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The Lady Of Shalott

662 Words3 Pages

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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