tected yet isolated from the world. The vivid colours Tennyson uses to describe the external world, Sir Lancelot in particular, are reflected in her "magic web of colours gay" ("The Lady of Shalott" 38). The contrast developed between this bright world and the Lady's "Four grey walls, and four grey towers" (15) establishes the disparity between her art and her real position in life; for her, the woven images of the world are what is real and her imagination, through her art, sustains her. The Lady's infatuation with Sir Lancelot, coinciding with the blooming of the water lily, is a very pubescent realization. A man draws her away from her art, demonstrating the conflict between her art and her natural inclination towards a man and the traditional domestic role.
             In "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers," the Aunt's art symbolizes the internal strength of a terrified and submissive woman. Like the weaving in "The Lady of Shalott," Aunt Jennifer's need
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