The reflections of sisterhood in Goblin Market by Christina Georgina Rossetti and Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

ABSTRACT This thesis studies the portrayals of sisterhood in Goblin Market by Christina Georgina Rossetti and Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Despite the strict moral and social standards laid down on women by Victorian society, these works use female solidarity as a potent narrative device that stands in stark contrast to these conventions. Goblin Market offers sisterhood, real and biological female solidarity as redemption. It tells how the bond between Lizzie and Laura shows women having each other's back against gender threats in a world ruled by patriarchy. However, Aurora Leigh illustrates sisterhood through the social solidarity of women, even if untied by blood. Analysis of the relationship between Aurora and Marian in terms of gender roles, class differences, and the encroachment on freedom by women. This project may be the first comprehensive study of female solidarity in Victorian women's literature, combining feminist theory, gender studies, and comparative literary analysis. So while in many ways, Goblin Market and Aurora Leigh are mirror images of a patriarchal society of their time, they are also visions of places that never existed outside the lifeworlds that they depict in which women can depend on each other. This thesis from the outset aims to raise awareness of how dynamics of sisterhood are transformed in literature, extending feminist discussions historically and theoretically from Victorian to contemporary fiction. Keywords: Sisterhood, Feminism, Religion, Society, Victorian Age