Lady of Shalott - Lord A Tennyson

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Bewildered
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Lady of Shalott - Lord A Tennyson

Post by Bewildered »

Why is the character in this poem seen as a romantic heroin?

I see her primarily as a tragic figure.

A woman destined to live alone in a grey tower, sewing a tapestry from scenes of life observed through a mirror, content with her lot until she observes a happy married couple.she then see Sir Lancelot and we infer that she is so taken by him, that she leaves her solace and in doing so invokes a fatal curse. She heads for his castle; Camelot, in a boat and the curse comes to pass and she dies within it without reaching her goal. Ironically when the boat comes to land, only Sir Lancelot has the grace to say a kind word about the lady in white.
I can see unfulfilled love but any other insights greatly appreciated, on how to answer this question :D
SunlampVexesEel
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Re: Lady of Shalott - Lord A Tennyson

Post by SunlampVexesEel »

Bewildered wrote:Why is the the character in this poem seen as a
romantic heroin?
As someone who knows nothing about English Lit...

She is a "Tragic Heroine"

With the meaning of Heroine being "the principal female character"

Are we still on the 11+ website?

Regards
SVE
Animis opibusque parati
Bewildered
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Post by Bewildered »

SVE,


I agree a 'tragic heroine'.
But DS2 came home and said that they were comparing this poem with 'Romeo and Juliet', and this was a question asked,(probably used to make them think deeper). He simply could not understand how to answer this, as he could see nothing romantic about 'a lone woman stuck in a tower, leaving it and then dieing.' as he succinctly put it. :wink:
Not quite 11+, more like yr5 literacy lesson. I was pleased that he felt he could come home and ask me about it, though. Not sure I have done enough, hence asking the more intelligent people here. :D

Thanks

BW
chad
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Post by chad »

I would have thought that 'romance' is all to do with feelings. Would it have been better for the lady to have never felt as she did and so live on.... or was it a more fulfilling life to experience that love. Some echoes of love and life taken as in Romeo & Juliet.....

So yes she was a romantic heroine as she was willing to risk all for the experience of love and the tragedy is that she never reached her goal.

Just my personal and not particularly intelligent view :oops:
[img]http://sl.glitter-graphics.net/pub/748/748895c3fyugpiju.gif[/img]
Road Runner
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Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2006 8:32 pm

mel x

Post by Road Runner »

Hi bewildered

I think that the poem concludes her to be a romantic deep down because as you rightly say up until she observes the married couple she had been content to just sit there but it was her own romance within that surfaced and then allowed her to to be taken away by Lancelot.

Now I am no expert believe me but thats my take on it.

Mel
SunlampVexesEel
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Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:31 pm

Post by SunlampVexesEel »

Bewildered wrote:that they were comparing this poem with 'Romeo and Juliet'
Ah... now that's a bit different....

That's more of a Girl meets wrong sort of Boy... comes to a sticky end sort of thing.

i.e. By finding love... the ultimate outcome was death.

Good jolly stuff this to wile away the time until March 3rd...

Regards
SVE
Animis opibusque parati
ThursdaysGirl
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Location: Kent

Post by ThursdaysGirl »

The Lady of shallot is romantic in her being as it is her naive romantic desire/love for Lancelot that stops her from using the reflection of the mirror to view the world and in turn her heroic act of looking out of the window that leads her to her death.

The likeness to Romeo and Juliet comes from the prohibited/broken heart/suicide similarities. Lady Shallot knowing she is forbidden by the magic curse to look at the outside world directly allows herself for all intense and purpose to choose a form of suicide (as she knows she will die) for one hypothetical touch of love that has been forbidden by her curse.

Tut, at love being such a powerful force, ‘tis the root of all evil I tell you. <gg>
Thursdays Girl. :)
One World, One People, US!
Bewildered
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Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 2:29 pm
Location: Berkshire

Post by Bewildered »

THANKS FOLKS!!!!

I knew there were more intelligent people on this web site than me :D

I can see it now and it makes more sense. I will try to get this across to DS2.
The trouble is at 9/10yrs old a child will look at the literal translation, first. It's being able to understand the inference, and then articulate that onto paper, (which is an art form in itself). Of course it gets a bit trickier if it's written in old English.

Thanks again!

:D

BW
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