The Lady of Shalott Analysis

The Lady of Shalott

Women have been oppressed throughout centuries of modern time. The countless restrictions against woman lead to a deep and lonesome isolation of woman. The Victorian age was the century where woman managed to face the regime of the vicious and controlling men. The Victorian age is for some seen as a successful attempt for woman gaining their rights. Others see this as a failed attempt, which should not have found place. Lord Alfred Tennyson gives us his opinion on this matter.

'The Lady of Shalott' thematize the oppression of women due to the imprisonment of the main character, The Lady of Shalott. The Lady of Shalott is an isolated woman who lives on an island, which lies down the river. She is imprisoned in castle made of "four gray walls and four gray towers." She longs after the outside world and especially after an existence of her own choice. The enchantment, which was cast upon her, makes it impossible for her to flee from the castle for if she does, she will die. This captivity is clearly a symbol of the oppression of women.

In the poem "The Lady of Shalott", the most basic part of the environment, is the tower and the outside world, yet the inside of the tower is not described deeply. The only thing we know is that the tower contains a window and a mirror. But the outside world is described in much detail and in a very positive way, everything is beautiful and joyful. The Lady of Shalott looks into the mirror to see the world. In the mirror, she sees "shadows of the world" but also the good and joyfull things, such as a beautiful knight. When she sees this knight, the Lady abandons her room. The web that she was weaving flies out from the room, and the mirror cracks, and the Lady announces the arrival of her doom: "The curse is come upon me." The curse is what this poem is about. What it stands for is very difficult to say, and there are many opinions on this. The following theories will give an example of what we think the mysterious poem is about.

We interpreted the story as a representation of the Victorian Age and the romantic poets of that time. The story is very colored of the age it was written in, by the many nature descriptions and the middle ages theme which was a very popular theme in poetry in the 19th century.

For example in part 1, we have this nature description which functions as a way to get a good view of the setting but also to give the reader some sort of harmony. "On either side the river lie Long fields of barley and of rye, That clothe the wold and meet the sky; And thro' the field the road runs by To many-tower'd Camelot;." (P. 1, L. 1-5) It's very slow paced and gives the reader long time to get images of nature inside their head. This is very opposite to part 4, which has way more action than nature description.

The way we see the story as

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