What Is The Lady Of Shalott's Downfall

In “The Lady of Shalott,” the Lady of Shalott the Lady of Shalott is cursed to forever sit in a tower alone. Her only interaction with the outside world is through a small mirror were she can look onto the knights and villagers passing onto Camelot. Although at first the tower appears to be a prison, the isolated island of Shalott becomes a safe haven for the Lady as she resides sewing a web of all she sees untainted from the destructive world around her. However, after years of “weaving by day and night” she becomes “half sick of shadows” and decides she must explore outside of her tower leading to the enactment of the curse and her eventual death. Although she escapes “the region of shadows,” her curiosity becomes her downfall. When she leaves

Rather than staying true to the known safety of her home, curiosity takes control of her actions as she looks for a life outside of the tower. Throughout the first two parts of the poem, the Lady of Shalott expresses that even though her task of weaving is monotonous, “she still delights” in her work. She is content with “weaving by day and night.” However, she always has a lingering sense of curiosity for the world beyond her tower and the unimaginable and bountiful knowledge that lies outside her limited “shadows of the world.” The mirror provides a filter between her and the rest of the world intensifying her longing to see the world with her own eyes form rather than its distorted version “through a mirror.” A direct comparison can be made between her and Eve. Just as the snake tempts Eve, Lancelot “rides between the barley-sheaves” on his trek to Camelot fostering the growth of the unquenchable curiosity of the world beyond the tower inside the heart of the Lady.

The decision to leave her past life in the tower and travel to Camelot represent much more than her physical journey and death. In the tower, the Lady lived as a maverick. Instead of “riding two and two” to Camelot, she lives separated from the conforming nature of society in her isolated tower. In the tower, she is completely herself and purely innocent as she has never been introduced into the tainted, cruel world surrounding her tower. Before she leaves the tower, her wholesome character is expressed through her art filled with “colours gay”. However, the picturesque quality of her art vanishes as she “looked down to Camelot” and conforms to society. She abandons the tower and her individualism as she turns to society to determine her value. As she begins her journey “down the river’s dim expanse” to Camelot, she follows in the footsteps of thousands before her rather than forging her own path as she did in the tower. Immediately, “the mirror cracks from side to side” foreshadowing her now-determined fate. The breaking of a mirror symbolizes unfortunate luck in the future and is an ominous sign. Likewise, her individualism represented by her artistic webs flies out the widow as she loses her uniqueness. As she rides the boat to Camelot, her art echoes her loss on individualism as she sings her “last