--- One archetype I noticed in the poem was innocence. The lady was an innocent woman who just wanted to go out into the open world but was trapped. This appears in some other forms of literature such as Rapunzel. Another archetype could be the setting of the poem. Camelot is a (possibly non-fictional place) fictional kingdom. In many other types of works, you can find fictional regions or kingdoms. One such place would be Middle-Earth in "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" books.
--- Tennyson treats the concept of love as unnecessary and unobtainable. For the lady, she was completely isolated from the community, thus unable to find love. You can pull from the idea of the curse that if she did happen to find love, she would die. This tells me that Tennyson may have been against love at all costs and deemed it, I guess you could say, punishable by death.
1. The shadows in the lady of Shallot's mirrors represent the "shadowy-ness" of her soul. She seems to be unsure of the curse and its effects and the shadows in the mirror trouble her. The mirror cracking as she looks out the window symbolizes The Lady finally deciding she doesn't care about the curse anymore, she just wants to truly look at Lancelot not his shadow. 2. The concept of love is tragic and doomed. When the lady finally looks at Lancelot it is tragic love because being with him is impossible in her case because of the curse. She is doomed when the mirror breaks because she knows the curse will soon take place.
1. An archetype in "The Lady of Shalott" was the lady in the tower. This is the original story line of a woman being locked in a tower that has been used throughout history. The fairy tale of Rapunzel is an example of a story that used the archetype of a lady in a tower. In both "The Lady of Shalott" and Rapunzel, a woman is locked in a tower for an unknown reason. They both fear the day that they have to come out of the tower and what will happen to them. Rapunzel adds the aspect of her long hair, but the main concept of a lady trapped in a tower is still there. "The Lady of Shalott" set this archetype of a woman being trapped in a tower for an unknown reason and it has been used many times throughout history.
2. Tennyson treats the concept of love as a doomful sensation. The lady in the tower is never allowed to look out her window into the outside world. She only is able to look at her own reflection in a mirror. When she sees Sir Lancelot in the mirror she is overtaken by her love for him and looks out the window. Her love for this man is the main reason that she released the curse and died. Love is portrayed as doomful because of the reaction the the lady of Shalott had to Lancelot.
1. The Lady of Shallot risked her life to take a glance at Sir Lancelot knowing she had a curse on her and was forbidden to look out the window. I think the poem is about the temptation of love. 2. Tennyson interpretation of love is quite different than the normal view on how love is supposed to be. He uses the consequences of love, and also used Sir Lancelot as the main trigger of The Lady of Shallot's doom.
One archetype present in the poem is the tower. The tower represents how the Lady was kept away from the rest of the world. The towers can also represent how she is destined to be alone forever. Another archetype would be the mirror. The mirror represents what she does not have and the better life she wants. When the mirror broke, the image of her life came to an end. The boat that she is in is also another archetype. The boat represents how she safely and quietly escaped the tower without any fight and came to a quiet passing. The songs can also be an archetype. They can represent a cry for help in a minute way. They would not be as urgent as a direct call for help. The songs that are sung are heard by those around her, yet they did not know the cry for help.
He treats love in a way that makes it seem out of reach. Lady Shalott sees newly married couples but she has yet to be saved by her knight. Her presence in that tower is known, yet nothing is done. The curse that has been placed upon her has forbidden her to look at Camelot. Camelot could represent love and how it is far away. Lancelot can also represent fleeting opportunity to acquire love when she sees him riding to Camelot. The curse could be that she will never find love, and in the end she will die trying.
1) Some archetypes I noticed were innocence, star-crossed lovers, and various symbolic archetypes. The lady of Shalott represents the innocent youth archetype because her imprisonment keeps her locked away from society. Not knowing what else is out there in life makes her naive and listen to "voices" that tell her not to look at Camelot. Her ultimate goal is to be free but still do things right and not get punished, which are qualities of innocence. The other archetype is the start-crossed lovers. The lady of Shalott falls in love with Lancelot as he rides by and sings "tirra lirra". She is willing to risk her life for true love with a man she has never met. This qualifies as the star-crossed lovers archetype because the love eventually leads to tragedy. Some of the symbolic archetypes are the red-crossed knight (Lancelot) representing the passion of the lady of Shalott's love for him, the white robe she wears represents innocence and peace right before her death, and ice is represented by her frozen blood which symbolizes death. 2) Tennyson treats love as unattainable in "The Lady of Shalott". She gives up her life trying to seek out Lancelot, but it falls short and is not enough. If he would have noticed her sooner she may not have died. Only after her death does he see her and notice her beauty. This connects to the unattainable aspects because for some it is always too late for love.
1) There are many archetypes in "The Lady of Shalott." Light vs Darkness are described in the poem - the lady observes everything that goes on outside (in the light) from a mirror in a room set apart (in the shadows); even she says, upon seeing the reflection of Sir Lancelot: "I'm sick of shadows!" The archetype of good vs evil is also present - she must choose between what she's supposed to do (keep weaving and watching the world from her window) or go out into the world (and face her curse). The archetypes of love at first sight and the typical feminine heroine are also present.
2) Tennyson treats the concept of love not as an arrangement between nobility, but as an unlikely and beautiful occurrence between strangers who have never met before. Tennyson treats love as a force which causes people to break out of their everyday habits, in order to be with or even just SEE the one loved. Tennyson portrays love alongside extraordinary action.
1. The character archetypes of lovers were present within the poem. In the poem, both Sir Lancelot and The Lady of Shalott have an attraction to each other. The attraction leads to The Lady of Shalott freezing to death in the winter. It is furthered by Lancelot, upon seeing her dead body, remarking "she has a lovely face; God in his mercy lend her grace.
2. Tennyson treats love as a curse. It is said in the poem the Lady of Shalott has a curse, and cannot look towards camelot. The Lady of Shalott never does this, until spying Sir Lancelot. She tries to follow Lancelot to Camelot, but dies before being able to reach him.
An archetype that I noticed repeatedly in The Lady of Shalott, is love. The Fair lady closely resembles to Juliet from Romeo and Juliet. The fair lady does not know if she even truly loves Lancelot when she hasn't even met him. The same attitude plagued Juliet. She barely knows who Romeo is but she is willing to throw away her family name for this guy.
Tennyson, to me, treats the concept of love a little foolish. The fair lady threw out her life's work and risked dying to go meet Lancelot. She doesn't even know him but she thinks she is in love. How could she even know what love is if she has been in that tower for so long? It seems Tennyson is saying love is unknown, and mysterious.
1. The theme isolation is an archetype that I noticed in this poem. We don't know who shut her away in the castle, but it is unfair to her. She has a desire to be a part of the world and to be loved and that pushes her through the story. The human nature of loving and being loved is the pattern of life that is represented as an archetype in this poem.
2. Tennyson treats love in this poem by cracking the mirror. This shows that her love for the knight will make her to break her vail of doing the curse. That is how Tennyson treats the concept of love.
The archetype that is shown by the Lady of Shallot is the lovesick girl. It is read in the poem that she sees Lancelot and basically falls in love with him. In the end she ends up dying in the river with Lancelot not even noticing her which causes her heart to be broken. This can be used for further generations as the extremes of love in a way.
Tennyson treats the concept of love in this poem as a life or death situation for the Lady of Shallot. He shows that he agrees with De Troyes that romance is one of the most important aspects of the short story. He is trying to show how important it truly is to the world.
The first and most obvious archetype image seen in "The Lady of Shalott" is the river that surrounds the island the lady of Shalott inhabits. The water, symbolizing the circle of life, purification, and growth, is mentioned many times throughout the poem. The next archetype that could be identified is the blue "unclouded" sky. Blue is associated with positivity, truth and security. Another archetype that ties into the previous two is the garden wall the lady of Shalott passes by when she has died. Gardens symbolize paradise, innocence and fertility. In England today, barley is harvested in the summertime much like it was in the lady of Shalott's time. The fact that Tennyson mentions the barley and rye crop tells the reader this poem was set in the summer. Coincidentally, the correspondent genre for summer is a romance. This poem is exactly that, emphasizing how the Lady of Shalott and Sir Lancelot are attracted to one another.
Tennyson implements the concept of love as a means to carry on the plot. Love is used to motivate the Lady of Shalott to free herself from her current state. Due to the important distinction that love is not a theme (or the central idea), readers should realize the choice (to leave her tower) given to the Lady of Shalott is the supporting reason the poem was written. Tennyson knows love is not specifically defined. In the end he leaves it up to the reader to interpret whether or not Sir Lancelot truly loves the lady of Shalott.
1) The imprisoned woman or "The Lady of Shalott" is left alone and imprisoned. She represents lonliness in the world and how it has the ability to trap you forever. She must not seek for lust or else a curse will be put on her. We also see optimism occur. The lady of Shalott leaves hr "prison" in order to discover the outer world. She keeps hope to discover a new and brighter future. This leads to the archetype of tragic endings. She perishes in the end which goes along with many stories and peoms. A person ready to seek their future, almost awaiting their death once they journey. 2) He sees love as torture to me. He views it as imprisonment. That once you commit, there is no going back. This is shown by the Lady of Shalott. Once her love dies, she is trapped forever. It is impossible for her to seek new love. When she tried, it ended in a tragic death.
---In the Lady of Shalott, the one achetype that stands out the most is "the lady locked in the tower." The only twist on this archetype was she was not allowed to look out the tower. In most stories/movies that use this archetype, such as Rapunzel and Shrek, the one who is locked in the tower dreams of her prince charming coming and taking her away from the tower she's locked up in. The lady of Shalott just keeps to her weaving. Also we see "a curse administered by a higher power." The higher power in this case would be the voice that whispers to her. In others stories like Snow White it would be the witch and the apple or the evil witch in sleeping beauty. --- Tennyson treats the concept of love in the last 3 lines of the poem. Lancelot acknowledges the fact that she was beautiful in death, which means she must of been even more beautiful in life. If the poem is interpreted correctly it sounds as if he says, "Its a shame such a beautiful woman die, who I could of made my own."
The archetype I was able to notice was the Lady of Shalott was a lover. She saw the image of Sir Lancelot in her mirror and instantly fell in love with him. She decided to leave her tower to go after him. She leaves despite her curse which says bad things will happen to her if she looks up the river to Camelot. She acts upon her love and as a result, it costs her to lose her life.
Tennyson treats the concept of love as being forbidden. The Lady of Shalott combines the ideas of love and death because when looking into the mirror she often sees weddings or funerals. This suggests that with love may also come death. When she saw Sir Lancelot in Shalott, she instantly fell in love with him. She tried to act upon it but was killed when she left the tower. Her body was on a ship that sailed to Camelot. Sir Lancelot looked upon her and said how beautiful she truly was. This suggests the idea of forbidden love because the characters were unable to express their true feelings toward each other.
1. I noticed the "Grail" archetype in the poem, because he is on a quest to get to the "The Lady of Shalott", who is symbolic to the grail. It took much effort from Lancelot to try and reach her. The "Fall of the Central Community" was seen at the end when all the people who were cheerful became full of fear. They surrounded her without any control and Lancelot had to force some space around her.
2. The Lady of Shalott was cursed to look at the mirror forever or she would be cursed. When she saw Lancelot in the mirror it caused her to look away. There must have been something so powerful to make her break her vow. Something as powerful as love.
1.) While reading the poem, I noticed three archetypes. The first is the Damsel in distress. She was described as being beautiful, but she was locked in a prison and cursed if she would leave her weaving. She would be best compared to sleeping beauty. Sleeping Beauty was beautiful, locked in a tower, and cursed to sleep. The other archetype I noticed was a sort of a hero archetype in Lancelot. He didn't slay a monster, but he was loved by The Lady of Shallot. When he found her, instead of crossing himself and being disturbed, as the other people were, he looked at her and said " she is beautiful" and said her a prayer. He good to her when no other person was, and that is how he was heroic. The third archetype is love at first sight. This is common in many movies of today. She saw him in the mirror and from the window and loved his gleaming armor and shining forehead. He saw her after she received the curse, and still called her beautiful even though all the others thought of her as being disturbing and even resorted to christening themselves. 2.) Tennyson treats love as not needing to be physical. She fell in love with Lancelot at first sight when she saw him from the window. When he saw her in the boat, he never was described as loving her, but he saw her beauty when nobody else did. That is a rare quality to find in anyone. All of this occurs with them not ever actually meeting, yet they still loved each other.
In part 2 the archetype is the "Disney princess" one. I was able to notice at the beginning because it says "a curse is on her if she stay...". "She" is having something terribly wrong going on and she needs saved. I know that she needs saved because the author in part 3 talks about "to a lady in his shield". We know the man coming to save this girl is a knight or a man of some power because the author says "as he rode his armour rung". The girl ended up escaping her self in a boat and the knight says "She has a lovely face, God in his mercy lend her grace". Tennyson treats the concept of love in a romantic way. He writes very softly about love. "She floated down to Camelot" is an example of this. She floated, is calming and romantic in a sense. "The sun came dazzling through the leaves" shows that he is happy about love and is passionate towards it.
In The Lady of Shalott there is one particular archetype that stands out among-st the rest. This archetype is our tendency to do things that we don't know the consequence to. In the poem the Lady of Shallot is told that a curse will be bestowed upon her if she is to look at Camelot. For years the lady knits her fabrique until one day she just feels the urge to look towards him. We tend to do things that we've been told time and time again not to do solely on the fact that we've been told not to do them. This example was the biggest archetype in the poem.
Love in this poem is a tricky subject solely because, it is not mentioned head on. Lancelot in this poem is the guy or girl that you've always wanted to talk to, but you never worked up the courage to do so. The love in this poem is, love from a distance, and it's reel, raw, and, painful in this story.
1. An archetype found in the poem is the idea of this women falling in love and giving up everything just for that. This is an archetype because it shows her behavior of what she is doing all for one thing. She is changing her life for love and who she loves. Also, in the poem when the narrator says she is “half sick of shadows” demonstrates a narrative archetype. The Lady of Shalott embodies the woman who abandons her social responsibility in her pursuit of love. 2. The concept of love in this poem is not clearly stated in The Lady of Shalott. Instead, it is hidden by a distance and not talked about much. No one in this poem actually admits to being in love however love, even though it is unspoken, plays a main role in the plot of the poem. She does not say she loves Tennyson but we can infer from the end of the poem that she does love him. The author treats the concept of love for us to figure out and leave us with questions.
One character archetype that was prevalent in “The Lady of Shalott” is love. The lady of Shalott was given a curse that if she ever withdrew from her work and looked down to Camelot, that she would be doomed death. All of her outside experiences were limited to the view she had through the mirror in which she worked. However, when Lancelot passed by, the Lady of Shalott desired him, and the lust drove her to turn away from her mirror and watch him as he passed. Another archetype I noticed could be heroes because as the Lady of Shalott floats to Camelot’s shores, Sir Lancelot is the only man to stand up and comment on her beauty even in her time of death. Although he was completely unaware to the fact that he was the start of this woman’s demise, he is the only person to step up and not look at her in bewilderment. He states, “She has a lovely face; God in his mercy lend her grace.” It may seem that his timing is cruel, but he is completely unaware of what he had caused. He acknowledges her beauty and sends her off as a prayer, acting as her personal hero in a time when everyone else could not reserve judgment.
Tennyson gives love a grim tone in this story. By foreshadowing the fact that her yearning for Lancelot will lead to her death, the ready can be aware of the tone given to this archetype when it is first introduced. Tennyson then goes on to say the second she looked away from that mirror, an action involuntarily done through love, all of her talent is stripped away and her fate is sealed. He illustrates this through the lines, “Out flew the web and floated wide; The mirror crack’d from side to side; “The curse is come upon me.” The Lady never receives recognition from her knight until she has already passed. To me, Tennyson commits the Lady of Shalott to death because he looks at love cynically. The Lady of Camelot dies because of her desire for Lancelot who does not even notice the Lady until she washes up in his homeland dead. Tennyson offers an extremely dark outlook on the concept of love in this poem.
While reading “The Lady of Shalott,” I was able to notice several archetypes included throughout the poem. The land of Camelot is included in the poem to represent freedom among people. The people of this land are able to roam free and travel along the river and road that pass long fields of barely and rye; “On either side the river lie long fields of barely and of rye…And thro’ the field that road runs by…And up and down the people go.” On the other hand, the island of Shalott represents being sheltered. The Lady of Shalott is imprisoned on this island and can not associate with people from Camelot; “By the island in the river flowing down to Camelot. Four gray walls and four gray towers…” The Lady of Shalott is used to represent creativity. For long periods of time, she works on creating a colorful web: “There she weaves by night and day a magic web with colours gay.” The Lady of Shalott shows how creativity can be blocked by many distractions throughout the world. While making her web, the Lady of Shalott will be cursed if she becomes distracted and stops weaving; “A curse is on her if she stay to look down to Camelot. She knows not what the curse may be, and so she weaveth steadily.” However, I think the Lady of Shalott should not be sheltered from Camelot because she is inspired to weave the sights she sees among the land; “But in her web she still delights to weave the mirror’s magic sights.” Sir Lancelot is included in the poem to represent distraction because he is the “perfect” knight. He comes riding through the barely fields dressed in brass armor and has black curly hair; “He rode between the barely-sheaves…And flamed upon the brazen greaves…His coal-black curls as on he rode.” Throughout the poem, “The Lady of Shalott,” the author includes many different archetypes. In the poem, Tennyson shows how unexpected love can be. The Lady of Shalott enjoyed weaving her magic web and couldn’t stop or else she would be cursed. However, this thought changed once the Lady spotted Lancelot. As she was looking through her mirror, she heard Lancelot sing a tune of some sort. It was like love at first sight, and the Lady of Shalott stopped weaving. Since she stopped, she became cursed. However, this shows that people can fall in love expectedly and can be willing to give up anything for that love. Since the Lady was cursed and died after hearing Lancelot, I think this also shows that love can be cruel and can negatively affect people.
While reading “The Lady of Shalott,” I was able to notice several archetypes included throughout the poem. The land of Camelot is included in the poem to represent freedom among people. The people of this land are able to roam free and travel along the river and road that pass long fields of barely and rye; “On either side the river lie long fields of barely and of rye…And thro’ the field that road runs by…And up and down the people go.” On the other hand, the island of Shalott represents being sheltered. The Lady of Shalott is imprisoned on this island and can not associate with people from Camelot; “By the island in the river flowing down to Camelot. Four gray walls and four gray towers…” The Lady of Shalott is used to represent creativity. For long periods of time, she works on creating a colorful web: “There she weaves by night and day a magic web with colours gay.” The Lady of Shalott shows how creativity can be blocked by many distractions throughout the world. While making her web, the Lady of Shalott will be cursed if she becomes distracted and stops weaving; “A curse is on her if she stay to look down to Camelot. She knows not what the curse may be, and so she weaveth steadily.” However, I think the Lady of Shalott should not be sheltered from Camelot because she is inspired to weave the sights she sees among the land; “But in her web she still delights to weave the mirror’s magic sights.” Sir Lancelot is included in the poem to represent distraction because he is the “perfect” knight. He comes riding through the barely fields dressed in brass armor and has black curly hair; “He rode between the barely-sheaves…And flamed upon the brazen greaves…His coal-black curls as on he rode.” Throughout the poem, “The Lady of Shalott,” the author includes many different archetypes. In the poem, Tennyson shows how unexpected love can be. The Lady of Shalott enjoyed weaving her magic web and couldn’t stop or else she would be cursed. However, this thought changed once the Lady spotted Lancelot. As she was looking through her mirror, she heard Lancelot sing a tune of some sort. It was like love at first sight, and the Lady of Shalott stopped weaving. Since she stopped, she became cursed. However, this shows that people can fall in love expectedly and can be willing to give up anything for that love. Since the Lady was cursed and died after hearing Lancelot, I think this also shows that love can be cruel and can negatively affect people.
The lady of shalet was an archetype because she took risks by looking out the window and leveling with sir lansalot. Tennyson treats it somewhat hidden but the more you read the more connected the characters are in the story. He also shows love thought action not words through his characters.
1) Archetypes such as curved rivers and roads in Camelot were mentioned several times in this poem. Colors were also very vividly described. Tennyson makes the reader feel as if they are on a journey when reading the poem.
2) Tennyson treats love as an extremely passionate, powerful feeling in this poem. The Lady of Shallot can not move her eyes from her weaving or she will be cursed. However when Sir Lancelot enters the picture, everything seems to change. It does not matter that she will be cursed because she thinks the love will save her. Although she still was cursed, Sir Lancelot still thinks she is the most beautiful woman even when she is dead.
When they mention "four gray walls and four grey towers" this shows a connection to the color gray's archetype, which is lifelessness, humility, boredom, decay, neutral, and dullness. This represents the setting do to the lady being trapped withing a dull building and eventually escaping to get on a boat and float down to Camelot, but died on the way. The archetype shows back round information on the ladies condition and what will happen in the future.
When he says the the lady sometimes sees the knights riding by, but she has no real night of her own. This shows the lady is single and was gazing as the knights as they walk past, probably hoping to fall in love. Also when the ladies boat washed up to the shore of Camelot, no one went up to it but Lancelot and said she had a lovely face.
I noticed three archetypes, the first being mirror representing self knowledge and awareness. The second being the winding rivers mentioned in the stories. this shows the flowing of time into eternity. The third is island where it represents the isolation from the rest of the world.
Love is subtle in the story. It has almost a feeling of despair and emptiness that is carried into the thoughts and actions of the Lady of Shalott. Tennyson uses love to carry the plot, but it is not the main idea of the story.
While reading "The Lady of Shalott," I was able to pick out a few different archetypes displayed throughout the poem. The first archetype is love. The Lady of Shalott was cursed to only stare in the mirror at the image of her. When Lancelot passed by, she had this strong urge of desire which made her turn from the mirror to look at him. This shows the strength of love and how it can overcome anything, even a curse. This also relates closely to another archetype known as the "Disney Princess" archetype. Here is a girl put in an unfortunate circumstance, estranged from society. Along comes her true love whom breaks the curse and love magically blossoms.
Tennyson treats the concept of love in this poem to be flawed. He doesn't create the fairytale ending that most would expect. The ending is foreshadowed when the mirror cracks from side to side as soon as she turns away to look at Lancelot. The Lady of Shalott's love interest does not notice her until it is too late, until she is washed up dead with not even the hope of love left.
1. In "The Lady of Shalott," I noticed several archetypes, and 2 of them stood out amongst the rest; innocence and the lady was a lover. The lady was locked inside of a tower even though she was innocent. She simply wanted to be let out into the world. Her motto was to be happy, and to just be herself. Sadly, her greatest fear in life had happened to her, having been punished for doing something wrong. The second archetype that I noticed was that the lady was a lover. She had feelings toward Sir Lancelot. Her core desire was to develop love and intimacy with him. The lady did not want to be alone forever, but in the end she died of a broken heart.
2. Tennyson treats the concept of love as a difficult, tragic, and almost ridiculous. The lady desired love so greatly, but she was not unable to obtain it because she was locked away from the rest of society. He portrays love as a foolish curse throughout the poem. Because the lady loved Sir Lancelot, she had to die. Thus, making it quite obvious that Tennyson had difficulty with love in his own personal life.
One archetype I noticiced was the emotion that the lady of shalott didn't want the life she had. This is seen in many movies like Repunzel and others. She doesn't like the pleasures life he has so she runs away to try to experience new things.
They show love in the poem by the will to peruse Lancelot even though there was risk in leaving the tower.
The way in which Tennyson portrays love in "The Lady of Shalott" is through the concept of love at first sight, as well as the heartbreak that often follows. There is evidence of this in the context of the situation. The Lady of Shalott awaits in her "prison" of sorts, as described as by a web and a mirror. She is jealous of all those that have found someone, whom she can hear partying in Camelot nearby. So she jumps at the immediate sight of this hero, Sir Lancelot, and instantly falls in love. The thought of escaping her solitude and joining the rest of society grasped her attention, and she fell head over heels. Her first thought was, "the bridle-bells rang merrily," which is quite a jump from not even knowing the guy. The heartbreak concept appears at the end, revealed in the lines "she floated down to Camelot...they heard her singing her last song," and "singing in her song she died." Lancelot acknowledges her at the end of the poem, but he only sends his sympathy to her, not love. The obvious archetype revealed in Tennyson's Arthurian poem is that of a typical fairy tale, often centered around a princess awaiting her "knight in shining armor." The most immediate line of text that brought me to this conclusion was, "lying, robed in snowy white." Whether or not it was intentional, it immediately made me think of the Disney's reitteration of this common archetype about the princess Snow White. Though the situation is slightly different, the concept of love being sought and broken, and rekindled in the hopes of finding a better love is paralled here. Admittedly, I have not scene any of the Disney princess movies, however I understand the concept and can see the correlation. But perhaps another archetype is that of feeling trapped. Many main antagonists of stories and movies tend to feel as though they have been denounced and ensnared within themselves, denied the pleasures that other possess. I think of the little mermaid, for example. Through these connection, I believe the archetype is made clear.
1. Archetypes i noticed in The Lady of Shalott was love at first sight and chasing that person to the detriment of yourself. The second being innocence and wonderment. The Lady of Shalott had been put in a tower for most of her adult life it seems, until she sees Sir Lancelot. She chases this noble and handsome knight and eventually dies on the way to him. This obviously supports the love at first sight and chasing archetype by showing that the Lady had killed herself chasing Lancelot. This also ties in with the innocence and bewilderment archetype. The Lady is so entranced and in love with this handsome knight who has come into town because she has been "locked away in her tower" and hasn't had the experiences of the outside adult world. 2. Tennyson treats love as almost an unattainable, irrational concept, let alone a real replicable feeling embedded in the human condition. He treats it as a one sided interest of one person and doesn't give it positive recognition. This is apparent when Lancelot looks upon the body of the Lady and regrets her life being taken, although we don't really get the sense Lancelot knows what killed her.
--- One archetype I noticed in the poem was innocence. The lady was an innocent woman who just wanted to go out into the open world but was trapped. This appears in some other forms of literature such as Rapunzel. Another archetype could be the setting of the poem. Camelot is a (possibly non-fictional place) fictional kingdom. In many other types of works, you can find fictional regions or kingdoms. One such place would be Middle-Earth in "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" books.
ReplyDelete--- Tennyson treats the concept of love as unnecessary and unobtainable. For the lady, she was completely isolated from the community, thus unable to find love. You can pull from the idea of the curse that if she did happen to find love, she would die. This tells me that Tennyson may have been against love at all costs and deemed it, I guess you could say, punishable by death.
1. The shadows in the lady of Shallot's mirrors represent the "shadowy-ness" of her soul. She seems to be unsure of the curse and its effects and the shadows in the mirror trouble her. The mirror cracking as she looks out the window symbolizes The Lady finally deciding she doesn't care about the curse anymore, she just wants to truly look at Lancelot not his shadow.
ReplyDelete2. The concept of love is tragic and doomed. When the lady finally looks at Lancelot it is tragic love because being with him is impossible in her case because of the curse. She is doomed when the mirror breaks because she knows the curse will soon take place.
1. An archetype in "The Lady of Shalott" was the lady in the tower. This is the original story line of a woman being locked in a tower that has been used throughout history. The fairy tale of Rapunzel is an example of a story that used the archetype of a lady in a tower. In both "The Lady of Shalott" and Rapunzel, a woman is locked in a tower for an unknown reason. They both fear the day that they have to come out of the tower and what will happen to them. Rapunzel adds the aspect of her long hair, but the main concept of a lady trapped in a tower is still there. "The Lady of Shalott" set this archetype of a woman being trapped in a tower for an unknown reason and it has been used many times throughout history.
ReplyDelete2. Tennyson treats the concept of love as a doomful sensation. The lady in the tower is never allowed to look out her window into the outside world. She only is able to look at her own reflection in a mirror. When she sees Sir Lancelot in the mirror she is overtaken by her love for him and looks out the window. Her love for this man is the main reason that she released the curse and died. Love is portrayed as doomful because of the reaction the the lady of Shalott had to Lancelot.
1. The Lady of Shallot risked her life to take a glance at Sir Lancelot knowing she had a curse on her and was forbidden to look out the window. I think the poem is about the temptation of love.
ReplyDelete2. Tennyson interpretation of love is quite different than the normal view on how love is supposed to be. He uses the consequences of love, and also used Sir Lancelot as the main trigger of The Lady of Shallot's doom.
One archetype present in the poem is the tower. The tower represents how the Lady was kept away from the rest of the world. The towers can also represent how she is destined to be alone forever. Another archetype would be the mirror. The mirror represents what she does not have and the better life she wants. When the mirror broke, the image of her life came to an end. The boat that she is in is also another archetype. The boat represents how she safely and quietly escaped the tower without any fight and came to a quiet passing. The songs can also be an archetype. They can represent a cry for help in a minute way. They would not be as urgent as a direct call for help. The songs that are sung are heard by those around her, yet they did not know the cry for help.
ReplyDeleteHe treats love in a way that makes it seem out of reach. Lady Shalott sees newly married couples but she has yet to be saved by her knight. Her presence in that tower is known, yet nothing is done. The curse that has been placed upon her has forbidden her to look at Camelot. Camelot could represent love and how it is far away. Lancelot can also represent fleeting opportunity to acquire love when she sees him riding to Camelot. The curse could be that she will never find love, and in the end she will die trying.
1) Some archetypes I noticed were innocence, star-crossed lovers, and various symbolic archetypes. The lady of Shalott represents the innocent youth archetype because her imprisonment keeps her locked away from society. Not knowing what else is out there in life makes her naive and listen to "voices" that tell her not to look at Camelot. Her ultimate goal is to be free but still do things right and not get punished, which are qualities of innocence. The other archetype is the start-crossed lovers. The lady of Shalott falls in love with Lancelot as he rides by and sings "tirra lirra". She is willing to risk her life for true love with a man she has never met. This qualifies as the star-crossed lovers archetype because the love eventually leads to tragedy. Some of the symbolic archetypes are the red-crossed knight (Lancelot) representing the passion of the lady of Shalott's love for him, the white robe she wears represents innocence and peace right before her death, and ice is represented by her frozen blood which symbolizes death.
ReplyDelete2) Tennyson treats love as unattainable in "The Lady of Shalott". She gives up her life trying to seek out Lancelot, but it falls short and is not enough. If he would have noticed her sooner she may not have died. Only after her death does he see her and notice her beauty. This connects to the unattainable aspects because for some it is always too late for love.
1) There are many archetypes in "The Lady of Shalott." Light vs Darkness are described in the poem - the lady observes everything that goes on outside (in the light) from a mirror in a room set apart (in the shadows); even she says, upon seeing the reflection of Sir Lancelot: "I'm sick of shadows!" The archetype of good vs evil is also present - she must choose between what she's supposed to do (keep weaving and watching the world from her window) or go out into the world (and face her curse). The archetypes of love at first sight and the typical feminine heroine are also present.
ReplyDelete2) Tennyson treats the concept of love not as an arrangement between nobility, but as an unlikely and beautiful occurrence between strangers who have never met before. Tennyson treats love as a force which causes people to break out of their everyday habits, in order to be with or even just SEE the one loved. Tennyson portrays love alongside extraordinary action.
1. The character archetypes of lovers were present within the poem. In the poem, both Sir Lancelot and The Lady of Shalott have an attraction to each other. The attraction leads to The Lady of Shalott freezing to death in the winter. It is furthered by Lancelot, upon seeing her dead body, remarking "she has a lovely face; God in his mercy lend her grace.
ReplyDelete2. Tennyson treats love as a curse. It is said in the poem the Lady of Shalott has a curse, and cannot look towards camelot. The Lady of Shalott never does this, until spying Sir Lancelot. She tries to follow Lancelot to Camelot, but dies before being able to reach him.
An archetype that I noticed repeatedly in The Lady of Shalott, is love. The Fair lady closely resembles to Juliet from Romeo and Juliet. The fair lady does not know if she even truly loves Lancelot when she hasn't even met him. The same attitude plagued Juliet. She barely knows who Romeo is but she is willing to throw away her family name for this guy.
ReplyDeleteTennyson, to me, treats the concept of love a little foolish. The fair lady threw out her life's work and risked dying to go meet Lancelot. She doesn't even know him but she thinks she is in love. How could she even know what love is if she has been in that tower for so long? It seems Tennyson is saying love is unknown, and mysterious.
1. The theme isolation is an archetype that I noticed in this poem. We don't know who shut her away in the castle, but it is unfair to her. She has a desire to be a part of the world and to be loved and that pushes her through the story. The human nature of loving and being loved is the pattern of life that is represented as an archetype in this poem.
ReplyDelete2. Tennyson treats love in this poem by cracking the mirror. This shows that her love for the knight will make her to break her vail of doing the curse. That is how Tennyson treats the concept of love.
The archetype that is shown by the Lady of Shallot is the lovesick girl. It is read in the poem that she sees Lancelot and basically falls in love with him. In the end she ends up dying in the river with Lancelot not even noticing her which causes her heart to be broken. This can be used for further generations as the extremes of love in a way.
ReplyDeleteTennyson treats the concept of love in this poem as a life or death situation for the Lady of Shallot. He shows that he agrees with De Troyes that romance is one of the most important aspects of the short story. He is trying to show how important it truly is to the world.
The first and most obvious archetype image seen in "The Lady of Shalott" is the river that surrounds the island the lady of Shalott inhabits. The water, symbolizing the circle of life, purification, and growth, is mentioned many times throughout the poem. The next archetype that could be identified is the blue "unclouded" sky. Blue is associated with positivity, truth and security. Another archetype that ties into the previous two is the garden wall the lady of Shalott passes by when she has died. Gardens symbolize paradise, innocence and fertility. In England today, barley is harvested in the summertime much like it was in the lady of Shalott's time. The fact that Tennyson mentions the barley and rye crop tells the reader this poem was set in the summer. Coincidentally, the correspondent genre for summer is a romance. This poem is exactly that, emphasizing how the Lady of Shalott and Sir Lancelot are attracted to one another.
ReplyDeleteTennyson implements the concept of love as a means to carry on the plot. Love is used to motivate the Lady of Shalott to free herself from her current state. Due to the important distinction that love is not a theme (or the central idea), readers should realize the choice (to leave her tower) given to the Lady of Shalott is the supporting reason the poem was written. Tennyson knows love is not specifically defined. In the end he leaves it up to the reader to interpret whether or not Sir Lancelot truly loves the lady of Shalott.
1) The imprisoned woman or "The Lady of Shalott" is left alone and imprisoned. She represents lonliness in the world and how it has the ability to trap you forever. She must not seek for lust or else a curse will be put on her. We also see optimism occur. The lady of Shalott leaves hr "prison" in order to discover the outer world. She keeps hope to discover a new and brighter future. This leads to the archetype of tragic endings. She perishes in the end which goes along with many stories and peoms. A person ready to seek their future, almost awaiting their death once they journey.
ReplyDelete2) He sees love as torture to me. He views it as imprisonment. That once you commit, there is no going back. This is shown by the Lady of Shalott. Once her love dies, she is trapped forever. It is impossible for her to seek new love. When she tried, it ended in a tragic death.
---In the Lady of Shalott, the one achetype that stands out the most is "the lady locked in the tower." The only twist on this archetype was she was not allowed to look out the tower. In most stories/movies that use this archetype, such as Rapunzel and Shrek, the one who is locked in the tower dreams of her prince charming coming and taking her away from the tower she's locked up in. The lady of Shalott just keeps to her weaving. Also we see "a curse administered by a higher power." The higher power in this case would be the voice that whispers to her. In others stories like Snow White it would be the witch and the apple or the evil witch in sleeping beauty.
ReplyDelete--- Tennyson treats the concept of love in the last 3 lines of the poem. Lancelot acknowledges the fact that she was beautiful in death, which means she must of been even more beautiful in life. If the poem is interpreted correctly it sounds as if he says, "Its a shame such a beautiful woman die, who I could of made my own."
The archetype I was able to notice was the Lady of Shalott was a lover. She saw the image of Sir Lancelot in her mirror and instantly fell in love with him. She decided to leave her tower to go after him. She leaves despite her curse which says bad things will happen to her if she looks up the river to Camelot. She acts upon her love and as a result, it costs her to lose her life.
ReplyDeleteTennyson treats the concept of love as being forbidden. The Lady of Shalott combines the ideas of love and death because when looking into the mirror she often sees weddings or funerals. This suggests that with love may also come death. When she saw Sir Lancelot in Shalott, she instantly fell in love with him. She tried to act upon it but was killed when she left the tower. Her body was on a ship that sailed to Camelot. Sir Lancelot looked upon her and said how beautiful she truly was. This suggests the idea of forbidden love because the characters were unable to express their true feelings toward each other.
1. I noticed the "Grail" archetype in the poem, because he is on a quest to get to the "The Lady of Shalott", who is symbolic to the grail. It took much effort from Lancelot to try and reach her. The "Fall of the Central Community" was seen at the end when all the people who were cheerful became full of fear. They surrounded her without any control and Lancelot had to force some space around her.
ReplyDelete2. The Lady of Shalott was cursed to look at the mirror forever or she would be cursed. When she saw Lancelot in the mirror it caused her to look away. There must have been something so powerful to make her break her vow. Something as powerful as love.
1.) While reading the poem, I noticed three archetypes. The first is the Damsel in distress. She was described as being beautiful, but she was locked in a prison and cursed if she would leave her weaving. She would be best compared to sleeping beauty. Sleeping Beauty was beautiful, locked in a tower, and cursed to sleep. The other archetype I noticed was a sort of a hero archetype in Lancelot. He didn't slay a monster, but he was loved by The Lady of Shallot. When he found her, instead of crossing himself and being disturbed, as the other people were, he looked at her and said " she is beautiful" and said her a prayer. He good to her when no other person was, and that is how he was heroic. The third archetype is love at first sight. This is common in many movies of today. She saw him in the mirror and from the window and loved his gleaming armor and shining forehead. He saw her after she received the curse, and still called her beautiful even though all the others thought of her as being disturbing and even resorted to christening themselves.
ReplyDelete2.) Tennyson treats love as not needing to be physical. She fell in love with Lancelot at first sight when she saw him from the window. When he saw her in the boat, he never was described as loving her, but he saw her beauty when nobody else did. That is a rare quality to find in anyone. All of this occurs with them not ever actually meeting, yet they still loved each other.
In part 2 the archetype is the "Disney princess" one. I was able to notice at the beginning because it says "a curse is on her if she stay...". "She" is having something terribly wrong going on and she needs saved. I know that she needs saved because the author in part 3 talks about "to a lady in his shield". We know the man coming to save this girl is a knight or a man of some power because the author says "as he rode his armour rung". The girl ended up escaping her self in a boat and the knight says "She has a lovely face, God in his mercy lend her grace".
ReplyDeleteTennyson treats the concept of love in a romantic way. He writes very softly about love. "She floated down to Camelot" is an example of this. She floated, is calming and romantic in a sense. "The sun came dazzling through the leaves" shows that he is happy about love and is passionate towards it.
In The Lady of Shalott there is one particular archetype that stands out among-st the rest. This archetype is our tendency to do things that we don't know the consequence to. In the poem the Lady of Shallot is told that a curse will be bestowed upon her if she is to look at Camelot. For years the lady knits her fabrique until one day she just feels the urge to look towards him. We tend to do things that we've been told time and time again not to do solely on the fact that we've been told not to do them. This example was the biggest archetype in the poem.
ReplyDeleteLove in this poem is a tricky subject solely because, it is not mentioned head on. Lancelot in this poem is the guy or girl that you've always wanted to talk to, but you never worked up the courage to do so. The love in this poem is, love from a distance, and it's reel, raw, and, painful in this story.
1. An archetype found in the poem is the idea of this women falling in love and giving up everything just for that. This is an archetype because it shows her behavior of what she is doing all for one thing. She is changing her life for love and who she loves. Also, in the poem when the narrator says she is “half sick of shadows” demonstrates a narrative archetype. The Lady of Shalott embodies the woman who abandons her social responsibility in her pursuit of love.
ReplyDelete2. The concept of love in this poem is not clearly stated in The Lady of Shalott. Instead, it is hidden by a distance and not talked about much. No one in this poem actually admits to being in love however love, even though it is unspoken, plays a main role in the plot of the poem. She does not say she loves Tennyson but we can infer from the end of the poem that she does love him. The author treats the concept of love for us to figure out and leave us with questions.
One character archetype that was prevalent in “The Lady of Shalott” is love. The lady of Shalott was given a curse that if she ever withdrew from her work and looked down to Camelot, that she would be doomed death. All of her outside experiences were limited to the view she had through the mirror in which she worked. However, when Lancelot passed by, the Lady of Shalott desired him, and the lust drove her to turn away from her mirror and watch him as he passed. Another archetype I noticed could be heroes because as the Lady of Shalott floats to Camelot’s shores, Sir Lancelot is the only man to stand up and comment on her beauty even in her time of death. Although he was completely unaware to the fact that he was the start of this woman’s demise, he is the only person to step up and not look at her in bewilderment. He states, “She has a lovely face; God in his mercy lend her grace.” It may seem that his timing is cruel, but he is completely unaware of what he had caused. He acknowledges her beauty and sends her off as a prayer, acting as her personal hero in a time when everyone else could not reserve judgment.
ReplyDeleteTennyson gives love a grim tone in this story. By foreshadowing the fact that her yearning for Lancelot will lead to her death, the ready can be aware of the tone given to this archetype when it is first introduced. Tennyson then goes on to say the second she looked away from that mirror, an action involuntarily done through love, all of her talent is stripped away and her fate is sealed. He illustrates this through the lines, “Out flew the web and floated wide; The mirror crack’d from side to side; “The curse is come upon me.” The Lady never receives recognition from her knight until she has already passed. To me, Tennyson commits the Lady of Shalott to death because he looks at love cynically. The Lady of Camelot dies because of her desire for Lancelot who does not even notice the Lady until she washes up in his homeland dead. Tennyson offers an extremely dark outlook on the concept of love in this poem.
While reading “The Lady of Shalott,” I was able to notice several archetypes included throughout the poem. The land of Camelot is included in the poem to represent freedom among people. The people of this land are able to roam free and travel along the river and road that pass long fields of barely and rye; “On either side the river lie long fields of barely and of rye…And thro’ the field that road runs by…And up and down the people go.” On the other hand, the island of Shalott represents being sheltered. The Lady of Shalott is imprisoned on this island and can not associate with people from Camelot; “By the island in the river flowing down to Camelot. Four gray walls and four gray towers…” The Lady of Shalott is used to represent creativity. For long periods of time, she works on creating a colorful web: “There she weaves by night and day a magic web with colours gay.” The Lady of Shalott shows how creativity can be blocked by many distractions throughout the world. While making her web, the Lady of Shalott will be cursed if she becomes distracted and stops weaving; “A curse is on her if she stay to look down to Camelot. She knows not what the curse may be, and so she weaveth steadily.” However, I think the Lady of Shalott should not be sheltered from Camelot because she is inspired to weave the sights she sees among the land; “But in her web she still delights to weave the mirror’s magic sights.” Sir Lancelot is included in the poem to represent distraction because he is the “perfect” knight. He comes riding through the barely fields dressed in brass armor and has black curly hair; “He rode between the barely-sheaves…And flamed upon the brazen greaves…His coal-black curls as on he rode.” Throughout the poem, “The Lady of Shalott,” the author includes many different archetypes.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem, Tennyson shows how unexpected love can be. The Lady of Shalott enjoyed weaving her magic web and couldn’t stop or else she would be cursed. However, this thought changed once the Lady spotted Lancelot. As she was looking through her mirror, she heard Lancelot sing a tune of some sort. It was like love at first sight, and the Lady of Shalott stopped weaving. Since she stopped, she became cursed. However, this shows that people can fall in love expectedly and can be willing to give up anything for that love. Since the Lady was cursed and died after hearing Lancelot, I think this also shows that love can be cruel and can negatively affect people.
While reading “The Lady of Shalott,” I was able to notice several archetypes included throughout the poem. The land of Camelot is included in the poem to represent freedom among people. The people of this land are able to roam free and travel along the river and road that pass long fields of barely and rye; “On either side the river lie long fields of barely and of rye…And thro’ the field that road runs by…And up and down the people go.” On the other hand, the island of Shalott represents being sheltered. The Lady of Shalott is imprisoned on this island and can not associate with people from Camelot; “By the island in the river flowing down to Camelot. Four gray walls and four gray towers…” The Lady of Shalott is used to represent creativity. For long periods of time, she works on creating a colorful web: “There she weaves by night and day a magic web with colours gay.” The Lady of Shalott shows how creativity can be blocked by many distractions throughout the world. While making her web, the Lady of Shalott will be cursed if she becomes distracted and stops weaving; “A curse is on her if she stay to look down to Camelot. She knows not what the curse may be, and so she weaveth steadily.” However, I think the Lady of Shalott should not be sheltered from Camelot because she is inspired to weave the sights she sees among the land; “But in her web she still delights to weave the mirror’s magic sights.” Sir Lancelot is included in the poem to represent distraction because he is the “perfect” knight. He comes riding through the barely fields dressed in brass armor and has black curly hair; “He rode between the barely-sheaves…And flamed upon the brazen greaves…His coal-black curls as on he rode.” Throughout the poem, “The Lady of Shalott,” the author includes many different archetypes.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem, Tennyson shows how unexpected love can be. The Lady of Shalott enjoyed weaving her magic web and couldn’t stop or else she would be cursed. However, this thought changed once the Lady spotted Lancelot. As she was looking through her mirror, she heard Lancelot sing a tune of some sort. It was like love at first sight, and the Lady of Shalott stopped weaving. Since she stopped, she became cursed. However, this shows that people can fall in love expectedly and can be willing to give up anything for that love. Since the Lady was cursed and died after hearing Lancelot, I think this also shows that love can be cruel and can negatively affect people.
The lady of shalet was an archetype because she took risks by looking out the window and leveling with sir lansalot.
ReplyDeleteTennyson treats it somewhat hidden but the more you read the more connected the characters are in the story. He also shows love thought action not words through his characters.
1) Archetypes such as curved rivers and roads in Camelot were mentioned several times in this poem. Colors were also very vividly described. Tennyson makes the reader feel as if they are on a journey when reading the poem.
ReplyDelete2) Tennyson treats love as an extremely passionate, powerful feeling in this poem. The Lady of Shallot can not move her eyes from her weaving or she will be cursed. However when Sir Lancelot enters the picture, everything seems to change. It does not matter that she will be cursed because she thinks the love will save her. Although she still was cursed, Sir Lancelot still thinks she is the most beautiful woman even when she is dead.
When they mention "four gray walls and four grey towers" this shows a connection to the color gray's archetype, which is lifelessness, humility, boredom, decay, neutral, and dullness. This represents the setting do to the lady being trapped withing a dull building and eventually escaping to get on a boat and float down to Camelot, but died on the way. The archetype shows back round information on the ladies condition and what will happen in the future.
ReplyDeleteWhen he says the the lady sometimes sees the knights riding by, but she has no real night of her own. This shows the lady is single and was gazing as the knights as they walk past, probably hoping to fall in love. Also when the ladies boat washed up to the shore of Camelot, no one went up to it but Lancelot and said she had a lovely face.
I noticed three archetypes, the first being mirror representing self knowledge and awareness. The second being the winding rivers mentioned in the stories. this shows the flowing of time into eternity. The third is island where it represents the isolation from the rest of the world.
ReplyDeleteLove is subtle in the story. It has almost a feeling of despair and emptiness that is carried into the thoughts and actions of the Lady of Shalott. Tennyson uses love to carry the plot, but it is not the main idea of the story.
While reading "The Lady of Shalott," I was able to pick out a few different archetypes displayed throughout the poem. The first archetype is love. The Lady of Shalott was cursed to only stare in the mirror at the image of her. When Lancelot passed by, she had this strong urge of desire which made her turn from the mirror to look at him. This shows the strength of love and how it can overcome anything, even a curse. This also relates closely to another archetype known as the "Disney Princess" archetype. Here is a girl put in an unfortunate circumstance, estranged from society. Along comes her true love whom breaks the curse and love magically blossoms.
ReplyDeleteTennyson treats the concept of love in this poem to be flawed. He doesn't create the fairytale ending that most would expect. The ending is foreshadowed when the mirror cracks from side to side as soon as she turns away to look at Lancelot. The Lady of Shalott's love interest does not notice her until it is too late, until she is washed up dead with not even the hope of love left.
1. In "The Lady of Shalott," I noticed several archetypes, and 2 of them stood out amongst the rest; innocence and the lady was a lover. The lady was locked inside of a tower even though she was innocent. She simply wanted to be let out into the world. Her motto was to be happy, and to just be herself. Sadly, her greatest fear in life had happened to her, having been punished for doing something wrong. The second archetype that I noticed was that the lady was a lover. She had feelings toward Sir Lancelot. Her core desire was to develop love and intimacy with him. The lady did not want to be alone forever, but in the end she died of a broken heart.
ReplyDelete2. Tennyson treats the concept of love as a difficult, tragic, and almost ridiculous. The lady desired love so greatly, but she was not unable to obtain it because she was locked away from the rest of society. He portrays love as a foolish curse throughout the poem. Because the lady loved Sir Lancelot, she had to die. Thus, making it quite obvious that Tennyson had difficulty with love in his own personal life.
One archetype I noticiced was the emotion that the lady of shalott didn't want the life she had. This is seen in many movies like Repunzel and others. She doesn't like the pleasures life he has so she runs away to try to experience new things.
ReplyDeleteThey show love in the poem by the will to peruse Lancelot even though there was risk in leaving the tower.
The way in which Tennyson portrays love in "The Lady of Shalott" is through the concept of love at first sight, as well as the heartbreak that often follows. There is evidence of this in the context of the situation. The Lady of Shalott awaits in her "prison" of sorts, as described as by a web and a mirror. She is jealous of all those that have found someone, whom she can hear partying in Camelot nearby. So she jumps at the immediate sight of this hero, Sir Lancelot, and instantly falls in love. The thought of escaping her solitude and joining the rest of society grasped her attention, and she fell head over heels. Her first thought was, "the bridle-bells rang merrily," which is quite a jump from not even knowing the guy. The heartbreak concept appears at the end, revealed in the lines "she floated down to Camelot...they heard her singing her last song," and "singing in her song she died." Lancelot acknowledges her at the end of the poem, but he only sends his sympathy to her, not love.
ReplyDeleteThe obvious archetype revealed in Tennyson's Arthurian poem is that of a typical fairy tale, often centered around a princess awaiting her "knight in shining armor." The most immediate line of text that brought me to this conclusion was, "lying, robed in snowy white." Whether or not it was intentional, it immediately made me think of the Disney's reitteration of this common archetype about the princess Snow White. Though the situation is slightly different, the concept of love being sought and broken, and rekindled in the hopes of finding a better love is paralled here. Admittedly, I have not scene any of the Disney princess movies, however I understand the concept and can see the correlation. But perhaps another archetype is that of feeling trapped. Many main antagonists of stories and movies tend to feel as though they have been denounced and ensnared within themselves, denied the pleasures that other possess. I think of the little mermaid, for example. Through these connection, I believe the archetype is made clear.
1. Archetypes i noticed in The Lady of Shalott was love at first sight and chasing that person to the detriment of yourself. The second being innocence and wonderment. The Lady of Shalott had been put in a tower for most of her adult life it seems, until she sees Sir Lancelot. She chases this noble and handsome knight and eventually dies on the way to him. This obviously supports the love at first sight and chasing archetype by showing that the Lady had killed herself chasing Lancelot. This also ties in with the innocence and bewilderment archetype. The Lady is so entranced and in love with this handsome knight who has come into town because she has been "locked away in her tower" and hasn't had the experiences of the outside adult world.
ReplyDelete2. Tennyson treats love as almost an unattainable, irrational concept, let alone a real replicable feeling embedded in the human condition. He treats it as a one sided interest of one person and doesn't give it positive recognition. This is apparent when Lancelot looks upon the body of the Lady and regrets her life being taken, although we don't really get the sense Lancelot knows what killed her.