The Lady Of Shalott Analysis

Also bored of these “shadows” of life is the Lady of Shallot. She is fed up with seeing beautiful sights in her mirror and not being able to take part in them. She proclaims, “I am half sick of shadows (Tennyson 71).” In the Lady’s case, her shadow is the mirror. She lives for the shadows because she needs them to experience life. However, she wants to experience the world first-hand, without the mirror, or her shadow. When she heads toward Camelot, she leaps out of the shadows. Comparable to that of Sibyl Vane, when she is separated from her shadows, her unfortunate fate is met.

a song. It is a very much happier poem than Morte d' Arthur. The tone

The themes of loneliness, exile and escape from reality are important aspects that characterize the works of Alfred Lord Tennyson. During the 1800s, these aspects differentiated him from other Victorian poets, distinguishing him as one of the most popular poets of the Victorian era. In Tennyson's poems Mariana, and The Lady of Shalott, the artists express loneliness in their isolation from the rest of the world. The following essay will compare and contrast the displays of temporary and permanent loneliness of these artists through Tennyson's use of imagery, repetition, and word painting.

This metaphor powerfully inverts the traditional notion of a heroic knight, placing emphasis both on Crichton Smith 's own failure and upon the comparison of the tenement to a prison tower. In addition to this, the poet also indicates that he visited his mother on 'each second Sunday ' which again uses alliteration to draw our attention to the infrequency of his visits. These techniques are skilfully employed to given a clear indication of the poet 's own guilt. And the main focus of this guilt can be clearly seen in the final image of the stanza.

In her 1945 article, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, Margaret Fuller illustrates a world in which “there exists in the minds of men a tone of feeling toward women as toward slaves”, and where men hold “the belief that Woman was made for Man”. Two books, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and Woman in the Nineteenth Century, provide male and female perspective in the 19th century. These separate texts exemplify two sides of the same coin. On the one hand, Woman in the Nineteenth Century provides perspective of the feminine experience in a male dominated world while Moby Dick portrays a society from a male point of view and experiences woman as subservient to himself.

Patriarchal culture has dominated society throughout history. Males have control in many aspects of life and women have continued to fight for equal rights in society. There are many ways women have contributed to the fight for equality; some more physical and other less abrasive. Education and Literature gave the voice to a few women in a male-centered world. Poet Lady Mary Wroth captures the injustices experienced by women in the feminine narrative of Sonnet 9 from her collection of sonnets, songs, and lyrics entitled 'Pamphilia to Amphilantus. In this poem, Wroth explores the thoughts of elite women in the 1700s and uses aspects of her own cultural and historic circumstance to convey the theme of a religious patriarchal society.

The narrator is portraying a woman who is looked down upon because of her mental illness, but women at the time were often seen as childish or too emotional. “Then he took me in his arms called me a blessed little goose,” (Gilman 5). The narrator’s husband, John, treats her almost like a father would treat a daughter. The narrator is belittled because of her inability to act like women at the time were expected to. “Victorian values stressed that women were to behave demurely and remain with in the domestic sphere,” (Wilson 6). During the 19th century, women were expected to simply care for the children and clean the house. Most of the time, women who aspired to do more than that were not considered respectable wives. “Because the narrator is completely dependent on her husband and is allowed no other role than to be a wife and a mother, she represents the secondary status of women during the 19th century,” (Wilson 5).

Thesis: A “true women” in the 19th Century was one who was domestic, religious, and chaste. These were virtues established by men but enforced and taught by other women. Women were also told that they were inferior to men and they should accept it and be grateful that someone just loved them.

Thomas Hardy’s poem “The Ruined Maid” introduces its reader to the harsh reality of lower class Victorian Women. Critical scrutiny through a feminist lens helps widen the scope of understanding to reveal beyond the satirical irony of the writing and bring to light the deep rooted social issue of Victorian England’s paralyzing poverty and its effects on women. In Critical Theory Today feminist criticism is explained as, "...the ways in which literature (and other cultural productions) reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women" (Tyson). “The Ruined Maid” clearly challenges

Women roles have drastically changed since the late 18th and early 19th century. During this time, women did not have the freedom to voice their opinions and be themselves. Today women don’t even have to worry about the rules and limitations like the women had to in this era. Edna in “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin and Nora in “A Doll House” by Henrik Ibsen were analogous protagonists. The trials they faced were also very similar. Edna and Nora were both faced with the fact that they face a repressive husband whom they both find and exit strategy for. For Nora this involved abandoning her family and running away, while Edna takes the option that Nora could not do-committing suicide. These distinct texts both show how women were forced to

Throughout Tennyson’s poem, “The Lady of Shalott”, the lady obsesses over the knight, Sir Lancelot, namely his appearance. “The sun came dazzling through the leaves, and flamed upon the brazen

The society always queries about the role of women and for centuries, they have struggled to find their place in a world that is predominantly male oriented. The treatment of women was remarkably negative; they were expected to stay home and fulfil the domestic duties. Literature of that time embodies and mirrors social issues of women in society (Lecture on the Puritans). But, slowly and gradually, situation being changed: “During the first half of the 19th century, women 's roles in society evolved in the areas of occupational, moral, and social reform. Through efforts such as factory movements, social reform, and women 's rights, their aims were realized and foundations for further reform were established” (Lauter 1406). Feminist poets like Emily Dickinson and Anne Bradstreet talked substantially about feminism in different lights in the past two centuries. They were very vocal and assertive about their rights and the ‘rights for women’ in general. While they might have been successful at making a good attempt to obliterate gender biases but still there are lot of disparities between the two genders. Nevertheless, their poetry reflects a deep angst.

Alfred Lord Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott is a ballad involving a young woman who wishes to break free of her restricting lifestyle. With her curse she continues to weave the images from her mirror, only stopping when she sees Sir Lancelot and decides to confess her love. Ultimately, her goal remained unfulfilled as she dies on her journey to Camelot and is only remembered as a very pretty woman. Why would Tennyson write a ballad about the death of an innocent woman? Why would he allow her to see the happiness only to punish her for trying to attain it? There are many speculations, but the biggest comparison involved the women of the early nineteenth century. By looking into Tennyson's characters and his use of symbols throughout the ballad,

The Lady of Shallot can be interpreted as a symbol of artists and their commitment to their work, in this poem represented by weaving, but also paralleling Tennyson and his poetry. She sacrificed herself to her passion and ironically Sir Lancelot made her into nothing more than a piece of art, he said, “She has a lovely face; / God in his mercy lend her grace” (line 169) she can no longer weave “A magic web with colors gay,” (line 38) rather, just be objectified into a dead-pale beauty not able to offer anymore creativity.

"The Lady of Shallot," by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, acts as a voice for people struggling with materialism of the industrial age. Tennyson became famous for reflecting the "idealism of an industrious society that was nonetheless racked by deep doubts about its materialism" (The Longman Anthology Of British Literature p. 1908). The curse of the mysterious lady of the poem could be thought of  as the curse of the people subcombing to the dreaded materialism and giving up the Victorian innocent ideals. Furthermore, the lady represents Tennyson himself as he suffered from a personal battle between the desire for glamour's fame, and the need to stay an innocent poet. In Looking at the viewpoint of Tennyson