JOHN BOLTON
(Source: Wikipedia)
There isn’t much information available for
the illustrator, John Bolton. However, we do know that he was a comic book
artist from London, whose work was well known for dense, painted style, verging
on photorealism. His adult-comic book version for Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market was published in 1984. As
you will see, each page of his comic book follows the poem, with each “blurb”
being conveyed by one or two illustrations.
Image 1
In the opening illustration we see lines 1-31. Here, John Bolton paints very vivid illustrations of the fruits, what seems to be a forest and of course, the Goblin men. The Goblin men are carrying bowls of various fruits, which are listed in the poem. “Come buy, come buy,” they chant; to me, this entire poem has a very ominous feeling to it and the Goblin men’s chants seem maliciously taunting.
It is important to note that in this first illustration we really see what the Goblin men look like. They have the bodies of little men but the faces of animals. Through further analysis of the following stanzas we will see why John Bolton depicted them in such way.
It is clear that the redheaded girl, or maiden in this illustration is Laura, as she is the curious one who wants to see the Goblin men, what they carry and why. As intriguing as it may be, Laura understands that this is not the right thing to do, which is why she runs off. In the poem, Christina Rossetti makes it clear that both sisters are blonde, however I believe John Bolton made Laura a redhead so that the distinction between the two could be made. John Bolton made the two sisters look like very beautiful, simple, young ladies. I believe that this style adds more to the sex appeal of these young-ladies.
Image 2
In this second illustration the malice of the devious Goblin men are very well depicted. It is obvious that Bolton is making the Goblin men “joker-like” because after all, they are tricksters that try to lure young maids, which I believe adds to the sexual undertone in the entire poem.
Laura falls into the trap of the Goblin men and cuts off a piece of her “golden locks” to pay for the fruit. Here we see the Goblin men peering at her, tugging on her hair as if she were a piece of meat. Laura’s facial expression here looks uncertain; she knew that what she was doing was wrong, but carried on anyway.
In the following stanza we learn that Laura had to give a piece of herself away and now she relies on the Goblin men to be complete once more. We can see this in lines 153-156 “But ever in the noonlight she pined and pined away; sought them by night and day, found them no more, but dwindled and grew grey.” A year has passed now and Laura is still deteriorating. I found this symbolic because Laura was tempted, gave in, literally gave a piece of herself away and now the Goblin men are no where to be found, when she relies on them for her recovery.
Image 3
In the following set of illustrations we see Laura and Lizzie sleeping together, embracing each other sharing the love of sisters. I found this rather important because it shows how strong of a bond these sisters have. Lizzie is becoming more of a mother figure and is taking care of her sister. Bolton also illustrates Laura with short, messy hair, a way to show the reader that she was wearing down from eating the fruit of the Goblin men. We do not see her grow grey, perhaps not in the literal sense but we do get the message when we no longer see her beautiful flowing hair.
Laura keeps watch for the Goblin men because she wants to feel better again, however she no longer hears them or sees them. “She never spied the Goblin men hawking their fruits along the glen: but when the noon waxed bright her hair grew thin and grey; she dwindled, as the fair full moon doth turn to swift decay and burn her fire away.” It is clear here that Laura is now literally deteriorating without them, and her livelihood has been taken from her. Before, Laura used to plant daisies and go out to the garden with her sister, now she is miserable and constantly worrying about the Goblin men.
Image 4
In the following set of illustrations Bolton makes the sisters seem older, in my opinion. Also, makes Laura really look like she’s “knocking at death’s door.” Laura’s illness is extremely vivid in these illustrations. In lines 309-316, we see that no more than ever, Laura is longing for the Goblin men’s fruit to comfort her. Here I believe is when the poem gets more ambiguous. See, this poem can be interpreted in many ways and there are obvious signs of religion and Christianity so my interpretation is based a little on this Christian idea. Laura has tasted what we could call the “forbidden fruit” of malicious Goblin men who taunt young women and in return, women make the wrong decisions. Here, We see Laura thinking about Jeanie, who also took some fruit from the Goblin men and died when she was in her “gay prime.” At this time, they use of the word ‘gay’ meant prostitute. Jeanie had clearly made very wrong decisions that led her to her death, but, are we left to assume that these concurrent actions that led to her death were caused by her first fault, purchasing fruit from the Goblin men, and giving a piece of herself away?
Lizzie can no longer stand to see her sister in such pain, dwindling away. This part is also significant (lines 322-328). Lizzie is now being selfless and putting her sister’s wellness before her own. Seeking the Goblin men is a risky thing for her to do, but this point in he point signifies the selfless love siblings or loved ones can have for one another.
Image 5
The poem really gets intense at this point. Lizzie is calling out to the Goblin men and the approach her in a rather ominous way. “Laugh’d every goblin when they sped her peeping: came towards her hobbling, flying, running, leaping, Puffing and blowing...” (lines 329-362) really show the intensity in which they approach her. Here Bolton makes the goblin men’s facial expressions extremely intimidating and again joker-like, giving the reader a feeling of suspense. Christina Rossetti’s use of adverbs to describe the deviousness of the goblin men makes the poem feel all the more intimidating. I believe that Bolton does a very good job at bringing this scene to life. Lizzie’s facial expression seems very disturbed and afraid as the goblin me are trying to persuade her to sit with them for a while. When she denied their offer, the goblin me grew infuriated and their anger is clearly depicted in Bolton’s illustrations.
The following lines of the poem are slightly more disturbing for the reader, however you may interpret this, the following lines could symbolize anger, perhaps anger towards women when men don’t get their way, or perhaps this was Rossetti’s take on her society and the different roles men and women played, however it does represent extreme selflessness of sisters.
Image 6
Lines 422-446 describe the goblin men’s rage trying to make Lizzie eat the fruit. She refuses and does not utter a word. In silence and the way that both Rossetti and Bolton depict this scene almost resembles rape. The goblin men were trying to force their “fruits” upon Lizzie trying to make her eat and she refused, all of this was against her will. Because Lizzie did not respond to the goblin men when they asked her to sit with them or when they were scratching, pinching her, tearing her clothes apart and squeezing juices at her, the men grew bored and in anger left her alone in the woods.
Bolton’s vivid color helps amplify the meaning of this scene and really bring this to life. Bolton has Lizzie with her eyes closed in this picture, perhaps so that she avoids looking at what the goblin men are doing to her, again while this is all happening the goblin men’s faces are more “joker-like” than ever.
Image 7
This illustration really brought in the fantasy of the goblin men. We can now see the fruit juices being sprayed onto Lizzie’s face and a goblin man to her left (our right) biting on her clothes with a rather insidious smirk. As Lizzie picks herself back up from all of the harm the goblin men inflicted on her, Bolton illustrates the goblin men gathering their fruits and scattering away, two of them are actually jumping into the ground and peeking out, this reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. Lizzie runs home and her fears begin to fade away, Rossetti writes that, “the kind heart made her windy-paced that urged her home quite out of breath with haste and inward laughter” (lines 461-463). Lizzie’s laughter here is that of triumph, she did not fall for the goblin men’s trap and is now rushing home to save her sister. Bolton’s illustration of Lizzie’s torn dress showing her exposed breast also, once again, brings about the topic of rape. Her torn white dress could be taken as a symbol of tainted purity.
Image 8
Here, we see Lizzie running toward her home with her arms open. It almost seems that she wishes to embrace it as the house could be an interpretation of safety. (Line 462-463) As soon as she steps in, she sees Laura waiting for her. Laura has been depicted as an addict-like old woman who’s craving for what she wants and reaching her left arm toward Lizzie. We can imagine how hard it was for her to get up by looking at the misplaced chair (Line 475-476) and her leaning on the wall. Lastly, we see Laura licking off the juices on Lizzie’s face as if they were the cure to her curse. (Line 485-486)
Image 9
After the consumption of the juice, Laura fell as if she was dead. Her hair becomes whiter than previous illustrations. (Line 521-523) In the middle picture, we see Lizzie puts her on bed and cares for her through the night as described by the poem, “That night long Lizzie watch'd by her, Counted her pulse's flagging stir, Felt for her breath, Held water to her lips, and cool'd her face With tears and fanning leaves” (Line 525-529). Finally, Laura wakes up and regained her youth and life. And the sisters embrace each other and rejoice. (Line 537-540) Along with the curse, the goblins outside the window leave as the sun rises.John Bolton's vivid colors really helped convey the emotion Christina Rossetti's poem. I'd like to note that this poem is very ambiguous, as there are many ways one can interpret what it means or what message it is exactly trying to convey. I think that it is best to leave it as "ambiguous" and form our own opinions, just like John Bolton did in his illustrations.
