Maud (33-36)

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Motre d'Arthur

Ulysses

The Lady of Shalott

Background Information

* Based loosely on the Arthurian legend of 'Elaine of Astolat' who dies of unrequited love for Lancelot

* Inspired by 13th century Italian novella La Donna di Scallota

Themes

PERSONAL ISOLATION FACED BY VICTORIAN ARTISTS /CF. Andrea del Sarto by Robert Browning

"Four grey walls, and four grey towers,

Overlook a space of flowers,

And the silent isle imbowers

The Lady of Shalott."

Significance of:

- "Lady of Shalott": artists,

- "the curse": the dilemma (abstinence or involvement),

- "the magic web": the artpiece,

- "Sir Lancelot": freedom of expression, potential to live,

- the Lady of Shalott's death: how to reconcile escapism with reality

- Mysterious, obscure element of the artist; misunderstood?

"But who hath seen her wave her hand?

Or at the casement seen her stand?

Or is she known in all the land,

The Lady of Shalott?"

- An illusion; 'web of deception?'; contrasts with "mirror clear"

"A magic web with colours gay" vs "And moving through a mirror clear"

- Concept of being physically alive but detached from life; dead

" 'Tis the fairy The Lady of Shalott."

* SEXUALITY AND VICTORIAN WOMEN'S PLACE IN SOCIETY

- Domesticated, household role in the society; monotony

"And so she weaveth steadily,

And little other care hath she"

- Oppression, no 'voice', use weaving to speak out /CF. Ovid's Metamorphoses whereby in Greek Mythology, she was raped by her brother-in-law ,Tereus, and her tongue was cut out. She then wove a tapestry that told her story and sent it to Procne, her sister, and was later avenged.

“And what of Philomela? Guarded against flight,

Stone blocks around her cottage, no power of speech

To help her tell her wrongs, her grief has taught her

Sharpness of wit, and cunning comes in trouble.

She had a loom to work with, and with purple

On a white background, wove her story in,

Her story in and out, and when it was finished,

Gave it to one old woman, with signs and gestures

To take it to the queen, so it was taken,

Unrolled and understood.”

- Ignorance and the lack of knowledge /CF. The Bible; when Adam and Eve eat of the forbidden fruit

"She knows not what the curse may be"

- A false reality /CF. King Lear and the concept of 'blindness'

"And moving through a mirror clear

That hangs before her all the year,

Shadows of the world appear."

- Isolation and loneliness from lack of involvement/living under men?

"I am half sick of shadows," said The Lady of Shalott.

- Sexual frustration and erotic desire /CF. A Winter’s Tale by Shakespeare where Autolycus sings: "The lark, that tirra-lyra chants,With heigh! with heigh! the thrush and the jay, Are summer songs for me and my aunts (whores), While we lie tumbling in the hay."

"Tirra lirra," by the river Sang Sir Lancelot

- Emphasis on truth and reality; Victorian aesthetic theory whereby the eye was the most authoritative sense and clearest indicator of truth

"Like some bold seer in a trance,

Seeing all his own mischance --

With a glassy countenance

Did she look to Camelot."

- Is Death the only liberation?

Andrea del Sarto (called 'The Faultless Painter')

~ Is art mutually exclusive from one's relationship?

~ Or is it necessary to choose one?

My Last Duchess

~ lack of trust, shrouded in secrecy

"the curtain"

~ she is supposedly seen as unfaithful
~ roving eyes
~ fickle-minded

"too easily impressed...her looks went everywhere."

~ then she suddenly died.

"I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together."

* Women- seen as 'things' by men?

* Men's dominance over women