Lady of Shalott Personal Response

The Lady of Shalott focuses on a unilateral love story to break the Lady’s curse. In the poem, it does not give any details as to why or how she may have gotten cursed; however, the conclusion explains how she managed to escape from it. Though she is able to break free, tragedy and misfortune definitely overrules the majority of her life. As soon as she escapes to pursue her love, Sir Lancelot; she sang her last song “till her blood was frozen slowly, and her eyes were darkened wholly.” With elements such as love, the natural world and the supernatural play a central role as to why her death was tragic.

            Love plays a crucial role in this poem, as it was the drive the Lady had that allowed her to break free from the curse that isolated her from the rest of the world. Being confined in a tower, her life was lonesome and the only way she could view the world was through a mirror. Sir Lancelot was the glimmer of hope the Lady had, he was her motivation to break away from the curse. However, not only did Sir Lancelot not share the same feelings as her, but their first encounter was when she was dead. At this sight, everyone in Camelot was in shock and fear upon seeing her body, but in spite of this; Lancelot comments on her “lovely face” followed by a benediction.  Even though Lancelot gave her a blessing and complimented her, the blessing is not anything out of the ordinary, as it could be said to anyone, as well as strangers. Therefore By complimenting her, he was showing condolences for her and the Lady’s love for him was nothing but a unilateral love story.

            The Lady is a prisoner of the world; she cannot experience the beauties of nature that surrounds her. Trees, rivers and flowers are significant and add to the theme of lively nature in contrast to the Lady’s isolated and forlorn life. In fact, the first two stanzas of the poem are dedicated to illustrate the environment around her. One may say she was more connected to the natural world than she was with human beings, however, the natural world was not the motive that made her escape the tower and curse. It was Sir Lancelot, a human being, therefore it can be inferred that this curse was not upon her since birth, as she still has emotions and connections with and for other beings.

            The theme of the supernatural plays a fundamental role in this poem, adding mystery and magic to the Lady of Shalott’s life. The curse that is upon her rules her life and ultimately causes her death. The meaning of the poem is more effective without the explanation of her curse because it allows the reader to use their imagination and develop their own story of how she got cursed. The Lady is secluded from society and lives an isolated life, however, this is not the reason she weaves. It is symbolic of her skill, expression. It is her art. Her final piece of  art before death was a carving she carved her name onto the boat, almost as if she wanted people to recognize her existence.

            It was the Lady of Shalott’s choice to leave the tower to join the living world. Although Tennyson does not suggest or give any details of the origins of her curse, the reader must assume what happened to her. Without knowing this important detail, determining whether her death was indeed tragic or her way of breaking out of the tower and seeing the world for herself, is dependant on the reader’s perspective. Nevertheless, from the information presented in the poem, we can safely assume that her isolation from society and the world resulted in her loneliness. She died very tragically, lonely; and love, the natural world as well as the supernatural, was a constant force working against her.


EDITED BY: KRYSTAL AND OSMAN