Rossetti uses his girl protagonists, Lizzie and Laura, as metaphors for women throughout the poem; while the antagonistic goblin men become metaphors for Britain with their fruits representing the British colonies. Rossetti creates a morality that aims to “serve the social function of warning against any illicit desire or action outside the accepted boundaries of society” (Watson 66). “Goblin Market” manages to present this moral in a light where a reader can not only find the moral and gain hope from it, but can learn how to improve the society they live in.