Christina Rossetti deal with the theme of forbidden female sexuality and the new woman in her poem “Goblin Market”. Greg Buzwell in his article “Daughters of Decadence: the New Woman in Victorian fin de siècle” he describes the new woman as sexually free and independent as opposed to the stereotype of the dutiful wife. In her poem, Rossetti rejects the idea of the new woman by describing the consequences of a woman exploring her sexuality. Though, Rossetti describes Laura as indulging in the fruit from the goblin market which could be interpreted as evidence of sexual freedom, however Laura pays greatly for tasting the goblin’s fruit, “Day after day, night after night, / Laura kept watch in vain / In sullen silence of exceeding pain” (Rossetti 8). Laura experiences terrible pain because she longs for the fruit thus revealing that her exploring her sexuality prior to marriage was a bad decision. In contrast, her sister Lizzie, maintains her purity and is able to save her sister, “one may lead a horse to water, / Twenty cannot make him drink” (Rossetti 12). Though the goblins attempt to seduce Lizzie, she cannot be persuaded thus allowing her to save her purity and in the end her sister’s life. At the end of the poem Rossetti, “Afterwards, when both were wives / With children of their own” (Rossetti 15) thus revealing how in order for the poem to end happily both girls must embrace the mainstream female gender roles in order to have a happy ending, and escape the evils of tasting the fruit from the goblin market.