Even when Lancelot trots by her mirror singing, she is at first attracted to the colors “flamed upon the brazen greaves…The gemmy bridle glittered free” of his armor-rather than Lancelot as a person or for his handsome looks (1163). The Lady as a martyr or enthralled with the passions of love pales in comparison to the Lady’s insistent curiosity and hunger for the world beyond shadows. With her suicide, the Lady takes control of this one aspect of her life-when to die-and frees herself from the notions of servitude, shadows, and the mystery enacting the curse. Even the Lady’s death is described in a depressing and dejected tone as “her blood was frozen slowly,/ And her eyes were darkened wholly” that reverberates the mournful and suicidal theme (Tennyson 1164).
However, Tennyson’s imagery paints a dreary and banal world for the Lady of Shalott that feels devoid of passion or righteous guilt. Suicide seems contradictory to the Pre-Raphaelites romantic notion of an innocent lady in love or as being punished for challenging the societal standards of her gender. However, very few Victorian analyses see the Lady’s death as a planned suicide-a consented choice to escape her homely prison. Both interpretations translate the Lady’s death as either martyrdom for passionate and shallow love or justified retribution for disturbing society’s strict definition of a woman’s identity. Some painters like Waterhouse and Meteyard depict the Lady longing for a love that ultimately leads to her impulsive downfall while others claim that the Lady’s death acts as punishment for deviating from the ideal woman as an embowered virgin performing household chores.
The death of the Lady of Shalott is a tragic and mournful event that elicits mixed reactions from many readers who still attempt to interpret the meaning behind her death.
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