The Lady of Shalott

An unknown woman is restrained in a tower where no one knows much, if anything about her, except her singing.  Like most women of Tennyson's period, the Lady of Shalott knows how to weave.  A curse has been placed upon her, restraining her from looking upon Camelot.  This symbolizes the repression women were placed under.  Because she cannot look upon Camelot, she focuses completely on the "womanly task" of weaving.  In her mournful tower, hangs a mirror which allows her to see the "shadows of the world".  This mirror is a symbol to represent beauty and a perfect world.  She does not see reality when she looks in the mirror, only the reflections of what is.  These distorted views emphasize her ability to look in the mirror, but not in the world.  This, in turn, reflects the Victorian ideal of a beautiful woman.  The Lady of Shalott is incomplete and unhappy, until a knight comes along.  As soon as she sets her sights on this knight, she leaves her childhood task of weaving, and moves into her preparations of being a wife.  Her first words are "the curse is come upon me".  She wants the freedom of the tower, but knows the sadness of marriage and the world.  As soon as she's attained the goal of leaving the tower, she has nothing else to look forward to and dies.  Women of the Victorian period often looked upon marriage in this same fashion.  They were the unattainable beautiful lady hidden from the world who was made only to possess.  The Lady of Shalott does not see the knight, but merely hears him.  This idea of marriage is all that it takes to bring her out of the imprisonment.  Once she's married, her life takes a very different turn because, though free, she is trapped in this man's world.  Her weaving set aside, she becomes a piece of art.  She dies, completely unobserved and unappreciated by the knight.