Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott" and the Theme of Artist Isolationism
Riham Hagona and Adrienne Parrish
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The web created by
the Lady of Shalott in and of itself is worth examining. Usually interpreted as the product of a
distorted reality, because of the mirror image used to create it, the web is
critical to Tennyson’s poem. However
Wright argues in her article “A Reflection on Fiction and Art in ‘The Lady of
Shalott’” that the mirror's significance as the Lady’s source of
artistic inspiration is problematic. Historically speaking, the mirror is a
crucial part of the weaving process. It allows the artist to view their work in
progress from the correct orientation, as opposed to its inverted state seen on
the loom, and mark the weaver’s accuracy. However, it is important to remember
that while weaving the image being created is being viewed from the back side
or ‘wrong side’. The mirror then simply flips the image to its proper
orientation, but the image is still distorted because it is being viewed from
the back rather than the front or ‘the right side'.@Wright, Jane. "A
Reflection on Fiction and Art in 'The Lady of Shalott.'"
Victorian Poetry 41.2 (2003): 287-290. JSTOR. Web. 7 Feb. 2011.
287This then
suggests that the mirror does not distort reality for the isolated Lady, but
merely enables her to view her art, in its proper orientation. This then calls
into question whether the lady is working from the mirror image to create her
art, or is just simply using the mirror to examine her work in progress.@
Wright, Jane. 288
This loom imagery
then calls into question, does the Lady’s art reflect reality, or does reality
reflect her art? Tennyson’s decision to use a loom to represent the art-making
process is extremely significant because it connects the idea of artist
isolationism to a much larger debate on the creation of art itself.
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The Lady of Shalott
Oil Painting by William Holman Hunt
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Finally, ‘the window’ in this crucial scene plays a very important role in the isolated artist’s creation process. When the Lady abandons her work to pursue Sir Lancelot, her mirror shatters, her web flies out of the window, and she is sentenced to death by a curse. This scene then suggests that the Lady’s web will live on, in the outside world, after her death.@Wright, Jane. 289 It also suggests that once her art is out in the world, her control over her work ceases to exist, and her art changed nature, it flew. Perhaps Tennyson felt that once art reached left the sphere of isolation, the way the public perceive the work somehow changes its construction. Once the web leaves the Lady’s isolated tower she is condemned to death, but it is safe to assume her work still lives on. @Wright, Jane. 289
Hunt’s decision
to illustrate the episode depicted in the 13th stanza, the scene of
the Lady’s demise, reinforces the theme of artist isolationism found in Tennyson’s
poem. Hunt’s wood engraving depicts the Lady choosing to adhere to social
responsibility over artistic dedication. Tennyson also brings the ongoing
debate concerning the relationship between reality and art to the forefront through
his use of the mirrored loom. Furthermore, Hunt’s own interpretation of the
poem can be seen in the juxtaposition of the Lady’s calm expression and her crumbling
reality, suggesting the inevitability outcome of choosing social responsibility
over artistic dedication. Tennyson then ends the poem with the leading Lady
being recognized by the outside world she so longed to be apart of. Ironically
though, her tapestry that she spent her isolated life creating flies away
freely, and she is only received by the public after her death, though not even
for her art but for her beauty.
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