Maja urica

Mr. sc. A. Primorac

English literature: Romanticism and the Victorian Era

25 May 2007

The world of oppositions in The Lady of Shalott

In his poem The Lady of Shalott Tennyson tells us a story of a woman who lives in a

complete isolation, without any actual contact with the real world. She has a curse cast

upon herself which does not allow her to look out through the window. The only contact

she has with the outside world is a mirror standing in front of the window, but it reflects

only the shadows of reality. Through the story of this embowered lady Tennyson shows

us a vivid world of oppositions and contrasts, but also tells the story about the position of

women in his time.

The dominant opposition in the poem is that of exterior versus interior world, public

versus private life. The Lady lives in a tower on an island, called The island of Shalott,

she is completely alone and unknown to the rest of the world. This mysterious island

is a completely different world from the city of Camelot, and reading the poem it may

seem as if it is just an illusion. Everything on the island is serene and peaceful, while on

the other hand, Camelot is a world full of activity and life, it is the real world where

people live their lives normally. The city of Camelot and its inhabitants represent the real,

public, material world, full of threats, dangers, rejection, passion; a world not proper for a

lady. As long as the Lady stays imprisoned in her private interior world she is safe, in fact

for her the only danger is the desire to perceive and experience the reality. Her room is

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her sanctuary, isolation is her safety. She is not even allowed to look directly through the

window, but only to see shadows of the reality reflected in the mirror. '' The Lady

sees the exterior world, not through a window that opens onto real space and nature, but

only as a shadow of that reality reflected in the magic mirror. Her curse does not allow

her to appear at the casement where the exterior and interior worlds can meet and merge,

she is totally cut off. '' (Elizabeth Nelson). The curse serves to prevent the Lady of facing

the reality of the exterior world and to keep her unaware of the delights it offers. She

must remain unaware of the world of love and passion in order to keep her virginity and

purity. But, as she starts to realize that the world that is reflected in the mirror is only a

pale shadow of the real world, her desire to be a part of it grows and this is the beginning

of the Lady's end. She knows that the interior world of solitude, trapped passion and

hidden desire is the only safe place for her, but the temptation to escape grows more and

more as she observes weddings, funerals, knights and all the activity of the forbidden

world. Though the temptation is strong, she still manages to concentrate on her weaving

which helps her to control the passion trapped deep inside of her heart. '' Tennyson's Lady

of Shalott perfectly embodies the Victorian image of the ideal woman: virginal,

embowered, spiritual and mysterious, dedicated to her womanly tasks.'' (Elizabeth

Nelson). She represents the ideal woman because of her obedience; as long as she stays

obedient and closed in the interior world she is safe.

Another contrast which can be found in the poem is that between art and life, artist and

actual person. The Lady of Shalott is presented in two distinct ways: she is an artist

isolated from everyday life, but at the same time she is an individual longing for love and

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company of another human being. The only thing she does in her tower is weaving a

magic web and singing her lonely song. She has never been seen and the echo of her

song is what makes people aware of her existence. '' Only reapers, reaping early / In

among the bearded barley, / Hear a song that echoes cheerly '' (Tennyson, lines 28-30).

People know that there is a lady living on the island, but they are not interested to know

anything about her. They enjoy her song and can only perceive the artistic side of the

Lady, they do not care for the actual person with feelings that she really is. As an artist

the Lady is perfectly satisfied with the isolated world she has to live in, but isolation is

not something she can endure as a person. '' As an artistic soul that longs to have a

relationship with another individual, the embowered Lady lives alone on an island,

weaving a magic web. '' (Hae-In Kim). The minute Lady leaves her art to look on the real

world she is doomed and her tragic death is inevitable. Her human desire for relationship

and company prevails over the artist she has inside of herself. She steps into the real

world, but it is the world she can not exist in, the world that kills the creativity and the

artist inside the Lady. At the end Lady is no longer an artist, now she becomes an art

object. Now, when there is no song to admire, people again fail to see an individual

inside the Lady and do not care for her tragedy, they only see her outside beauty: '' She

has a lovely face; / God in his mercy lend her grace, '' (Tennyson, lines 169-170).

The contrast between power and weakness is also presented in the poem: '' The Lady of

Shalott is an example of a woman, trapped in an impossible situation, who is powerful

enough to make a choice, but powerless against the negative outcome. She goes from one

form of captivity, the tower, to another, death. '' (Elizabeth Nelson). In the first part of the

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poem Lady is presented as a weak, powerless woman who is not allowed to make her

own decisions and choices. But, in the second part, the Lady shows her strenght,

even though she is aware of the curse upon herself, she decides to look out and to become

the determiner of her own choices. When she sees the image of Lancelot reflected in the

mirror she is no longer able to control the desire and decides to sacrifice her safety, and

even her life, for love. The Lady shows strenght, but at the end it is all useless because

she is powerless against the curse that falls on her. Her desire to take part in life and love

at the end is not fulfilled and, even in her death, she remains alone.

The Lady of Shalott shows us that, in life, everything is based on conflicts and

oppositions, not only between different people, but also within the same person. It is

really difficult to achieve harmony between these oppositions and different personalities

in one person. Sometimes it is in fact impossible to satisfy ourselves and, at the same

time, to satisfy others, without braking the society imposed rules.

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 Works cited

Tennyson, Alfred. ''The Lady of Shalott''. In: The Norton Anthology of English

Literature. Abrams, M.H. & S.J. Greenblatt (Eds.). 7th ed., Vol. 1. New

York/London: W. W. Norton, 2000.

Kim, Hae-In. '' The Pre-Raphaelite Women destroyed by love in all its Forms and Fates.''

Victorian web. 19 December 2004. Brown University. 25 May 2007

<http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/prb/hikim12.html>.

Nelson, Elizabeth. '' The Embowered Woman: Pictorial Interpretations of The Lady of

Shalott.'' Victorian Web. 30 November 2004. Brown University. 25 May 2007

<http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/tennyson/losprb.htm>.

---. '' The Lady of Shalott.'' Victorian Web. 30 November 2004. Brown

University. 25 May 2007

<http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/tennyson/losillus1.html>.