The Lady of Shalott 1842 edition. Part 2

Though the plot of The Lady of Shalott –PartII, shows a girl who is under a curse and lives a solitary life, observing but not participating in society, the tone in this section of the poem is not a gloomy or depressing one. We don’t know how or why she is confined in the castle on the island (Part I), but judging from some of the words chosen, such as “magic web”, colours gay”, “glad”, “delights”, “plumes”, “lights”, “music”, which contribute to a quite cheerful atmosphere, it seems that the lady is happy in her place or at least she is accustomed to her lifestyle, and enjoys weaving her tapestries. However, by the end of the poem the lady has a voice and her attitude changes. This is a turning point in the poem and we can anticipate that something wrong will happen to her. Because a curse will befall on her if she looks down to Camelot, she does not dare to look directly outside her window, so she has managed to contemplate the outside world through a mirror. . The images she sees on it (people, nature, the highway, etc) are described as “shadows”. Though she does not seem to lament, she eventually becomes tired of these “shadows”, of looking at life as reflections in her mirror (line 35 “I’m half-sick of shadows,” said The Lady of Shallot). I first felt pity for this lady, because though she does not seem to be suffering, I can imagine that her total isolation and loneliness are unconsciously torturing her. Then I realized that this lady is a respectful character who has dignity to express her frustration and take a decision that will change the course of her life (rather will put an end to her life!). On a surface reading, I found several similarities between this poem and Wide Sargasso Sea in connection to main characters, themes and symbols (see below **). Broadly speaking, both stories have as a main character a lady deprived of love, imprisoned and isolated from the world. However, on a deeper analysis, the poem can also be related to To the Lighthouse. Some critics claim that The Lady of Shalott is about the conflict between ART and LIFE. In this perspective, considering ART as a way of life, the lady would be the artist who enjoys weaving magic webs and singing beautiful songs (as Lily loves painting) and who voluntarily cuts herself off to the rest of the world, represented by a group of damsels, an abbot, a young shepherd, a page, etc., who stand for common people in their daily activities (similarly, Lily decides to be an independent woman, and becomes like an outcast who does not conform to the expectations of society- she wants to be an artist but society demands her to be a wife and a mother). (**) Wide Sargasso Sea and The Lady of Shalott Themes: Appearance vs Reality -WSS: different representations of reality through dreams, letters, rumours (no clear distinction between dream and reality, madness and sanity, superstition and reason) -TLS: “shadows” and reality. Reality for her is what she sees in the mirror. The Supernatural -WSS: practice of obeah. It inspires fear. -TLS: black magic. The lady suffers from a mysterious curse. Love -WSS: Antoinette is a lonely young girl. She grew up without her mother’s , parents’ or friends‘ love. She married Mr. Rochester who never loved her either, and brought her downfall. -TLS: The Lady of Shallot is a lonely girl. (she has no loyal knight). Identity -WSS: names: Antoinette is deprived of her identity. Rochester calls her “Bertha” and “Marionette”. -TLS: No name, the main character is referred as The Lady of Shalott. She is a mysterious figure, nobody has seen her (PartI). Symbol: Mirrors: can stands for the DOUBLE -WSS: mirrors symbolize duality (Jane Eyre could be the double of Antoinette, Antoinette finds her double in Tia) -TLS: (mirrors were set behind the tapestry so that the worker could see the effect from the right side). The mirror is the only thing that connects the lady to the world. But the images she sees are merely “shadows”, not the real world. The mirror in both stories is a symbol of the characters’ isolation. The Lady of Shallot uses a mirror to see the world but cannot interact with it. In WSS, Antoinette’s madness stems from her imprisonment: when she is locked up in the attic and she faces a mirror, she cannot recognize herself.