Metaphor Overload

To me, this poem spoke as a huge metaphor for the lives of women during the Victorian times (perhaps as well as women in Arthurian times).  I’ve mentally chewed up the elements of this poem that I interpreted as symbolic and listed my brain vomit below.

1)  Camelot:  Camelot is very much romanticized in this poem as a this beautiful, desirable place that’s spoken of as some sort of destination-that the goal is to eventually get there.  I think Camelot was a metaphor for women attainting the “ideal” in life, which was always so romanticized (especially in the beginning when the poet is describing her surroundings in the field, which is very close to Camelot...but not quite apart of Camelot).  Something I think really is important to zero in on here is the fact that her tower is always so close to Camelot, right down the field or river from there and we see this is almost every stanza.

“By the island in the river           

Flowing down to Camelot”

“There she sees the highway near            

Winding down to Camelot”

One last thing, I think the fact that when she sees Lancelot in the mirror, he’s making his way to Camelot…seeing him as her chance to attain that “ideal.”

2)  The Weaving  (the web):  I think the weaving in this poem symbolizes the work/trade/things (for lack of a better word)  that women in Victorian times felt obligated to do or felt that was expected of them.  She kept weaving, never leaving or stop weaving because she believed that she “couldn’t”… the curse (that she didn’t know exactly what it was) made her believe that something bad would happen.  I think many Victorian women must have felt this way about house keeping/trade work/house work/etc that the felt they were obligated to do…and that something bad would happen if they stopped.

3)  The “Curse”:  I think the curse was a metaphor for the pressure in Victorian society (and in Arthurian society maybe) on women to obey the pressure from men and maybe even themselves (remember how the lady of Shalott said she heard a voice?).  Maybe the voice the Lady of Shalott heard was her subconscious telling her not to stop weaving and stay where she is.

4) The Mirror:  I think the fact that she looks at the mirror to see out her window, rather than getting up and looking out the window, represents her view of reality…how she experiences her life in that tower.  She experiences her life there through the reflection of life, not life itself.  The reflection (the mirror) is representing the distorted view of where and how she’s living and that she’s viewing her life as that distorted view.  I think this is the metaphor of how some women from any time period live and see their life.

5)  Lancelot:  I think  to the lady of Shalott, Lancelot is her opportunity/catalyst to get out of the tower and see the world.  The buildup of her weaving, singing and hearing the voice telling her she’s cursed and her forcing herself to stay in her tower weaving leads to this.  At this point, she looks out the window with her own eyes and gets out of the tower as fast as she fucking could.  Because she thought Lancelot was so gorgeous and shiny, she wanted to GTFO of her situation.  Maybe her subconscious painting Lancelot’s face on her chance to leave so that she’d finally break out.  I think even today (just as in Victorian times) there were women who saw a man as an opportunity for a way out of wherever they were living in- I think that still happens today.

6)  Her Death:  I think her death is a metaphor for the reality that kicks in when you finally reach your “Camelot.”  The fact that by the time when she gets to Camelot, she’s dead.  She can never experience being in Camelot because she was never going to experience “Camelot.” 

The reality that kicks in is that “Camelot” represents your ideal, fantasy created life that many people think they must work to attain…rather than embracing the idea that what you spend your time doing every is your life…and that no one else will be living your life except you.  Also, most of the worries, fears and obligations that we put on ourselves are generally made up in our minds (the voce she heard, the curse…You seeing what I’m saying?).   So by the time some may reach the point where they’ve “made it” by getting the financial/home/romantic/job/etc security that they dreamt up in their head, there’s a feeling of emptiness, hollowness…relating to death (Lady of Shalott’s death) because it’s the realization that there is no actual “Camelot.” 

Wow that ended more emotionally crushing than I predicted.


This is 2 out of 5