The Lady Of Shalott
In the poem “The Lady of Shalott,” Alfred Lord Tennyson emphasizes the notion of the female gaze as being dangerous by using isolation as a compelling metaphor for the societal, sexual, and intellectual repression of women, specifically in the circumstance of the Lady of Shalott. In lines 17-18, the essence of confinement is elucidated as the passage states, “And the silent isle imbowers the Lady of Shalott.” To “imbower” is often associated with keeping someone safe from the outside world, but frankly, the term is used in a reverse manner by suggesting the protection is for the world rather than for the Lady (line 17). By coupling “four gray walls, and four gray towers,” Tennyson asserts the extent of the Lady of Shalott’s simplistic, dismal …show more content…
A disembodied whisper has warned her of a curse if she were to look outside, so the woman views the world only by the shadows of a mystic mirror. One can easily relate the disembodied whisper to the disapproval and restrictions society places on women, both in the Victorian era and present-day. This indirect access reiterates the alleged “danger” of the female gaze by describing the “supernatural” power of lustful eyes. Although the Lady’s laborious weaving empowers and yet simultaneously enslaves her, passivity manages to keep her safe. Until at last her desire overcomes, and the Lady of Shalott “oversteps her boundary.” The curse falls upon her faster than her genuine isolation can be broken. While attempting to float down the river into the world she had only seen from afar, the Lady inscribes her name on the boat, which is an extension of herself. The accuracy of women’s place in society is inequitable because women are often considered the mother, the daughter, or the wife of someone without any regard to who they are as an individual in society. By including the phrase “She hath no loyal knight and true, the Lady of Shalott,” the concept is confirmed (lines 62-63). In a sense, the poem suggests that knights and ladies belong together because a lady on her own is incomplete. Upon her death, she enters the world as a corpse, and Sir Lancelot appraises her as an object. The objectification of the Lady of Shalott further proves the repression of women by revealing a female as a decorative object rather than a capable
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Lady Of Shalott Essay
337 Words | 2 PagesIn the poem the lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson there are many different references being used. One example is how they reference Camelot from King Arthur. It also refers to shakespeare's “the winter's tale”. Finally it references the red cross knight from “the faerie queene”. These all come together and create the lady of Shalott.
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966 Words | 4 PagesThe domestic interior belonged to women, while the active exterior world belonged solely to men.’’ (Victorian Web). Women were in the back seat. It is also marked in the text through the fact that we do not know how Lady of Shalott really looks like, but we have the whole description of Sir Lancelot as a male figure. Through the poem, Lady Shalott’s voice is heard only twice: ‘I am half sick of shadows’ illustrating that she was fed up with her imprisonment wanting to taste a little bit of the public realm and to experience love; and ‘The curse is come upon me’ which means that, stepping out of the domestic area, searching for her knight, she was on a mind ground ready to explode, as she was not morally allowed to search for love, and to chase it because she would have been seen as a light woman and her life would end there, because she was expected to be pure and no man would look at her again.
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