The Lady Of Shalott

The Lady of Shalott’s confinement to her tower can also be read as a statement about art, loneliness, and Tennyson’s intellectual turmoil regarding the artist’s role in society. If the Lady of Shalott is read as an artist, or even as a poetic stand-in for Tennyson himself, then her weaving and her isolation in the castle take on different meanings. The “charmed web” (Line 38) in this context is the artist’s body of work, which he or she labors over constantly, and which is never finished. The Lady of Shalott’s curse precludes her from taking part in the outside world; she can only observe it through her mirror, which provides her with a limited but unique and untainted perspective. Likewise, the tower itself positions her above everything else, increasing her isolation. Her tapestries are beautiful, presumably because she can devote her entire being to their production, and because they are inspired by the artist’s distinctive, circumscribed scope of perception: they are untainted by trends or the opinions of outside critics. In this framework, engagement with the outside world can only serve as a distraction, which will prevent the artist from creating their most sublime work.

Read through this framework, the tapestry and mirror can be understood as both symbols of the Lady of Shalott and as parts of her. More than just objects in the room, they are her life and her whole perspective. Their existence is bound to hers. As soon as she steps away from them and breaks the curse, they shatter, doomed to destruction just like the Lady herself: “out flew the web and floated wide; The mirror crack’d from side to side” (Lines 114-15). By deciding to break her isolation and join the outside world, the Lady of Shalott gives up her gift of artistic genius and can no longer create.

Central to both the themes of sexual identity and artistic genius is the concept of sacrifice and the price the Lady of Shalott pays for her freedom. While the phrase “I am half sick of shadows” (Line 71) expresses restless dissatisfaction, she is hardly miserable in the tower and seems content most of the time. The poem never explicitly describes her eating or sleeping, but it is implied that all her practical necessities are provided for and that she lives very comfortably. Nevertheless, she chooses freedom over her life in the tower, knowing that she will lose everything. In a feminist reading, the weight of this sacrifice demonstrates the importance of liberation from the rigidity of Victorian gender norms. It is a commentary on free will and a meditation on the stakes of exercising freedom against prevailing social and cultural expectations.

In “The Lady of Shalott,” Tennyson does not take a hard stance on personal freedom as a moral obligation, despite his incisive portrayal of its implications. Given their significantly different endings, however, one may interpret the poem’s two versions as offering divergent concluding viewpoints. In the 1832 version, the Lady of Shalott’s letter indicates that she does not regret her decision, and that her freedom and the opportunity to experience the outside world, however brief, was worth the sacrifice. Conversely, Lancelot’s benign pronouncement at the end of the 1842 version suggests that the Lady of Shalott merely left the tower, loved unrequitedly, and died in vain.