Isolation is omnipresent: in the world and among literature, as it is a component of human nature. Although, sometimes, societal standards create outcasts, isolation can be of one’s own making. Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shallot is epitomizes isolation. “Four gray walls, and four gray towers, / Overlook a space of flowers, / And the silent isle imbowers / The Lady of Shallot” (line 15-18). The Lady of Shallot is physically isolated in a tower, but upon her own accord for she fears to interact with the outside world due to a “whisper” (line 39) that said she would be cursed if she paused her weaving to look outside at Camelot. So, she observes the town indirectly through a mirror only seeing shadows. Her weaving makes her happy but soon enough, she becomes, “half sick of shadows,” (line 72). Once she hears Sir Lancelot sing, “Tirra lirra,” (line 107) she leaves her art of weaving and breaks her isolation and the curse bestows her. She had isolated herself and diligently worked on her art: it is once Sir Lancelot comes that she risks the truth of the curse. 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 death of her artistic isolation led to the death of her creativity and ultimately herself. Isolation is seemingly always negative, but The Lady of Shallot offers a silver lining of the beauty of isolation when it comes to the work of artists, by separating herself from the industrial society she was able to weave beautifully. The double wedged sword has the down side of a dark loneliness, which is at the heart of all isolations and caused her demise. J. Alfred Prufrock is another individual who chooses isolation but rather than be due to a curse he is damned with cognitive fallacies of self. The fragile insecure
There are many ways that people can isolate themselves. Isolation is not always something brought upon one’s self. Isolation can be optional, or a person may have no option in isolation. Stevie Smith, Nathaniel Hawthorne and E.A Robinson show, develop, and illustrate the theme of isolation in their short story and poems.
Essay Outline Alone: Being Disconnected Solitary confinement, isolation(Appositive), which disconnects a person from relationships with others has recently being condemned as inhumane in the treatment of criminals within the prison system. Such solitary confinement leads to disruptive thinking, an inability to have a clear flow of thoughts resulting in irreversible psychological effects in as little as fifteen days. This kind of isolation amounts to psychological torture and can lead to suicide as life loses all meaning. This essay will explore the idea of extreme loneliness and isolation in three pieces of writing, Night by Elie Wiesel, I Am Legend by Robert Matheson, and The Sniper by Liam O'Flaherty. These authors explore the idea of
Most times, anything abnormal or odd tend to be pushed under the rug. Edgar Allan Poe subtly brings attention to topics the are typically ignored. E. A. Poe had far from a perfect childhood. His father left when he was young and his mother died when he was three. Poe also seemed to have a lonely childhood after his parents were gone. He was separated from his relatives and didn’t appear to have many friends. He attended the army and after went into West Point. His academics there were well but he was eventually kicked out because of poor handlings of his duties. Before Poe died, he struggled with depression and a drinking problem. Some believe Poe’s tragic lifetime was the inspiration for some of his stories. Such as, “The Fall of the House of Usher”. A possible theory about this story is that Roderick and the Narrator were one in the same. This essay will discuss the possibility of them being the same through plot, characterization, and personification.
In “A Jury of Her Peers” Minnie Wright demonstrates the deranging effect of isolation. She grew up a joyful young women with all her peers, but drifted away when she became Mrs. Wright and wedded Mr. John Wright. Minnie Wright became socially and emotionally isolated in her own home. This caused her to lose her sanity. The effects that isolation had on Minnie Wright negatively affected her own life and the life of those around her, especially including her husband who she murdered. As the story “A Jury of Her Peers,” progresses it becomes more evident that Minnie Foster is in fact for sure the person who is responsible for the murder of her husband. In the time period “A Jury of her Peers” was written women were also victims of a treatment called the “rest cure.” The rest cure isolated women away from society and in some cases drove them mentally insane as shown in “The Yellow Wallpaper”. The story of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
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.
The character Stephen for example, is sent away from his family and friends in order to go live in Tarumi after he becomes very ill. This serves as a prime example of isolation of others by one 's own peers. This option
“Loneliness is a common emotion when someone feels alone, separated from others or unsupported and distressed” (Kennedy). A common occurrence of many great authors is to make a theme regarding loneliness or isolation for example, “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”. “The Fall of the House of Usher”, comparatively speaking, is a very challenging read for most, whereas “The Yellow Wallpaper” is more of a relaxed read. There are many differences between “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”, however, there is a common occurrence that links the two, loneliness. Throughout the two short fiction pieces both characters, Roderick Usher from “The Fall of the House of Usher and Jane from “The Yellow Wallpaper”, are isolated from the outside world, both characters have an illness that keeps them in isolation, and both characters in some way turn to a form of literature to pass time . All of these aspects contribute significantly to loneliness.
The fear of living in isolation or being isolated from everyone else has been something people have tried staying away from. Sometimes people end up going into isolation without knowing it until it becomes too late. All your family and friends start to stray away and you are left alone with nobody by your side. When he isolates himself from society and his family, Victor Frankenstein pushes everyone out of his life to become an inventor, showing that pushing your family away is acceptable only when the outcome has an impact on the world.
When the term “isolation” is used, most people think of it as an action performed in solitude. It brings to mind an empty space in which one person resides, far from all others. However, isolation does not always occur in a singular sense. In “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, isolation is used by a large population as a means of safety. In “The Thing Around Your Neck” by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie, isolation occurs among crowds of people and even in the company of someone close to one’s heart. In both aspects, isolation serves to exemplify the broken portions of life. Isolation is a destructive force and as a theme, isolation serves to exemplify a particular viewpoint and worldview while serving as both a cause and effect.
Isolation from the world and other people can sometimes be good for people. For those that choose to step back and take a break from the world, isolation can be a time of growth and self- discovery. However, if a person is forced into isolation, like Gregor Samsa and the angel were, it has a completely different effect. For the angel in “The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” and Gregor Samsa in “The Metamorphosis”, their isolation was physical as well as mental.
One of the main characters suffered most from this theme of isolation indefinitely. Poor Sethe. Through her life she was forced to make many indelicate decisions which could have
In Alice Munro’s “Silence”, Juliet, a single working mother, is abandoned by her daughter Penelope, who left without a warning or a trace to explore her spirituality and start a new life for herself. Juliet is at first baffled and distraught, as she cannot understand why Penelope would leave. She had thought that Penelope had always been very happy at home. Juliet never does hear definitively why Penelope left, but throughout this short story she analyzes why it might be and what it means for her life now. The use of simple and straightforward diction, emotional monologues, and harsh conclusions show a drastic case of how children can grow apart from their parents. These techniques align with Poe’s theory that a story should evoke a unique
World famous poet, Edgar Allan Poe, once wrote in one of his poems, “From childhood’s hour I have not been. As others were, I have not seen. As others saw, I could not awaken. My heart to joy at the same tone. And all I loved, I loved alone.” In those lines, Poe demonstrates his love for being alone because his childhood was full of isolation, meaning that the writer grew used to the feeling. Since boyhood throughout his adult life, Edgar Allan Poe endured through a series of unfortunate events. From his parents dying, his animosity with his foster father, his consecutive poverty, to facing rejection from the public, the man’s life was as ominous as his fiction. This essay will discuss the reason behind the writing of one of Edgar Allan
In the poem “The Lady of Shalott,” we find a woman, who is trapped inside of her own home by a curse. She is faced with the fact that she cannot experience reality due to this curse that for whatever reason has been placed on her. The poet uses imagery and symbolism to portray the feelings in the story as well as the hidden meanings within the poem. Imagery within the story poses the mood of the setting. The poem states, “Four gray walls, and four gray towers, overlook a space of flowers” (Part 1, Stanza 2). The poet describes the place in which the lady dwells as being very dreary, and lonesome. Also, the poet talks about the Lady of Shalott being “tired of the shadows” which also provides insight into the living conditions in which the woman resides.
Tennyson portrays the isolation of women through the reoccurring theme of Romanticism, this is shown through the poet’s constant associations with nature being the centre of the poem. The poet focuses more on the surroundings of the main character as she lives “By the island in the river…And the silent isle embowers The Lady of Shalott.” Tennyson presents the speaker to hide the details of the actual lady, her imprisonment and the curse which leads us to believe she is a mystery as the nature around her seems overpowering and consuming her. Tennyson portrays the lady in the poem to be an embodiment of a typical woman of the contemporary culture as he describes ‘A charmed web’ which the woman is ‘weaving, either night or day’. The ‘web’ can be a symbol of slavery but also a symbol of creativity and possibility. When the woman tries to turn away from the web she refuses to be a slave and ultimately