The genre of the poem at the beginning creates a fairy story/myth theme for the reader to base an idea on hoe the rest of the poem will flow, however as the poem goes on we see a more sad and lonely theme.
In part 1 of the poem the setting is described as a rural and beautiful retreat and gives the reader a feeling of summer, although as part 1 goes on so does the change of setting. In part 4 we see the setting as confusion for the Lady of Shallot and create a pathetic fallacy. The setting is described as ‘stormy’ and the woods ‘pale’ which paints a picture of un-loved place, which represents just how the Lady of Shallot felt.
The Lady of Shallot is portrayed as a lonely character who in part 1 we can see feels imprisoned. Nobody has ever seen her which is shown in the lines ‘’But who hath seen her wave her hand?’’ which creates an illusion of mystery and an omniscient narrator. In part 2 we see her character change as she goes from being a living her life in a fantasy world, living it vicariously like an almost ‘shadow life’ on line 43 and 44; to changing from being the typical damsel in distress on like 55 which makes the reader feel sorry for her character but then altering it to show the Lady of Shallott forshadows that she can no longer live like this and begins to question her vicarious existence in lines 62 and 71. Part 3 shows us how the Lady of Shallot waits for Sir Lancelot who is the typical tragic lover. In the second stanza of part 3 we’re given a semantic field, stars, galaxy and night as well as a metaphor in the third stanza ‘flashing over Shallot.’ The Lady of Shallot’s life also comes to an end on line 115 which is represented through the crack of the mirror. In part 4 we understand she doesn’t have a name and typically goes by ‘The Lady of Shallot’ which gives a sad theme to the poem as it shows she was never herself. The omniscient voice finishes the poem from line 145 onwards, the poem ends with a voice but it is not the Lady of Shallot’s. The fact that Lancelot describes her as having a ‘lovely face’ now she is dead is highly ironic considering he is the reason she is there as well as being truly harsh as that’s all he can say about her.
Tenneyson doesn’t change the structure of the poem and if he had filled in all the ‘gaps’ it may not have created the same empathy and generalisation for women.
The poem is the story of a trapped woman just like in Victorian times, when the poem was written, many Victorian women felt trapped in their homes as it was their role to look after them.