Tennyson's 'The Lady of Shalott' is an Allegory for the Confinement of Victorian Women

A closer look at Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem 'The Lady of Shalott' reveals a striking point of view about the lives of Victorian women. With the help of two of his contemporaries, Sarah Stickney Ellis and Caroline Norton, we can see quite clearly how Victorian women lived in a box, not unlike Tennyson's fictional tower. To many Victorian women, 'the home' was more than just a house; it was a fortress of moral virtue. Any woman who attempted to stray from the home was chastised, defamed, and cast out of society. In 'The Women of England' Ellis explicitly describes the confines of the box these women lived in, though she doesn't see the walls she is erecting. She defines a woman's role in direct relationship to the husband and keeping his morality in check. She doesn't account for the possibility, however, that the husband may refuse to listen to his wife's entreaties. In 'A Letter to the Queen,' Norton takes it upon herself to articulate to Her Majesty the heinous injustices that can be perpetrated against the wife in the event that a husband is an unrepentant immoral man. Tennyson simply depicts the Lady's box, her home, as "four grey walls, and four grey towers." Although there is no mention of a husband, she is held captive by some mysterious force, and, like Victorian women, is consequently punished when she looks beyond the walls of her box.

Ellis put Victorian women in their box by charging them with a specific duty: "cherishing and protecting the minor morals of life." She intends they act as the embodiment of moral goodness to guide their husbands to do what's right, and to cleanse him of all the corruption he faces in the outside world (of which the woman naturally has no part). Ellis describes the woman's influence on the husband thus: "[...] and when the snares of the world were around him, and temptations from within and without have bribed over the witness in his own bosom, he has thought of the humble monitress who sat alone, guarding the fireside comforts of a distant home"[emphasis added]. Ellis's intended point is to emphasize the good influence of women on their husbands, even when apart from each other. But she inadvertently captures the true essence of the Victorian women's box. The woman guards his comforts; she is far away and all alone - tucked away in the home where no one can see. This is reflected in 'The Lady of Shalott,' "But who hath seen her wave her hand? / Or at the casement seen her stand? / Or is she known in all the land, / The Lady of Shalott?" The Lady is known as a fairy to those who live in the land; they hear her sing, but never see her. Ellis's ideal of women is that their influence be "heard" in the actions of their husbands, while they stay at home.

While Ellis speaks so profusely on the value and benefit of a woman's influence on her husband, she does not provide for the eventual failure of many women to sway their husbands' minds for moral good. As far as Ellis is concerned, "He has stood corrected before the clear eye of woman, as it looked directly to the naked truth, and detected the lurking evil of the specious act he was about to commit." In most cases, one look from a woman does not destroy evil, especially when she doesn't know it is there. And if the husband does not care for his wife, her task is much more difficult. For why would he pay attention to her if he does not care? Caroline Norton gives an account, not only of how women fail to keep their husbands morally in check, but of how the evils men commit are often against the very women meant to save them. Men could cheat, beat, and steal from their wives, and society turned its back. In the home, the wife was subject to the man's rule, and where he was not appreciative or understanding of her, she very easily became his captive. In Tennyson's poem, the Lady is a captive, but we don't know who or what holds her there. But "She has heard a whisper say, / A curse is on her if she stay / To look down to Camelot." That whisper is all we know of her captor. Its disembodiment shows that she cannot get away from it; it is not confined to the walls as she is. This is true in the examples Norton sets forth. Even though a woman could leave the house, she could never escape 'the home.' If she tried, "Not only can [the husband] sue her for 'restitution of conjugal rights,' but he has a right to enter the house of any friend or relation with whom she may take refuge, and who may 'harbour her,' - as it is termed, - and carry her away by force, with or without the aid of police." In this way he is perfectly within his legal right to force her back into captivity.

This is but one of the injustices a man can commit against his wife. According to Norton, a man may live with a mistress, and still retain his wife's belonging by law - right down to the clothing on her back; if he beats her, and she forgives him, the legal system considers her to have "condoned" his actions, rendering her plea void. The worst of these injustices is when the husband desires to punish the wife. The Lady of Shalott is threatened with a curse if she so much as look at the outside world. When she does impulsively look out the window, she is punished severely. Not only is she sentenced to death, she is put on display, laying in the boat with her name for all to see. A Victorian woman who committed the evil act of breaking out of her box, looking beyond the walls of home, was not literally killed. She was killed in society. Her name was put on display, along with her supposed deed, and she was as good as dead to the whole of society. She was stained, tainted, ridiculed and spat upon. A man wanting to get rid of his wife could take advantage of this fact. Norton quotes Lord Brougham: "instances were known in which, by collusion between the husband and a pretended paramour, the character of the wife has been destroyed." As a woman was not permitted in court, she could not speak in her own defence. Therefore, she was ruined with not much more to say than, "The curse has come upon me," as the Lady of Shalott cried.

Ellis's ideal for women may have made perfect sense to many Victorians, and for those women with honourable husbands, it may have been a fine practice. But it was a mistake to rely on a woman's "unobtrusive virtues" as the counterforce to the heinous acts of men. She is not strong enough to overtake their conscience when the men are bent on their purpose. This ideal woman is too meek in her captivity, and her voice is muffled by her four grey walls.

Sources:
1. Alfred, Lord Tennyson. 'The Lady of Shalott' 1842
2. Ellis, Sarah Stickney. 'The Women of England, Their Social Duties, and Domestic Habits' 1839
3. Norton, Caroline. 'A Letter to the Queen on Lord Chancellor Cranworth's Marriage and Divorce Bill' 1855