The Romantic and Victorian eras were very sentimental about the chivalrous and conservative days of the Medieval Period. Because of this, innocence was a commonly utilized theme in works of those times. It could represent the naiveté of youth that is unknowing of the evils of the world, the meek virtuosity of a woman in need of the help of a man, or the morality and goodness of a person who is uncorrupted by darkness. The texts seem to reflect a strong desire to preserve innocence, even (or especially) in the darkest of times. There is an ongoing fight between the optimistic mindset of innocence and the harshness of the reality of life experience.
In 1798, William Wordsworth wrote
“We Are Seven,” a grim yet endearing poem about an eight-year old girl that argues
that even though two of her six siblings have died, there are still seven of
them. Alpa Chino’s post A portrait of
Dealing with Death discusses how Wordsworth may view death and how it is
contrasted with the girl’s response about her dead siblings. It could be
society-based, considering the girl was significantly poorer than the man she
is speaking to, but it could also be age-based or more specifically,
experience-based. The young girl’s upbringing has given her life experiences
the man has not. She has endured poverty, hunger, and the untimely deaths of
siblings. Despite being so young, she has had life experience that the man has
not. Her statement about death could either be the profound wisdom of a girl
who has seen the world differently, or the tragic naiveté of a child who
innocently does not understand the true concept of death. Is this a type of
innocence the world would want to preserve in order to shield the girl from the
grim reality?
In William Blake’s “Songs of
Innocence” and its counterpoint “Songs of Experience,” he writes segments in
the “innocence” piece that makes several allusions to happiness, laughter,
mercy, children, and angels. To juxtapose this, the pieces in “Experience”
convey a darker tone filled with misery, despair, poverty, weeping, and
helplessness. In ink’s post Blake’s case,
he discusses Blake’s childhood and how Blake seems to compare children to
angels. Based on Blake’s vibrant and imaginative childhood, he seems to think
of himself as one of the innocent angels unknowing of the problems of the world
(it seems strange that angels and cherubs are symbols of innocence and yet they
themselves can see all of the world and therefore should know of its evils). In
Ian M. Caswell’s essay “William Blake’s belief regarding Innocence with
reference to the Book of Thell and various poems from The Songs of
Innocence And Experience,” he claims that in William Blake’s opinion, “the
idea that children were in essence evil and corrupt, and that they had to be
spiritually educated as a first priority because of the possibility of their
imminent death, was a great wrong that had to be challenged and turned around.
Blake saw the effect of their type of thinking as the crushing of the
children’s imaginative process” (Caswell 141). Blake highly valued imagination and his poems have a longing
for the days of his childhood when he would see said angels and was innocent
himself.
In an approach regarding society’s
treatment of the innocent, Toff Mandrake’s Won’t
somebody PLEASE think of the children! post discusses how children
sacrificed their innocence to work in brutal work conditions and suffer the
harsh treatment of religious officials. This makes sense, particularly from the
point-of-view of Blake, who was never subjected to such conditions as a child.
His “Songs of Innocence” seem to be about him as a child and “Songs of
Experience” is about him as an adult seeing children the way they are now in
harsh times. Not only does Blake long for the children’s innocence, but his own
so he would not know of such unfortunate circumstances.
Children were not the only souls of
innocence the Romantic Era wanted to preserve. Ann Radcliffe’s 1791 Romance of the Forest tells the Gothic
tale of a frightened young woman Adeline who seeks the comfort and shelter of
Pierre de la Motte. While Pierre seems more than happy to oblige the lady, his
son Louis also wishes to be of service, representing the nostalgia for
knight-like chivalry. However, she falls in love with the attendant Theodore,
who also wants to save her. Quite
a few of our classmates did not respond to Adeline’s character very well.
Wanderlust’s post Feminist Problems states
her dislike for Adeline because she is a weak heroine that lacks any gumption
or backbone. I commented on the post agreeing with this statement but because I
was still reading the novel, I wasn’t quite sure if Adeline was entirely what
she seemed. I was skeptical and assumed that she was a falsely innocent person
such as a femme fatale who was taking advantage of the good intentions of the
men around her. This would have been a more evolved approach to female strength
in characters (despite making Adeline the villain) but this evolution wouldn’t
really be seen until John Keats’ “La Belle Dame sans Merci” in 1819. The
falsifying of innocence is a deceiving approach that seems to almost make a
mockery of the desire to preserve innocent and save the archetypal damsel in
distress. In Adeline’s case, she plays as merely a one-dimensional damsel. In
the post Evolution made by Iago’s
Personality Coach, the author and the commenters claim that Adeline is a very
complex character that learns to manipulate her surroundings. She’s not
villainous, she’s just resourceful. Her experiences throughout the story have
shown her the duplicitous intentions of Pierre and therefore her naiveté is
gone and she now knows how to act in order to survive.
Women and children are commonly
seen trying to be saved or sheltered from the world so they can keep their
innocence, whether that refers to chastity, ignorance, morality, optimism, or
integrity. In Christina Rossetti’s “The Goblin Market,” two sisters fight
against the temptation and corruption wrought on by fruit from goblins. The
story has several interpretations ranging from the economic changes of the
nineteenth century, female sexuality and Victorian mores, Adam and Eve, Mary
Magdalene, and more. During a classroom presentation on female roles in the
Victorian era, it was mentioned how sheltered and hidden women were and how
their sexualities were repressed as a matter of propriety. If “Goblin Market”
is taken into account based on homoeroticism or any kind of interpretation
regarding to sexuality, innocence is definitely being jeopardized. The
innocence that was widely regarded in Victorian times would be in danger if the
girls give in to the ‘forbidden fruit’ and defy typical social norms regarding
sexuality and feminine roles. In my own post, I mention how Lizzie and Laura
seem to be yin and yang in their representation of light and darkness. The
entire poem seems to reflect the constant struggle of our temptations and
darkness and how we must overcome our demons with the goodness and innocence we
possess.
 |
| In the picture, Laura is seen being forcibly victimized by the goblins that also seem to be the "demons" of temptation she must struggle against |
What makes Rossetti’s poem so daring is that the character Laurie, who falls into temptation, is redeemed in the end. Kirsten E. Escobar’s essay “Female Saint, Female Prodigal: Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”” states “the permission that “Goblin Market” grants fallen women to return from depravity to chastity, if not outright purity, was indeed radical. Christina Rossetti rejects her society’s definition of female virtue and denounces its justifications for deserting fallen women” (Escobar 133). Laura is the Fallen Woman but in the end becomes a born-again virgin and her innocence is restored.
By the rise of the Modernist Era,
such optimistic values such as the nostalgia and sentiment of the medieval
times were gone and replaced by cynicism and an urge to rebel against the
Romantic and Victorian norms. Novels and poetry weren’t focused on preserving
innocence but rather moved on towards experimental writing methods and shifts
in class hierarchy and gender roles. After the horrors of World War I, the
world had gained life experience and therefore had significantly less innocence
to hold onto.
Further Reading:
http://www.victorianweb.org/books/joycereview.html
(to learn about how Modernism rejected Victorian norms)
http://www.victorianweb.org/genre/childlit/childhood1.html
(to learn about how highly children and their innocence were valued, including
among William Blake and William Wordsworth)
Works Cited:
Escobar, Kirsten E., “Female Saint, Femal Prodigal:
Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”.”
Religion and the Arts vol. 5 (2001): 133. Article.
Caswell, Ian M., “William Blake’s belief regarding innocence
with reference to the Book
of Thell and various other poems from The Songs Of Innocence And Experience.” Sagami Women’s University
vol. 71. Pp. 141-144. Article
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