Christina Rossetti – Unrequited Love
Many of Christina Rossetti's poems seem to evoke a sense of thwarted or unrequited love, however in terms of ‘Jessie Cameron’ this unrequited love is reversed into an untypical situation in this patriarchal society of Rossetti’s era. Jessie is described as a ‘careless, fearless girl'. Her ‘mirthful' nature prompts her to take chances and sometimes become ‘heedless' about what she says. Her outgoing personality stands in direct contrast to traditional expectations of a Victorian maiden who the audience would expect to perhaps be of timid or demur characteristics. , Rossetti defies conventions, in said patriarchal society, she gives Jessie an identity, whereas in the Victorian era a girl like Jessie could cease to exist. Jessie demonstrates a sense of female empowerment when Rossetti refers to her as “fearless” a word which is not necessarily associated with power, or even a trait which would be considered as attractive; however it actually serves to set her apart, something that makes her different, and in the eyes of her rejected lover, indeed attractive.
This love is so unrequited, to the extent that not once is his name mentioned; he is only known to the audience as the “neighbor’s son”. She does not want to acknowledge him, she is avoiding any form of intimate connection, in fact any form of connection whatsoever. However, this could also be interpreted to illustrate the distance between the two, and to prove they have no relation at all. He is not only a neighbour, but a neighbour’s son.
Rossetti’s ‘Cousin Kate’ however, is a form of unrequited love we as an audience are more expectant of seeing. There is an emphasis of the powerlessness of women in Victorian society by associating the lord with a series of actions; he “lured”, “wore”, “changed”, “cast”, “fooled” the narrator. The word ‘wore’ in particular serves to