At Least Romeo and Juliet Got to Hang Out

    I feel bad for the Lady of Shalott. The entire story it feels like she just always had it bad for no real reason. No one knows her, she can’t leave her weaving or interact with the real world in any way, yet she has a mirror that lets her see what she is missing out on. I think the mirror poses a very interesting question: If she didn’t have that mirror she wouldn’t know any better and would live in a sort of ignorant bliss, weaving because it’s all she’s ever known. So did she need to have the mirror? Obviously for the story she did, but what about in a different situation. Is it better to keep someone in the dark to prevent them from pain? Personally I don’t think so, but that’s the question that popped into my head as I read this.

    While the story is sad, I also find it very dramatic. The story is driving home a point, but this girl has never even MET Lancelot and is so hung up that she curses herself and dies over this man in a mirror. Love at first sight is something I understand, that’s a very common occurrence in stories. I’ve even watched it happen in real life. But to die… that’s a whole new level. Lancelot never saw her, never knew her, yet she died over him. This wasn’t protecting someone you love, or sacrificing yourself for them. No, to me her death was because she decided her life that she had been living wasn’t worth living anymore. Lancelot was merely the tipping point.

    To want a new life and to throw your old one away is a feeling that I think many people have and can relate to. This story is dramatic because it’s a metaphor for lost love, for the ones that got away. I don’t know if I can agree that death should ever be an escape, but I do understand that life can feel unbearable sometimes. For the Lady of Shalott there could be no light at the end of the tunnel, but I’d hope for anyone reading this that they know for people that aren’t cursed there is always a light, you just don’t always know when it’s going to shine.

Farewell, King Arthur! But not forever

Guys, we are in the home stretch! We are almost finished our course on King Arthur (save the final). We have learned about Arthur as a tall, huge, amazing, studly man, as well as Arthur as the small, scrawny, yet inquisitive boy, Wart. And of course, let's not forget the Arthur in Knight Life, a character I imagine being played by Paul Hogan, Crocodile Dundee style.

Replace the knife with Excalibur and you're good to go. I dunno, it just seems like the whole "outsider dropped into the city" type thing is similar to Crocodile Dundee, a movie that came out just before Knight Life was published.

 Who was my favorite Arthur? Definitely the endearing Wart, willing to learn and reminiscent of anyone's childhood, when everything was fresh and new.Who was yours? Was Arthur even your favorite character?

 Call it strange, but while I found Arthur from Once and Future King perfectly endearing, Morgaine from The Mists of Avalon was a close second when it came to favorite characters! I found myself constantly relating to her. She is strong, and perfectly capable of being powerful on her own, but she has flaws as well. The Mists of Avalon was enjoyable to read in the fact that the women were powerful in their own feminine positions, instead of being is masculine positions.

Image from http://dravite.wordpress.com/tag/morgaine/

I also loved The Lady of Shalott. She is such an enigma, and is symbolic for many emotions that women (and men) have felt in history: temptation, the desire to be noticed, loved, appreciated in one's community.

By John Atkinson...how very funny that the skyline looks Victorian! *hint hint*

Why is Arthur still enjoyable to read about today? What do you think? Is it because everyone needs a hero to look up to: that strong Arthur that looked down at the tallest man anyone would know,the Arthur who killed many men with a whack of his sword, the military leader, the fair diplomat, the friend? Is it because people need to know that seemingly untouchable figures have their own crutches: the nervous Arthur who always consults Merlin, Arthur, a man whose in denial that his best friend is sleeping with his wife? Arthur, the uncle and father (need I say more), who brings his own downfall by having a bastard son. Arthur is a character with many sides...he's been painted as a god in old writings, but his crutches, physical and mental, have been brought out in later texts. Perhaps we can pity him, love him, learn from his wisdom and his mistakes. Perhaps we can ponder on the question he asks upon his death, "Are people truly good?" Arthur is special because he makes people yearn for an age that never existed, an age of knights in shining armor, spells, strength, and insurmountable glory.   

The Lady of Shalott (But kind of also Anne of Green Gables)

I know we've kind of moved on from "The Lady of Shalott" but I totally forgot to post this a week ago so you get it now. So bear with me? 

So for me "The Lady of Shalott" will forever (and always) be Megan Fellows in a sinking boat. This was my first introduction to the poem and, if I really think about it,  it was probably my first introduction to King Arthur as well. I've been watching Anne of Green Gables since before I could speak. I'm not sure anything Arthurian can pre-date that. At least in my life. 

"The Lady of Shalott" has since become one of the few poems I could stand (I am very much not a poetry person). Admittedly I'm not sure I fully understood its meaning until this class. I guess I always understood that she died in the end but it never really hit me why. I knew there was a curse but I don't think I realized that the reason it was set off was because she looked away from her weaving.

Elaine seems now to just be tragic to me. She was trapped by this curse and for who-knows-how-long she faithfully weaves away. Then one bit of light comes into her life and she just has to turn away from his dirty old mirror? She finally gets something that could be good and the curse takes effect. (I'm not saying Lancelot would be good for Elaine, we learned from the book that he really isn't, I'm just saying he's an opportunity.)

She seems so dutiful as she gets ready to die. It doesn't feel like the curse is doing anything to her physically. She ends up freezing to death for pete's sake. But never the less she gets the boat all prepped and writes her name on the side. I think she does it so that someone, anyone, will know who she is. Not to scare them, just so she can be remembered. Then she gets in the boat, in a rain storm, in a white dress, and sets off. (Really Elaine? Does now seem like the best time for a white dress?)

When she finally reaches Camelot (dead) most everyone is afraid of her and Lancelot just says 'eh she wasn't ugly'. This is the man she died for (whether or not either of them know it) and he is utterly indifferent to her. It's just heartbreaking.

Anyway that's it for me. Sorry this is so unbelievably out of date.

She's going to smash a slate over his
head in less than a minute. 

And oh look! They
got married! 

Disclaimer: Gilbert Blythe (who rescues her at the end of the video) may appear perfect. Try not to fall in love with him. He's basically the greatest ever and everything Lancelot wishes he could be. Things end a little better for Anne and Gil. (These two were basically the power couple of my childhood and I adore everything they do.)

Is That You, My Dear Sir?

                                             Lancelot in the movie Lancelot du Lac (1974)

I have always been intrigued by Lancelot in the legends of King Arthur. In all the compilations of movies that I have watched it was almost like all of these directors got together and had him drawn out and represented in the same way. He was the best sword fighter and lancer, the noblest of knights, and always had that darned beautiful flowing hair that will always rival all of his brother knights. Since I am very much obsessed with knights and their differences I sort of hone in on abnormalities or lack-thereof.

Although I first began to question everything I have ever known about Lancelot in Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. In the Tale of the Sangreal, Lancelot's image changes drastically because through a series of steps it is shown that he is not  virtuous and sin-free beneath that hunk of shining armor.The people of King Arthur’s court have always been idolizing him; “Oh hey, Lancelot is beautiful, strong, and virtuous in every single way” that Lancelot’s core is never really talked about. I cannot really blame him, if people praised me every day I would probably get a little hot-headed too. The point is that in this tale Lancelot is not a golden pillar of greatness and being able to see his weaknesses helped to change my perspective on the knights I have filed away in my subconscious.

                                              Lancelot in the movie King Arthur (2004)

More recently discussed in class is the Sir Lancelot in regards to the Tennyson poem "The Lady of Shalott" in which he is once again that beautiful knight in shining armor that captures the heart of the lady toiling away in the tower. I know that technically Lancelot has nothing to do with the lady's foreboding death because he cannot help it if women fall for his pretty face and beautiful singing voice; however, it does put Lancelot in a bad light. At the end of the poem, he only glances at the poor lady's corpse which is "pretty" and she is put aside. Yet, he did not know the lady. I suppose Lancelot becomes a regular guy, and that in itself is upsetting because (in my mind) he was previously in a high place that was nearly otherworldly in virtue and bravery.



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Lady of Shalott: Final Thoughts

To conclude the poem of Tennyson’s “Lady of Shalott”, I would just like to follow up with just a few more thoughts before moving on to the “Idylls of the King”.  When it comes to the lady looking down the stream into Camelot, I knew it wouldn’t be a smooth sail into the town when the comparison “Like some bold seer in a trance, seeing all his own mischance- With a glassy countenance did she look to Camelot”.  After finding out that ‘mischance’ basically meant bad luck, I knew things were not going to end well for this lady.  Like we discussed in class, I agree that dying from your blood freezing would definitely be a terrible way to go, but at least she was singing up to that point and supposedly died without pain.  I don’t think I’d sing knowing that my body was going to end up lifeless in some town I’ve never been to.  As for the townsfolk of Camelot “crossing” themselves for fear, I would also be frightened to see a dead woman’s body flowing down a stream.  It would definitely add more hype had these townsfolk assume that the grim spectacle to be an “omen” as we had discussed.  Lastly I would just like to say that I stand to my comment made earlier during class which was my theory as to how Tennyson portrayed Lancelot as the bravest of the other fear-stricken knights because he was brave enough to say something positive about the “unknown” lady.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Atkinson_Grimshaw_-_%22The_Lady_of_Shalott%22_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

I thought this photo representation of the Lady of Shalott by John Atkinson Grimshaw was pretty spot on and was the exact what I had imagined when reading the poem.  The white robe that she was wearing and how it looks like she is pale from her frozen blood paints a perfect image.  

J.H

Random Thoughts on The Lady of Shalott

I am not the biggest fan of reading poetry in order to analyze it and understand it's meaning. That being said, I find poetry to be really beautiful. This exactly how I felt the first time I read  The Lady of Shalott and after it was read aloud in class I found it even more beautiful and I understood it much better as well. I think it is interesting how different the Mallory selection was from Tennyson's poem. I will freely admit that before I read both the poem and the story from Mallory I assumed they were the exact same story and that the Lady of Shalott's name was in fact Elaine when in reality we do not know if that is her name. I think of the two plots I really do prefer the Lady of Astolat because it actually gives her some contact with Lancelot and she spends time with him and cares for him. I also like how there is a mention of Arthur existing in Mallory's tale. I feel like The Lady of Shalott was more Arthurian though, it had more magic and I almost feel like in Arhturian legend it is better if the maiden does not know the man she falls in love with so the Lady of Shalott simply wanting to be with Lancelot was very much in accordance to Arthurian legend. I'm really looking forward to rereading The Lady of Shalott again and reading The Passing of Arthur.

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