Discussing 'Mariana' and 'The Lady of Shallot' by Alfred lord Tennyson.
'Mariana' and 'The Lady of Shallot'
Alfred lord Tennyson's poems, 'Mariana' and 'The lady of Shallot' are based respectively around Shakespeare's play, 'Measure for measure' and Arthurian legend. The poems are both based on two women isolated from the outside world, Mariana is depressed and the lady feels a deep longing.
Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) was an extremely talented and successful poet. At the height of his career he became the court's poet laureate. This is just one of his many successes. Despite living a reasonably depressive life such as living through the deaths of a brother, a son as well as two of his friends, one of which was Arthur Hallam whose death greatly influenced his work. He had many successful poems such as 'Mariana' and 'The Lady of Shallot' both of which are the focus of this essay.
'Mariana' (published 1830) originates from a Shakespearian play called 'measure for measure' it is based on a character in the play called Mariana who is abandoned by her lover, Antonio. The first line of the play is actually a direct quote from the play 'Mariana in the moated grange'. The poem tells of a lonely depressed woman, waiting for her lover to return sitting in solitary in a moated grange. She repeatedly talks of taking her own life but still has hope that her lover could return. Desperation for her lover to return, desire for death and depression due to being abandoned are the key issues that Mariana faces.
'The lady of shallot' (published in 1832) is based on an Arthurian legend where Camelot was the capital of King Arthur's realm. it is a story of the lady of shallot, stuck on an island in a tower, put under a spell .she is forced to look at every thing through a mirror and if she does look directly at Camelot then she will die. She builds up a strong passion for Sir Lancelot and becomes distressed with the confines of the tower that when she sees Sir Lance lot entering Camelot, she leaves and floats down a river, in a boat, down to Camelot and then dies when she sees Sir Lancelot, just for a glimpse of him. The lady of shallot experiences longing to be a part of the outside world, lust for Lancelot and loneliness due to living in solitary. These are the key factors which drive the lady to take her own life despite having the choice to live.
Tennyson describes the Grange surrounding Mariana very vividly and intricately, using a range of adjectives giving you an image that is easy to visualise. As many of the adjectives are negative, they give the impression that the grange is run down. Just in the first five lines of the poem, there are references to the grange like: "blackest moss", "rusted nails" and "broken sheds".
Tennyson's diction implies that the grange is neglected, almost derelict. Such words as "rusted" and "broken" emphasize the state of decay that the grange is in.
He uses the Grange and the land surrounding the grange and as psychological landscape to reflect how Mariana feels. One of the techniques he uses is personification:
"The broken sheds looked sad and strange." It is showing that everything Mariana has to look at is also feeling sad and gloomy .she has nothing to look at of natural beauty,
"She could not look on the sweet heaven."
This probably makes her more depressed.
The lady of shallot also contains pathetic fallacy, although it does not seem so initially, she wants to be social and talk with everyone in Camelot. The land reflects this by showing everyone else in the poem doing this and she feels excluded" a troop of damsels glad,
Goes by to tower'd Camelot;"
Every one passes the tower without a second thought.
The animals mentioned also give a clearer description of how isolated the grange is .Night fowl and ...
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"She could not look on the sweet heaven."
This probably makes her more depressed.
The lady of shallot also contains pathetic fallacy, although it does not seem so initially, she wants to be social and talk with everyone in Camelot. The land reflects this by showing everyone else in the poem doing this and she feels excluded" a troop of damsels glad,
Goes by to tower'd Camelot;"
Every one passes the tower without a second thought.
The animals mentioned also give a clearer description of how isolated the grange is .Night fowl and bats present in the poem usually only inhabit non-residential areas or abandoned structures which show that the grange is derelict and secluded. the only noises mentioned are the clock which also implies that it is very quiet indicating that there are no other sounds to block out the "sparrow's chirrup" , "the flitting of the bats" or the "oxen's low". The animal noises show that there is no other action happening, furthermore pointing to the fact that Mariana is isolated. The animal's noises also help to describe the poem with onomatopoeia such as "low", using sound as to help imagine the dull scenario. "The oxen's low" is another example of pathetic fallacy where the natural world reflects how Mariana feels. As the lowing is a sad, depressing noise.
The animals also help you understand Mariana, for example the blue fly that
"Sung in the pane" despite its vain attempts cannot open the window by itself, it needs Mariana to help it so it can be free just like Mariana needs her lover to return and free her from her longing.
This is a sharp contrast to the way the tower and Camelot are described in 'the lady of shallot'. On the whole, the surrounding countryside is positively described,
"the sun came dazzling thro' the leaves," and "golden galaxy"
The impression you are left with from these descriptions is that the land is beautiful. Also you would think that Camelot is a peaceful setting as shown by "lilies blow" and the fact that it is summer and continually sunny .the landscape is also a stark comparison to the tower "four grey walls and four grey towers" which is the opposite to the cheerful surroundings. "Golden galaxy" and " purple night" are two examples showing that Tennyson wants you to think of how colourful the landscape is ,whilst the only colours mentioned in 'Mariana 'are black, white and grey, emphasizing how dull the Grange is.
Camelot is conveyed as a busy place, with a market and many people travelling there:
"To many-tower'd Camelot;
And up and down the people go,"
Whilst Mariana's isolated grange gives no indication that there is any sort of human activity going on.
Mariana and the lady of shallot are stuck in similar situations; Mariana can only see life through her despair, like the lady can only see life through her mirror which is the cause of her despair. The lady is cursed, preventing her from leaving the tower just like Mariana whose lover's absence has prevented her from fulfilling a normal life style and leaving the house, so the man is effectively a curse on her. This has made Mariana give up almost all hope, whilst the lady has given up all hope that she can be united with Lancelot.
Mariana's behaviour reflects her personality, she is insecure and indecisive:
"She only said,' my life is dreary,
He cometh not' she said;
She said,' I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!' "
The fact that she says "I would that I were dead!" shows that she can't quite decide what to do because if she really wanted to die then she would commit suicide without a second thought , like the lady who is definite and strong willed about her feelings and actions.
He flash'd into the crystal mirror."
"She left the web, she left the loom
She made three paces thro' the room."
This is a quick, spontaneous decision and she knows that she has to see him there and then. This also shows that she is very passionate, taking her own life for a glance at Sir Lancelot.
The Lady desperately desires Sir Lancelot
"She hath no loyal knight and true."
This shows that this is the reason she sacrificed her life, because she believed that her life wasn't worth living with out Lancelot and the grave is more favourable than a life of loneliness. She also wants to be one of the people going in and out of Camelot
"I am half sick of shadows"
This is also emphasized by the repetition of the word 'Camelot'.
She weaves everything that she sees in the mirror, showing that she is obsessed with the outside and wants to be included. Whereas Mariana just wants her lover to return
"'My life is dreary
He cometh not,'"
This repetition shows that she believes her life is dreary with out her lover.
They are both the same in some cases, it is just that they are stuck in different situations for example they both have something beautiful to look at, they are just prevented from seeing it. Mariana has the sweet heaven but she cannot see it as she opens the curtains at night
"When thickest dark did trance the sky,
She drew her casement-curtain by."
The lady of Shallot cannot look directly at Camelot which along with Lancelot is her only passion.
Tennyson uses repetition to show what each woman are focused on, with Mariana it is every thing she is complaining about and with the lady ,it is Lancelot and Camelot, everything she wishes she could have.
Despite Tennyson using contrasting settings for the two poems, they both depress the two women, Mariana feels even worse when she looks outside, she has nothing interesting to look at and even "the day is sad". The lady looks outside and sees "a troop of damsels glad." but she cannot join in and that makes her feel more left out.
Tennyson wants the reader to feel sympathy towards these women especially the Lady who shows dignity by not crying or protesting, even though she is cut off from everyday life, which so many take for granted and to provoke the readers mind to think how terrible it would be to live in these types of conditions.
Mariana's lover has abandoned her and Tennyson wants to show how cruel he is, that it causes this much hurt and pain. There are no descriptions of him what so ever, which possibly means that she cant remember what he looks like all that she knows is that "he cometh not," Tennyson wants to portray these women as innocent victims of love and provoke sympathy because when the women are this dependant on their men to abandon women in this situation is a truly cruel thing to do.
There are many intricate things described about sir Lancelot but they all one thing in common, and that is that they are all descriptions of Sir Lancelot's image, for instance, "the gemmy bridle glitter'd free."
"A mighty silver bugle hung."
The knight is shown to be perfect, perhaps too good to be true but
The lady is so disabled by his good looks that in her naivety, she couldn't possibly comprehend that Lancelot could be anything else but a gentleman, when in fact he could be a tyrant. Tennyson could be using the Lady to show how young women feel about and view men, and her death is symbolic of marriage because as she leaves the tower to pursue Lancelot she begins to fall apart, just as house wives feel after they get married. Then Mariana is how the housewives feel after they marry and see the cruel side of their husband. The lady of Shallot also gives an insight into how the men felt about women in the same period, in part four when there is a shift in perspective as the Lady is seen as an object, the lady announces her presence and Lancelot views her to say
""She has a lovely' face; "
This is a subtle way to show that women were seen as objects.
Firstly I am going to start with the way that the stanzas in 'Mariana' are laid out, the first, fourth and sixth stanzas can be grouped together because they offer no passage of time at all. The only clue to whether or not time is passing is the play of light and dark, day and night. This shows that both are the same to Mariana "the night is dreary."
"The day is dreary"
She is just as depressed whatever the time is:
"Her tears fell with the dews at even"
"Her tears fell ere the dews were dried"
Mariana cries in the morning and evening alike
Despite the poem taking up three whole days, there isn't much description of the day creeping along, the effect that this alternation between flat day and sleepless nights is to create a tormented, confused time, unordered by patterns of natural cycles of life that Mariana is trapped in.
"In sleep she seem'd to walk"
This shows that her body has got out of the habit of becoming active by day and unconscious by night. When it is day she is waiting for it to end and when night comes, she waits for day forever in a state of perpetual hope.
Most of the nouns are described without any motion,
E.g."the blue fly sung in the pane." The "singing" is the sound of the fly beating its wings, but the movement is described with sound, giving the effect that everything is stationary.
The use of pathetic fallacy is present many times throughout the poem and it has a big impact on the poem imposing a dramatic effect. The wide variety of negative adjectives gives a sense of a depressive atmosphere, perhaps a reflection of how Tennyson felt about Victorian life.
The actual language itself also adds a lot to the atmosphere, for instance in Mariana there is many rhyming words like Aweary ,dreary,morn and forlorn that contain assonance which makes the poem sound slow and dreary because the emphasis is put on the a sounds that seem to drag on.
This is in contrast to 'the Lady of Shallot' where the actual structure of the stanzas and the wording are very different. The stanzas are short and sharp like the words, forcing the reader to pronounce the poem quicker. The rhyming words at the end of each sentence are also short like lie, sky and by, they are all words that have all the emphasis on and they only have one syllable in them, the effect of these short syllables along with the rhyming scheme which is the first four lines rhyming, the 7th, 8th and 9th rhyming and the 5th and 10th rhyming. This gives the poem an optimistic atmosphere.
It is not very hard to see that these poems were not simply written for fun, Tennyson is making a very strong criticism about Victorian society and the role of a woman, rich or these poems are an expression of how he felt.
First of all the characters say a lot about his statement, the lady is not the same as Mariana but similar, she obviously is more wealthy than Mariana and she lives in a tower rather than a grove. However they are both surrounded by water "the island of Shallot." and "the moated grange" this alone shows their isolation, moats are meant to keep people out and not even spirits supposedly could cross water. So their accommodation is in effect a prison. Just like the women of the era were trapped in their houses. Tennyson is trying to express their frustration with society. The lady is cursed so was prevented from going out, Mariana had the choice but her lover is the curse that has disabled her so the curse could be symbolic of the men dominant in Victorian society. The reason he has chosen women in such differing situations is to show that it is a problem for women from all walks of life this shows that money doesn't equal happiness.
Just as Mariana waits for her lover to return, Victorian housewives hope for their men to return as they come back from dangerous jobs like mining or working in a work house. Mariana still hopes that her lover will return this is shown by her loyalty to him by reciting 'my life is dreary,
He cometh not'
Not only have I noticed similarities between the tow women but I have noticed a similarity between Tennyson himself and the lady. the two are both artists, Tennyson a poet and the lady,A weaver the lady weaves what she sees in the world ,in the mirror this is reminiscent of the process of poetry, writing about what he sees in the world around him. The weaving is also the way in which women expressed themselves when denied a voice in society.
I have noticed the significance of the mirror shattering as well, not only as the lady's cursed implement but it seems to be a symbol of Tennyson life being shattered when his friend, Arthur Hallam died. Just as the lady's life began to fall apart when the mirror broke, so did Tennyson when Hallam died. The mirror gave a backwards image of the outside world meaning that her view of the world is false symbolic of Victorian housewives dreaming that they were in fact away in a fairytale. This is could be a reason why Tennyson chose this setting, as it is such a contrast to Victorian life.
