Lady of Shallot

“The greatest social difficulty in England today is the relationship between men and women” (NAEL, 1719). These words express awareness and the beginning of a change in the Victorian period. The role of the woman began its change throughout this period. Such changes seemed to only take place in the middle class. These changes caused many to question the role of the woman in society, thus the “woman question” evolved. The woman became less and less involved with the every day drudgeries and had more and more time on her hands. How women actually felt about this change is questionable, many took a middle ground that Walter Hougton said was “entirely characteristic of the time in its mediation between conservative and radical thinking” (349). This is where we find Tennyson. In “The Lady of Shalott” there are times where traditional womanly characteristics are present, and at the same time we see very liberal ideas expressed. Remember that the middle class woman’s role is the one going through this transformation, and the primary focus of this “Woman Question”. As a result of this new role we see a clash between traditional and radical thought, along with feelings of isolation, and questions of sexuality.

. . .

View the whole essay, without interruption

The “traditional” roles of the woman as a wife and mother became increasingly more popular through the Victorian period, predominately in the middle class. This kind of art would include the tapestry that the Lady of Shalott was weaving in her tower.

When the Lady of Shalott tries to escape the role of maid/virgin, she meets her death. In this tapestry she wove all of the things she saw through the mirror, she trapped her memories of nature. “The Lady of Shalott seeks to break away from the suppression of her sexuality represented by the curse, and is stopped by death. He feels that he gives woman a role in the home as a wife and mother, by “sing(ing) her worth as Maid and Wife”(NAEL, 1724). These thoughts come together and form a middle ground that many Victorians found themselves standing on.

Work Cited

Hougton, Walter E. There are both traditional and radical thoughts represented in “The Lady of Shalott”. She is there for the pleasure of the man. Women like the prostitute that wrote to the editor of The Times question the perverted Victorian view of sex, when she points out the blame should not fall on her alone, and that it is the men of the upper and middle classes who employ her. These tapestries might also be considered a reflection of the nostalgia “which is inseparable from loneliness” (Hougton, 85). Then we have questions that arise about sexuality, and the popular views of sex in the Victorian period is that it is a threat to social order. Her leaving the tower might also be of sheer boredom which was a problem faced by many women of the time since servants did most of the work for women, yet the were still expected to stay in the confines of the home so that they could

“The Lady of Shalott” is a poem that embodies both traditional and radical thoughts; this contrast results in a median between the two ideas, which is the “woman question”. This caused artists and architects alike to create art that functioned as a reminder of nature (Hougton, 80).

Approximate Word count = 1247
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.