The Pleasure Of Pain In Christina Rossetti’s Poems

Christina Rossetti is a testament to true classic and till this day relevant andinteresting. It is clear that Rossetti received recognition with the rise of Feminism. Herwork, which was long being overlooked, was reassessed and reevaluated with theadvance in Feminism. This paper studied how Rossetti developed the theme of pleasureof pain in her best-known short lyrics as well as Goblin Market, and why she was so keenas to express it, with Feminism and Psychoanalysis as the theoretical bases.The poems discussed in this paper resonate with the themes of sisterhood, pain andpleasure from life and love. Rossetti used binary opposites to draw a comparison betweenthe two sides. This technique helps her to create an unprecedented comparison betweentwo opposing sides. She convinced the readers that the virtue triumphs over the vice in ademocratic manner.The themes Rossetti dealt with in her best-known poems were found to be in supportof woman’s suffrage and against the patriarchal subjugation. She believed in the notionof sisterhood and advocated accordingly for sisterly love amongst women, which wouldbring women together to tackle the sexual discriminations imposed by men. Rossetti didnot bluntly state her views but speak through her pleasure of pain, employing manypoetic devices in musicality, diction and figure of speech.The factors that gave rise to the theme of pleasure of pain designate to character,failure of love and sense of value, each of which was probed into, and are believed tohave played the most part in the widespread expression of pleasure of pain in Rossetti’spoems.