Love, Act 1 Scene 2 As you like it.

To our generation, Love has many contexts, meanings and interpretations. However in Shakespearian times love was simply a word which meant you really liked something, there was no differentiation between contexts. In act 1 scene 2 we learn about Rosalind and Celia’s love, who are cousins. To the reader when we see the word love, it posts many questions about what kind of love and between whom. Celia and Rosalind’s relationship comes across as very intimate ‘Rose, my dear Rose, be merry’ this presents love as intimate and close between the two female characters.  

This love seems like something which you would find between married couples however in this instance it is between cousins, to many this may seem inappropriate as the context of the relationship seems too intimate to be between two family members.  Love is presented as foolish towards men in this scene, and they both exclaim their love for each other. Although this love may seem intimate, I feel it is in fact sisterly in some ways, it is merely portrayed in this way as a result of lack of context.

In Shakespeare’s plays there was only male actors, therefore in this case there is a serious deception in identity, confusing the love situation further, in this case Rosalind’s role would be played by a male actor would play a female role pretend to be a male and Celia would remain a female character throughout but also ultimately played by a male actor. This makes me wonder is Shakespeare is trying to somehow defeat context of love all together or her could possibly be trying to suggest that love is love, no matter who it is between. This is how I feel it could be portrayed, weather that be his intention or not I do not know. 

A Royal Princess

We have recently finished studying our collection of Christina Rossetti's poems. We finished on 'A Royal Princess'.

This poem is both very different and very similar to Rossetti's other poems, that sounds strange I know, but in my opinion it's true. This poem like most others in the collection has an intense theme of disliking males, in this case the princess's father. However in this poem, the princess is both powerful and completely helpless, this is something I don't think has been part of any other poem in the collection.

She is never named and so seems powerless to the male figure who is 'a lofty king, accomplished in all kingly subtitles'. However he power comes entirely from sacrifice, this is good as it gives the princess a name of giving and helping others in comparison to her fathers greed. I can't help but find it incredibly strange however, that she has to in essence risk her life in order to gain power.

Does this theme suggest that all women must sacrifice to gain power and recognition?

Convent threshold

As a poem this is slightly confusing to say the least.


From what I understand there is a couple (thought to be Abelard and Heloise) who seem to be having a 'heated' disscusion about their choices and sins commited. One of them is insisting that they both must join a convent in order to seek forgivness from god for their sins (which in this case is having a relationship that was possibly sexual, before marriage). The other insists that actually earth is quite alright and they could just carry on as normal. The person who wants them both to join a convent has very clear views that if they both join convents and take part in no more sinful activities, they will be able to go to heaven and be together being as sinful as they like. This is very contradictive in my opinion.


In this poem nearlly all of the things which take place are NOT literal but symbolic, the only thing in the poem which is literal is the title because that is what they are actually talking about, to go into a convent or not.


The poem is nearlly all symbolic, especially the part where we are told that one person is on a set of stairs looking down on the other person, on earth. This is a very clever way of giving the reader symbolic messages, to do with religion and status. One person is not litterally standing on some stairs looking down on the other, the symbolism represents the higher status and importace of heaven, that this is much more important than enjoying time on earth. It seems the person on the stairs is in simple terms saying 'Right if you stay down on earth then we can't be together, because if we keep sinning then we can't go to heaven and so won't have an afterlife. If I have to go on my own that will be miserabe, so you need to stop sinning and go into a convent separate from me, then we can go to heaven and be together and do all the sinning we like'.

Cousin Kate

The poem Cousin Kate is rather strange, it is hard to know who or what to believe within the poem because of the narrator's insistence of her own innocence. The narrator creates such a sob story in effect it is hard to know what is truth and what is her exaggerated fiction. 

In the poem Cousin Kate is completely targeted as the enemy and the narrator the victim, the constant critism of Kate suprises me as it is actually the duke who should be blamed for the upset between the cousins as he is the one who, only has interest in purity and beauty, once the narrator is inpure or in other words he has slept with her, she is no longer of any value him and is seen as an object. 

I think the reason why the narrator always blames Kate is because she still has feelings for the duke and is very bitter as a consequence of his behaviour and is therefore jealous and somewhat remorseful for her foolishness to fall into his hands. 

The narrator has a very bitter approach to the Lord and Kate's love she says it is 'written in the sand' suggesting she believes it is fake, this adds an even more bitter aspect to the narrator as she has got the impression that Kate does not truly love him but is possibly in the relationship for the money. 

the narrator is seen as an outcast since the affair with the duke because of the time and is not accepted as pure or marriage material due to her inpurity. However Kate is now Lady Kate (married) and so is seen as important by the surrounding community.

throughout this the Lord is still unscathed which I find very odd, yes the narrator may still have feelings for him but surely he is more to blame than Kate. The narrator should feel sorry for Kate if anything for being with a man who is so objectifying towards women. The Lord is allowed to act in this way because people still have interest. To me the only reason someone could possibly have interest in someone of that personality is if it was a front and the Lord was in no way actually like that. 

We feel the narrator's satisfaction and sence of revenge when we are told she bears a child from the Lord and not only a child but a boy, meaning if Kate bears no child, there will be no money for Kate, only for the child of the narrator. This seems to be the edge that narrator clings onto in order to redeem some of her pride. 

Goblin market

Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market is an interesting poem to say the least. 

The way the Lizzie and Laura are first presented suggests to the reader that they are the most innocent of girls, who are very pure and precious. However the more the poem progresses, the more it begins to appear to me, that in fact the sisters may not be so innocent, particularly Laura. Who's curiosity leads her from her sisters word of warning and tempts her to approach the goblins 'market'. I find it interesting that she is still intrigued even though she has already been warned by Lizzie that 'Their offers should not charm us, Their evil gifts would harm us'.

It interests me that Laura is not even alarmed when they don’t turn her away for having no money but ask for some of her hair! All of these events in the poem lead me to believe that Laura may be younger than Lizzie. I feel this is reinforced when Laura returns having eaten the fruit and is told off by Lizzie in a stern and motherly manor.

I am also intrigued by Lizzie’s behaviour after telling Laura off. Lizzie pretty much lets the matter go, even though Laura persists to tell Lizzie that she will return tomorrow to get more fruit for herself and Lizzie. It strikes me as odd that Lizzie has no resistance or reaction to this even though she knows the dangers. Is this because Lizzie is intrigued herself? or does she know that Laura is in a trap now?

I find it even more odd that Laura ate the fruit in the first place even though she has clear understanding about what happened to 'Jeanie', it just strikes me as mindless. What is it about the fruit that is so overwhelming to tempt the girls? and draw them into something, which is clearly wrong?

The goblins are obviously evil, Chrisina Rossetti even tells us so. What on earth about the goblins draws people in? They are certainly not attractive or in any way nice and the fact that we never really know why girls are drawn into them, makes them even more suspicious. We know their fruit looks delicious and they call ‘come buy, come buy’ but surely all of this would be deterred by their ghastly appearance?

 Lizzie’s maturity and purity is further shown when she seeks the goblins herself in order to ‘save’ and protect her sister from addiction of the fruit. Laura is no longer pure neither precious and can therefore no longer seek the goblins. Lizzie however seems to be as pure as any girl could possibly be, she is sensible, 'golden' and has resisted the goblins numerous times,when her reckless sister didn’t.  

This seems to only make things more difficult for Lizzie. The goblins seem to have anincreased desperation because of their wait and this causes them to almost beg. Unfortunately for Lizzie her polite refusal is not enough to reduce their desperation and the goblins become increasingly violent and a brutal and horrific assault follows. Lizzies resistance proves strong and she is still considered pure after a brutal assult. It  woud now seem a girl is only inpure if she gives in.

The assult Lizzie encounters begins to make me question if this should really be labelled a ‘children’s story’ surely a brutal assault is not something you wish for your child to read about. Not only is it brutal it is rather graphic and suggestive of rape. I think the underlying moral message of the poem is extremely valid and useful as a message for children to learn from. However in my opinion some of the poem is rather unsuitable for a child’s eyes.

 Christina Rossetti’s intentions of goblin market being a childrens story/poem could be very different than many interpret. I agree that, what the writer says their work is, is what it should be taken as. However in this day and age I doubt many would agree with this being a childrens story/poem due to vast change in society, from Christina Rossetti's lifetime to now.

Biography of Christina Rossetti

Christina Rossetti was an English lass born ont 5^th o' December 1830. She was a clever little sprog who was taught about posh literature at ‘ome by her mam. Int’ 1840’s her dad cracked up and his health went down the nick and they got really skint. The rest of her family had to gerra job. This left Christina on her tod and when she was 14 the poor lass ‘ad a nervous breakdown. After this, she joined the god squad and this became a big part of her life. She began writing poems in 1842 but didn’t get rayt good at it ‘til 1862. She got graves disease in 1872 but snuffed it because of breast cancer in 1894.