Looking In the Mirror: Allegory and the Lady of Shalott

A woman and her loom: weaving for economic independence

The “Lady of Shalott” looks into the mirror as she weaves,why?  Kathryn Sullivan Kruger tells us that weavers using certain types of looms face the back of their tapestries and gaze at the front side of the tapestry in the mirror  (Weaving the Word: The Metaphorics of Weaving and Female Textual Production).  Weaving on that  type of loom, the weavers see only a reflected image of the art that they are creating. They do not have a direct experience of the image.  Tennyson’s mirror metaphor is a cleaver spin, in this case weave, on the ancient “Allegory of the Cave” in Plato’s Republic. 

The weaver's focus is on the work in front of her.  Most of us are like the weaver.  We pay attention to what is  before us and call it real.

Plato’s metaphor likens people’s perception of reality to that of prisoners in a dark cave, chained tightly with their back to a low wall, and unable to turn around.  Their field of vision, their perceived reality, is limited to the reflected images that appear on the back wall of the cave or what is in front of them. This cartoon clip is a bit long but does a nice job of explaining the allegory of the cave.  .

What do we stare at? What is in front of our face, or the Lady’s face, that we call reality?  The Lady is staring at her life’s tapestry.  What do we focus on?  Like the Lady, we weave threads of thoughts and ideas into the fabric of our consciousness and daily lives.  What cave or tower are we trapped in?  Are we aware of our chains?  Are the images that we stare at so engaging that we have trouble taking our eyes away from them to turn around and look at the sun?  Do we find comfort and security in what is familiar?                                                    

Backs to the wall 

We might think that we are different from the Lady and perhaps we are. I suggest that we are unwilling to turn ourselves away from the projected and reflected images that capture our attention.  The Lady of Shalott was brave.  She dared to leave her tower and turn toward the unfamiliar. Venturing outside brought death.


Growing up, growing old, and death are all rites of passage.  Eventually we all die.  Turning away from what she was told to do and thinking  for herself might have been Tennyson's response to Kant's essay "Enlightenment."    Allegories provide multiple possibilities.

What would happen if we put aside our technology for a day or two, ventured outside, and  turned toward the sun?