How does the fourth and last part of the poem “The Lady of Shalott” explore a tension between an adolescent and adult world?
“The Lady of Shalott” was written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson in 1832. It is both based on the legend of king Arthur, and also on a short Italian prose text called ‘Donna di Scalotta ’written in the 13th century. The poem’s target audience was children, as it explores themes of childhood and adolescence, and adulthood, in particular transitioning from the former stage of life into the latter. As it is the poem’s main theme, this essay will look at how this section of “The Lady of Shalott” explores a tension between an adolescent and an adult world, while referring to other sections of the poem to support certain argument points.
It is imperative to first consider the poem’s structure. The poem specifically appeals to children due to the rhyme scheme employed by Tennyson, used to make the poem feel like a fairy tale. Each section has nine lines with the same rhyme scheme: aaaabcccb, and it rises to a climax like the story, and ends with ‘The Lady of Shalott’. It is also written in iambic pentameter, as there are eight syllables in each line. Tennyson strictly follows this rhyme scheme to make the poem sound like an ancient fairy tale even more, as it resembles the scheme of poems written centuries before “The Lady of Shalott”, also considering the poem being a ballad, as it is narrative driven, which used to be one of the most common forms of oral poetry, to be handed down from generation to generation. It was written in this way to specifically attract children, but “The Lady of Shalott” isn’t a mere fairy tale, but a cautionary tale, addressed to children, masked as a fable.
The main characteristic of childhood is considered to be innocence, and when a child enters the adult world, they lose this innocence. It is particularly true of the period this poem was written, as in the Victorian era, nurseries where children slept, played, and learnt, represented a safe space, especially for middle class families, a place where this innocence could be preserved. This safe space appears in the poem, as the Lady of Shalott spends most of it in her tower, her own Victorian nursery, which is then further secluded from the adult world, represented by Camelot, as the tower is on a separate island: ‘The island of Shalott’[1]. The Lady lives on this island alone, showing the reader how disconnected she is from the rest of the world, just like how children were mostly confined to their nurseries, away from the rest of their house, and also by society, as they aren’t really aware of how the adult world works or what it is like. She leaves only at the beginning of part four, as she prepares to die: ‘down she came and found a boat beneath a willow left afloat, And round about the prow she wrote The Lady of Shalott’[2]. The boat is her coffin, she writes her name on it as one would on a tombstone. In fact, the poem concludes with her death, caused by her leaving the tower, leaving childhood behind, and entering adulthood, as the Lady of Shalott is the embodiment of childhood, and her death symbolises the death, or end, of this stage of life. ‘A gleaming shape she floated by, Dead-pale between the houses high, Silent into Camelot.’[3] Girls have no voice in the adult world; thus the lady enters Camelot silently. We immediately see this cautionary tale is mostly directed as young girls.
This transition into the adult world was considered to be a dangerous one. Victorians turned nurseries into safe places as they believed that if children were not raised properly, and if they were forced to grow up too soon, they would not turn into civilised, ‘well-adjusted’ adults. But it was considered to be so dangerous for girls especially, as when they grew up, they experienced sexual awakenings, and started to experience true inequality. They had to be wary of any potential suitor, and especially with whom they ended up choosing,from having relations only once they were married, to be careful when being courted, for if a girl loved someone and ended up not marrying them, she would be considered to not be pure due to her feelings. This transition is reflected in the third section of the poem, as the Lady of Shalott left her tower because of Lancelot, and therefore because of love: ‘She left the web, she left the loom, She made three paces through the room, She saw the water-lily bloom, She saw the helmet and the plume, She looked down to Camelot.’[4] Before she looks upon the adult world, she leaves behind her childhood hobbies, such as looming. During their childhoods, girls were expected to take up ‘feminine’ hobbies, such as crafting, drawing, or playing an instrument, which would then make them seem more cultured and perhaps feminine to prospective husbands. The Lady of Shalott has spent her whole childhood in her tower preparing for this day, the day she would ‘fulfil’ the curse.
It is therefore Lancelot that causes her death. The Lady of Shalott had been cursed to never look outside, and the moment she did, because of him, she knew she was going to die. ‘The mirror cracked from side to side; “The curse is come upon me,” cried The Lady of Shalott.’[5] The curse she talks about is growing up, leaving safety because of her infatuation. It is almost implied that she was forced to look at him, to look outside, as he appeared in her mirror, which later shattered: ‘From the bank and from the river He flashed into the crystal mirror.’[6] The mirror was her only tool to safely look into the adult world, into Camelot. It shatters when she looks into Camelot as she now has to leave her nursery and will not need the mirror anymore.
[1] Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott, Part one (1832)- The Norton Anthology of English Literature Vol. E (London: W.W. Norton, 2018) p.147, lines 8-9.
[2] Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott, Part three (1832)- The Norton Anthology of English Literature Vol. E (London: W.W. Norton, 2018) p.150, lines 123-126.
[3] Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott, Part four (1832)- The Norton Anthology of English Literature Vol. E (London: W.W. Norton, 2018) p.152, lines 168-171
[4] Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott, Part three (1832)- The Norton Anthology of English Literature Vol. E (London: W.W. Norton, 2018) p.150, lines 109-113.
[5] Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott, Part three (1832)- The Norton Anthology of English Literature Vol. E (London: W.W. Norton, 2018) p.150, lines 114-117.
[6] Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott, Part three (1832)- The Norton Anthology of English Literature Vol. E (London: W.W. Norton, 2018) p.149, lines 105-106.