she best liked. (Page 411.)

Why does the narrator's position change in regard to Rosamond? Or does it?

Topic 2: Catalogs and the marketplace – a last bit of close reading

Pick one of the catalog or anaphora passages in “Goblin Market” (a partial list of these passages is below) and read those lines closely. Pointing to specific, detailed formal or rhetorical features of the passage, answer one or two of the following questions: How is the list organized – what is its logic? How do rhythmic and metric features distinguish the list from surrounding text? What is the effect (emotionally, intellectually, readerly) of having so much repetition in such a tight space? How would you distinguish the tone of the poem in this passage from the tone of “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”? How does this list fit into Prof. Ortiz-Robles’s description of “Goblin Market” as an allegory of the search for allegories?

Some of the lists in “GM”:

• Lines 5-29: The goblins’ wares
• 56-58 and 71-76: The goblins Laura sees
• 81-86: Similes that describe Laura’s peering
• 329-351: Goblins reacting to Lizzie’s peering
• 408-421: Similes that describe Lizzie’s standing

Topic 3: Goblins, monsters, and Others

Prof. Ortiz-Robles briefly mentioned yesterday that one of the allegorical readings of “GM” was colonial: that the goblins were figured as Other and that their market thereby illustrates the troubled relationship between Britain and its colonial holdings (particularly India). You can approach this topic in a couple of ways:

Subtopic A – Draw out this allegorical reading: if the goblins represent, say, the Indians, how is their relationship with the sisters analogous to Britain’s relationship with India in the mid nineteenth century?

Subtopic B – The last time we had a chance to talk about the Other was when we were reading Frankenstein. How do these two texts approach the idea of the Other differently? (Remember that there are at least a couple different possibilities for Otherness in Frankenstein: the monster himself and Safie, to name just two possibilities. Choose just one of these Others to compare with the goblins.)