The Lady of Sharlott - A Feminist Perspective - Research Paper Example

The Lady of Shalott’ – A Feminist Perspective ‘The Lady of Sharlott’ – A Feminist Perspective Written in 1833 by Alfred, Lord Tennyson The lady of the Shalott is a mixture of romance, thirst for real world, quest for freedom and loss of it. In addition to this, it also covers an angle where real is in conflict with art or as we may call it, an image. To give a concise picture of the poem, Tennyson heads on with the description of a road leading to Camelot, legendary castle of King Arthur from where a small island by the name of Shalott can be seen. In that island there is a small tower or in which the mysterious lady of the Shalott is confined. She is illustrated as spending the time weaving the scenery she can see through the mirror on the loom for she is cursed and forbidden to look outside the window, which is soon broken when Sir Lancelot makes an entry. Although, this ballad speaks of incomplete and unidentified romance, one cannot help but notice that that the lady of Shalott is somehow portrayed as an object for male appreciation, in crisis of self-identity and not strong enough to face the harsh realities of the world, since, in the end of the poem she meets death shortly after breaking out of the castle. Interestingly, the lady in the poem is left alone and when the times come over to have interaction with another human, she faces death. Tennyson has depicted the lady as a loner who is always secluded by the grey walls and the reapers only listen to her melodious voice which makes them consider the question that the person inside the tower is a woman or a mythical creature. The reapers’ ambivalent creation of the lady forefront the conflict of her identity is composed (Skóbel, 2010). Lady of Shalott is unaware about the reason why she is secluded (Skóbel, 2010) and therefore, is shown that she is always weaving and does not have anything to care about; even what she is weaving on the loom. Furthermore, she is cut off from the outer world because of the curse and what she sees in the mirror of the outside world is blur and not clear, ‘shadows of the world’ as stated in the poem. This further illustrates that she was not interested in knowing who she was and why she cannot even look outside the window; her identity seems to be incomplete. But once she look in the mirror, an image of two lovers emerges making her realize her loneliness and that is the turning point of her existence because for the first time she wants to explore the world and taste its realties. However, when she breaks the spell and goes out of the tower in a boat towards Camelot, she loses her life. Hence, the identity of the lady is mysterious and unfound to such an extent that she does not even have a name and is called, the Lady of the Shalott. Through elucidation and action of the lady, Tennyson is portraying a confined and overworked lady (Neilson, 2003). This phrase is implicating that women are regarded as virtuous, obedient and naïve and lady of the Shalott falls in the same category, even promoting the role. Her obedience is shown when she is continuously weaving without daring to look out the window but, once she gather the nerves to break the curse and glance out of the window, after falling in love with sir Lancelot, and travels toward the King’s place death falls upon her. Thereupon, showing that disobedience of the lady is fatal. In addition to this, falling in love with sir Lancelot and then realizing that something is missing and incomplete in her life, The Lady of Shalott is showing that for women men are more important and a necessity if they want their life to be meaningful. Besides this, the wording of sir Lancelot upon seeing lady of the Shalott’s dead body "She has a lovely face; God in his mercy lend her grace, The Lady of Shalott" depicts that women is mare object for men’s appraisal. The angel in the house was the ideal women who was pure, selfless and loving (Linnea, 2011). Besides discussing angel, Linnea also describes the ‘rebel’ women who are the opposite of the former. It can be argued that women should not be framed into one circle of qualities as stated above, but they also have a mind which can identify, process and understand situations around them but again Tennyson portrays a very mindless woman who is operating like a machine without emotions and feeling, though when she exert some power and try to do what she wants to do, her life is ruined or more better, finished. This again indicate that women who try to forge way for themselves or show bit of spine ends up being destroyed or useless, therefore, they should remain in their ‘limits’. ‘The Pre-Raphaelites in particular were fond of depicting lovely, sometimes mad or dying women associated with water. These women surfaced in the form of Ophelia, Elaine and The Lady of Shalott (Vivien, 2002). According to Vivien, the ladies of the aforementioned poems are madwomen who would sacrifice anything for their love, even their life, as seen in The Lady of Shalott. This sacrifice was very endearing to the Victorians who at that time very threatened by the idea of women becoming independent and Tennyson’s poem did nothing but soothed their worries about women ‘getting out of hand’ and appealed to their patriarchal frame of mind. They admired the fact that women are so intense and ‘loving’ that they are ready to lose their lives for the men they love, regardless of the fact that for men they are just beauties who are needed to be praised and talk about. Apart from the perspective of the above mentioned writers, one can see for him or herself that keeping a woman in lock and key, isolating her from the little happiness of life, shutting her away from the realm of realities is barbaric and top of that picturing her asa robot, incapable of being imaginative, lively and brainy enough to do anything besides weaving is just disheartening and pitiful. To show that when a woman takes situation in her hand and journeys from shadow into the ordinary and gets killed in the process is demeaning for women, in general, who have ability and strength to cope up with the hardships of life and takes step towards hope. Not only this, but illustrating a woman giving away her life to for her love and in return getting the response “She has a lovely face” is laughable and at the same time heartbreaking, showing that feelings of women are rubbish and a good joke that should be shared or passed on. All things considered, Tennyson’s poem The Lady of Shalottdose portrays women in a weak, infatuated or lovesick kind of form, who are still dominated by men and value their opinion above else and if, by any chance, they do think about their selves or take steps to make other realize about their very being, their actions lead them towards destruction. Likewise, this poem also pictures men to be inconsiderate of women’s feeling and value their existence. Similarly, this poem to an extent depicts what is actually, at a basic level, is still happening. Even though revolutions had occurred and 18th century is left behind, men at large are still treating women in the same way. References: Engelking, T. L. (2002). Renée Vivien and the Ladies of the Lake.Nineteenth-century French studies, 30(3), 363-380. Buvik, L. (2011). The angel, the rebel and the awakening: representations of women in four texts by Tennyson, Rossetti and Egerton. SKÓBEL, A. THE LADY OF SHALOTT AND BROWNING’S MY LAST DUCHESS. Neilson, K., & Hale, R. The Representation of a Victorian Lady in Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shalott”. Read More