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Jennetta Richardson
Sister Susan Grover
English 314
3 February 2015
The Downside of Love
“The Lady of Shalott,” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, takes place during King Arthur’s time period.
This is a time of handsome knights, beautiful ladies, grand adventures and passionate love. Typical of
the stories about this time, “The Lady of Shalott” is about a lady in an isolated tower and the power love
can have over a person. Tennyson uses setting and characterization to show that love can be
destructive and dangerous, especially loved based solely on physical qualities.
The location and time period of the poem sets it up perfectly to demonstrate that love was the
downfall of the Lady of Shalott. Literary works that focus on the time period of Camelot and King Arthur
tend to depict women as the weaker sex. It is the woman who needs to be saved from some sort of
isolation. True to the period the poem is set in, the Lady of Shalott lives in Shalott, which is described as
an “island in the river” (Tennyson 13). Not only is the Lady isolated through living on an island in the
center of a river, but she also lives in a tower. “Four gray walls, and four gray towers Overlook a space
of flowers, And the silent isle imbowers The Lady of Shalott” (Tennyson 15-18). The tower separates the
Lady even more. This emphasizes the fact that the Lady does not have any interaction with other
people. She is by herself each and every day. This solitude is further accentuated by the fact that the
river is met with fields of grain and runs into the city of Camelot. The city of Camelot is in the distance,
but there is nothing really close to the island or the banks of the river. This isolation hints that at some
point the Lady will break and leave her duty of weaving.
Characterization is the other key element that proves that love led to the downfall of the Lady of
Shalott. Before we focus on the Lady, we will focus on Sir Lancelot. The first time his name is
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mentioned, he is referred to as “bold Sir Lancelot” (Tennyson 77). This gives the reader a feeling that
Lancelot is a powerful figure, strong and steadfast. It is mentioned that he has curly black hair
(Tennyson 103) which brings to mind the image of a tall, dark, and handsome man. Even his horse is
depicted strongly: “On burnish’d hooves his war-horse trode” (Tennyson 101). Lancelot’s horse is a warhorse, which evokes images of Lancelot in battle on the back of his noble steed and coming out
victorious, even when the odds are against him. The bridle is described as “The gemmy bridle glitter’d
free, Like to some branch of stars we see Hung in the golden Galaxy” (Tennyson 82-84). The reference
to the stars makes one think of the heavens and of the gods. These lines from the poem almost hint at
the godlike qualities of Lancelot and his horse, like Hercules and Pegasus. The last line about Lancelot
says “’Tirra lira, tirra lira:’ Sang Sir Lancelot” (Tennyson 107-8). Not only is he depicted as handsome and
strong, but he also sings. It is the singing that most affects the Lady of Shalott. Lancelot is a temptation
for the Lady of Shalott, one that is too great for her to overcome. She falls in love with him and
ultimately dies because of it.
Before we get into the characterization of the Lady of Shalott, the typical portrayal of women in
Camelot is important to look at. The most well-known female figure in Camelot is Queen Guinevere.
What typically comes to mind when one thinks of Guinevere is her love affair with Sir Lancelot. She is
often portrayed as a weaker character who cannot control her actions or her feelings, and thus gives
into them and forms a relationship with Lancelot (timelessmyths). This portrayal is typical of women in
Camelot and this time period. Women are the weaker sex in this time. This carries over to the portrayal
of the Lady of Shalott. She is alone in a tower and has been for a long time. In the poem, you see her
weakness come to light.
The Lady of Shalott is characterized as most women are in the times of Camelot. To begin with,
the Lady is heard “chanting cherrly, like an angel, singing clearly…” (Tennyson 21-22). Our first
impression of the Lady of Shalott is that she is a positive person who is happy. Her voice is described as
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an angel’s which bring images of beauty. These images of beauty are strengthened when she and the
inside of her tower are further described. “A pearl garland winds her head: she leaneth on a velvet bed,
full royally appareled, The Lady of Shalott” (Tennyson 33-36). It is hinted here that the Lady may be of
royal birth based off of her clothes and room décor. She obviously comes from a fairly well to do family
if she has a velvet bed and a pearl garland but this is all the hint we get as to where she comes from.
The Lady is also characterized as a hard worker and dedicated. “No time hath she to sport and
play” (Tennyson 37). She does not have time to mess around and play because she is focused on her
duties. This is where here priorities lie so she stays in her tower and weaves every day. “A charmed
web she weaves always, A curse is on her, if she stay Her weaving, either night or day, To look down to
Camelot” (Tennyson 38-41). We finally find out in these lines why she is so dedicated to her work, there
is a curse upon her. If she stops weaving and looks outside at Camelot, the curse will come true. The
reader does not know what the curse is, however, and we find out in the next line of the poem that
neither does the Lady. “She knows not what the curse may be” (Tennyson 42). The Lady is working hard
all day and all night to weave and to not look outside at the city of Camelot. She is characterized as a
strong, diligent, and devoted person, and those traits are strengthened by the fact that she doesn’t even
fully know or understand why she is doing what she is doing.
Even with all of her devotion to her weaving, the life of the Lady of Shalott must be a lonely one.
The reader is told that “She lives with little joy or fear” (Tennyson 46). This line shows the reader the
first glimpse of weakness in the Lady. She does not have happiness in her life because all she does is sit
and weave. She does not get to have people come visit her or go out and have fun. This line also tells us
that she does not have much fear of the curse. How can one fear what they do not even know? She
does not know what will happen to her if she were to stop weaving, but she does not continue to weave
out of fear, but rather out of habit and knowing nothing else in life.
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The characterization of the Lady is deepened through more reading, which gives us hints that
some form of love is coming and will be a weakness for her. It seems fairly obvious, but it is stated that
“She hath no loyal knight and true, The Lady of Shalott” (Tennyson 62-63). She is a loner out of
necessity. She has a curse upon her and cannot stop her work. Due to this, she is what some might
consider unlucky in love. She cannot court a man, so this tells us that she is naive when it comes to love.
Those that are unexperienced in love tend to get swept off their feet easier. This line about having no
knight pledged to her carries a lot more weight than initially thought. It is setting her up for disaster and
the reader can see that coming once the weight of this line comes to light. The characterization of the
Lady of Shalott is that of a person ill-equipped to deal with falling in love.
The reader is given a look into the mind of the Lady of Shalott with the first words she speaks,
which open a world of weakness in her character. The first words spoken by the Lady of Shalott are “’I
am half sick of shadows’” (Tennyson 71). After spending her life in that tower and watching others live
their lives through a reflection in a mirror in her tower, she is starting to break. Years of devotion and
diligence to her art of weaving are starting to come to an end. The Lady is getting tired of this life she is
living. It is right after this line that the reader meets Sir Lancelot. The singing of Lancelot draws the Lady
of Shalott’s attention. She is already showing signs of weakness at this point and the singing is the final
thing that breaks her. She has fallen in love with his voice and the image in the mirror. The Lady leaves
her weaving so that she could look upon him with her own eyes. It is because of this immediate love
that the curse comes to fruition, which is the Lady’s death.
Works of literature that are based in the time of Kind Arthur and Camelot tend to focus on
knights in shining armor, ladies in some sort of bondage, and love. “The Lady of Shalott” by Alfred, Lord
Tennyson is no exception to this idea. Tennyson uses setting and characterization to show that love can
be destructive and dangerous, especially loved based solely on the physical qualities.
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Works Cited
“Guinevere.” Timeless Myths. 2006. Web. 29 Jan. 2015.
Tennyson, Alfred Lord. “The Lady of Shalott.” Poetry Foundation. 2015. Web. 29 Jan. 2015.