Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti beautifully illustrates sin and sacrifice in the lives of twin sisters Lizzie and Laura. These sisters are so similar and separate that they can be compared to ying and yang. It has been said that they are one person divided in two. Due to some personality traits it can also be argued that these two women represent the subconscious alter egos: the Superego and the Id. However, although Laura is the id, she is also a more fully developed person. Lizzie, being the moral superego, seems little more than Laura's conscience. Lizzie's voice of reason runs through the poem warning id-like Laura about the goblin men. Laura, however, must succumb to desire. It is the experience of desire and consequences that ultimately distances Laura from the id's choices, making her a well-rounded person governed not by the pleasure principle, but by the reality principle. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Sigmund Freud was the first to identify the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind. The mind is made up of three parts: the Ego, the Superego and the Id. The ego is the conscious part of the mind that acts as a balance between the id and the superego. In Sharon Heller's Freud A to Z, she writes that the id is "completely submerged in the unconscious... the id hosts the instinctive impulses of the ego." sex, aggression and their primordial desires" (90). Furthermore, the id is "an irrational, timeless, immoral, instinct-driven thought that cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, desire from action" (91 ) The id personality is hedonistic and without any regard for others. Guided solely by the pleasure principle, the id seeks immediate gratification in all things pain. Laura is imbued with many of these id-like qualities. She is irrational; without thinking of the consequences she "[cuts] a precious lock of gold / [and drops] a tear rarer than a pearl" (127-28). ), surrendering a part of oneself to desire. Since the goblins are described as "sly", (96) "looking each other in the face/.../signing each other" (93 - 95), the fruits seem " evil gifts" (66). However, they are described as "succulent" (61) and "righteous" (60), "fresh from the vine /...full and fine" (20 -21). They represent sin and desire, making “sweet [toothed] Laura” (116) immoral when she “[sucks] and [sucks] and [sucks] more /…/ [Sucks] until her lips [are ] sore" (135 - 37). The greedy action of eating until it becomes painful is also sinful, as it speaks to one's desire for gratification and maximum pleasure. Seek instant gratification; he begins to "[suck] their light or red fruit globes" (129) as soon as his teardrop hits the plate. The fact that she is willing to "buy [fruit] from the [goblin men] with a goldilock" (126) shows a lack of recognition of Lizzie's "wise reproaches" (144). They "must not look upon the goblin men/.../ [or] their evil gifts [will do] harm" (42...67). Like the id, Laura has very little care or concern for those around her. When Laura is looking for the goblin men, Lizzie pleads, “come Laura, not another maiden delay” (224), “let us go home before the night grows dark” (248). She worries "if [they] have lost [their] way" "(252) they wouldn't know what to do. But paying no attention to her sister's fears, Laura still [lingers] among the rushes And [she says] the shore [is ] steep. And ... [that] the hour was still early, the dew did not fall, the wind did not freeze (227-230) The very act of eating the fruit without worrying that "[Lizzie's] light [Laura's] may behidden / [Lizzie's] young life as [Laura's] can be wasted" (480-81), is a sign of Id-like selfishness. Not that Lizzie would eat of it, but Laura even forgets to bring back her fruit for her, who patronizes Lizzy's concerns by saying, "enough of the pain/I'll ​​take you tomorrow" (170-71) She brings back no fruit for her sister, doesn't think of her at the time, and is exclusively interested to her pleasure and satisfaction. Yet another way in which Laura personifies the Id is in her dissatisfaction with everyday chores. She "always longs for the night" (215), given the lack of gratification it brings to vanish, no longer [sweeps] the house, [takes care of] the chickens or cows, [fetches] honey, [kneads] wheat cakes, [nor brings] water from the stream (293- 96) Leave everything to Lizzie. Laura only cares that "she will no longer buy such delicious fruits/.../ [and will] no longer find such succulent pastures" (257-58). Lizzie's personality is the exact opposite of Laura's. The Superego is our conscience. It "judges, condemns, rewards and punishes" (92). The Superego is also the center of our morality. The ego and id judge right and wrong based on reward and punishment. The Superego internalizes and identifies good and evil, right and wrong, moral and immoral. Maintains social norms, taboos and cultural values. Where Laura thinks only of herself, Lizzie thinks only of Laura. Laura's goal is instantaneous and self-gratifying, Lizzie's is to save her sister. Lizzie is representative of the Superego. While the id is instinct, the superego is “a part of the personality that is constructed from one's actual experiences” (Heller, 92). Lizzie...[remembers] Jeanie, how she met them in the moonlight...[and then] she pined and pined; he looked for them day and night, he no longer found them, but they diminished and became grey. (148-157) Learn lessons from what happened to the unfortunate legendary character Jeanie. As a superego, Lizzie is the embodiment of morality in this poem, "like a lily... [or] a royal virgin" (409-418). She fears and ignores the goblin men, "[inserting] a dimpled finger/into each ear, [closes] her eyes and [runs]" (67-68) away from them. He waits until "Laura, shrinking, / [seems] to knock at Death's door" (320-21). “Lizzie [weighs] no more/better or worse/[and puts] a penny in her purse” (322-224) and goes to save her sister despite her fears. As the voice of the superego's conscience, Lizzie constantly warns her sister that "[the goblin men's] offerings should not charm them/their evil gifts will harm [them]" (65-66). He tries to uphold social taboos such as "twilight not [being] good for maidens" (145). Lizzie is the image of the happy housewife, rising "when the first cock [crows] his warning" (201), and carrying on "like bees... sweet and busy" (202) while also supporting that cultural icon. In an extreme display of morality "for [Laura's] sake, [Lizzie faces] the valley/and [has] to deal with goblin merchant men" (473-74). However, because she is driven by morality, Lizzie seems incapable of becoming a well-rounded independent human being with desires, needs, and experience. Desire is seen as negative, so Lizzie never acknowledges it. She is the Superego, but given her complete lack of experience she seems to be only the voice of conscience. At the beginning of the narrative, Laura has a similar apprehension as Lizzie about the fruit merchants. Laura becomes a more developed person than Lizzie because she gains experience with it. When the girls are "crouching together" (36) "among the rushes along the stream bank" (33) Laura, "holding up her golden head" (41), says: We must not look at the goblin men, Not we have tobuy their fruits: who knows on what soil they nourished their hungry and thirsty roots. (41-44)However, Laura does not see the goblin men as "evil people" (437) as Lizzie does. While they are "sly" (96) and seem to seduce Laura with "tones as soft as honey" (108), she experiments with their gifts, for better or worse, not content with blind innocence, as Lizzie is. Laura maintains her innocence in a way; she is still compared to Lizzie as they both remain "like two flakes of freshly fallen snow / [or] like two wands of ivory" (189-90). Laura, like Lizzie, is still white and innocent even as she succumbs to desire. It is only when Laura becomes "deaf and blind" (259).desire begins to "[diminish] ... to a rapid decay" (278-79). The source of her desire is taken away from her and she suffers the consequences. Because she chose to succumb to temptation, Laura must live with the consequences. However, this experience and its consequences make her a more complete person, distancing her from the pleasure principle by the end of the story. When she has children, her "maternal heart [is] assailed by fears" (546), showing that she cares more about her children than herself. He worries that Lizzie's life will be "undoed in [her] ruin" (482). He accepts the blame and seems to accept the consequences. In this, Rossetti may be suggesting that women need to experience desire in some form to learn its consequences. The consequences push Laura into a more mature state, away from strictly id-based choices, and when she is rescued she is able to "[laugh] in the old innocent way" (538). By embracing her sister “two or three times” (539) Laura also embraces her conscience. Women can succumb to desire. They can partly maintain their innocence and at the same time gain valuable experience. As long as their conscience is strong, women can learn from experience, regain their innocence, and be better because of the experience. Laura chooses to succumb to desire, and thanks to her sister's strength her conscience remains "like... freshly fallen snowflakes" (189) and subsequently retains her innocence. While Lizzie has internalized Jeanie's lessons, she cannot hope to be a voice of experience or power when she warns Laura. When he talks about desire he has no experience of it, he is only afraid of it. Lizzie is "very placid in her countenance" (217), she is "contented... / [and warbles] for the simple pleasure of the bright day" (212-13) of cooking, cleaning, and baking cakes. He never feels desire throughout the poem because he fears "paying too dearly" (311). Her constant "wise reproaches" (142) run throughout the poem, supporting the idea that she is like the voice of conscience that passes through all minds. After saving her sister, Lizzie seems to vanish from the poem altogether. In the last stanza Laura is the only sister mentioned. Lizzie becomes almost obsolete when Laura gets used to married life and is no longer guided by the pleasure principle. She has experienced desire and consequences that make her a strong voice of reason. There is a sense that only Laura exists; Laura speaks of "the haunted valley / [and] the wicked, picturesque fruit merchants" (552-52) as if they were ancient legends, a fable to frighten children away from the Id's choices. Lizzie seems like the brave sister of the legend who belongs only to the moral of the story: For there is no friend like a sister in calm or stormy weather... To fetch if one is lost... To strengthen while standing . (561-67)Laura actually becomes a real person when before she was an aspect of a personality. Like morality, Lizzie is internalized; the choice between id and superego has been made. Rossetti may be suggesting that women need not fear the. 2004. 759 -71.