the name victorian is derieved from queen victoria who ascended the english

throne in 1837. she rule for the next 67 years till her death in 1901. broadly
speaking, there are two ways to approach this age. first- an age of transition
from the old, outworn doctrines and traditions of the past. second- compare age
with the future so that our modern ideas are traced back to the victorian period.
former sees the victorian age as dynamic and freewheeling, changes gaining
momentum from 1850. the latter, which contrasts it with hectic pace of our own
times, sees it as a stable world of peace and prosperity in which ideas have their
roots in certain unshakable foundations.
arnold, carlyle, mill ruskin, tennyson many others hailed their their times as
bringing in a new order to replace old systems of thought. they were especially
proud of the fact that they were beaking away from a fuedal, agrarian order to
be replaced by a democratic, industrial society. major 2 events reform bills1832,1867,1884 that gave democratic rights to the people and the industrial
revolution.
latter responsible for increasing mechanization and improved communication.
the introduction of railways, steamboats, roads and canal which led to expansion
of commerce. but they truly celebrated - increase of education and the rise of
novels and the publication of books, periodicals and newspapers so that newer
ideas could easily be spread to a wider section of people.
the age was conscious of the growing power of a new segment of society: the
traders, bankers etc. namely ' the middle class' which occupied a strategic place
between the aristocrats and the working class.
the contradictory desire for both change as well as stability on the part of the
victorian middle class, resulted in a number of fascinating intellectual debates at
the time. these debates in turn created a cross current of ideas that influenced
the major poets. one way of studying the poetry of tennyson, browning and
rossetti could be to analyse the points at which they enter into the debates.
This is one of Tennyson's most popular poems. The Pre-Raphaelites liked to
illustrate it. Waterhouse made three separate paintings of "The Lady of Shalott".
Agatha Christie wrote a Miss Marple mystery entitled "The Mirror Crack'd From
Side to Side", which was made into a movie starring Angela Lansbury. Tirra Lirra
by the River, by Australian novelist Jessica Anderson, is the story of a modern
woman's decision to break out of confinement.
in 1828 tennyson went to cambridge and joined a group called the apostles. the
apostles took part in various intellectual activities. they were looking for an
oppurtunity to take part in a larger program for the ' regeneration' of society, not
through political change or revolution but through a transformation of the mind
of the people.
poetry they felt had a big role to play in this regeneration. to them literature and

politics became inseperabale. as poets they were, to borrow a phrase from john
stuart mill, the' greater questioner of things established'.
due to his early-on experiences living in a middle-class society he developed a
kind of identification with middle-class notions of progressivism, though he did
retain sympathy for conservative class values rooted in a traditional social order.
however, his understanding of class structures was born out of a complex
personal feeling. throughout his life he tries to come to terms with growing
powers of ideology of industrialisation.
The subject of Tennyson's poem "The Lady of Shalott," a woman housed forever
in a tower, can represent many facets of life in the Industrial Age, one of which
was rise of religious uncertainity. written in 1832 and extensively revised in 1842.
Upon first reading, I thought she embodied the traditional roles of women. She is
housed in "four gray walls, and four gray towers," where she labors day after day
"imbowered" in a silent place. Traditionally, women were expected to mind
home and hearth, and had no legal voice. She weaves her web of history,
mindful of the warnings of prophets and traditionalists who say that to embrace
any other type of life would mean death. "She knows not what the curse may
be/ And so she weaveth steadily," maintaining her role as she has throughout the
ages.
here we see a reflection of how religion was used as by various practioneers to
influence the public before the age of industrialisation. but with the coming of
printing press and the rise of a new class , it led to a rise of protestanism. (above
mentioned)-why
people were in favour of individualism yet at the same time were afraid of all the
changes taking place in the society which has been pointed out in matthew
arnold's essay cultural and anarchy.
the victorians tried to rework at their religious faith by positing a religion that
was more personal than doctrine. the evengelical faith was nonconformist and it
tried to tell the story of the fall of man through a historical-theological recounting
his need for redemption and christ's sacrifice. it created a human-divine christ
who was constructed as a historical rather than theological figure from a critical
study of the bible. the one way that religion could be assimilated in the victorian
social theory was by projecting christ as a teacher of mortality rather than a
figure of divinity.
no doubt quarrel between science and religion was incessant and difficult to
reconcile.
She has no clear view of Camelot, or the new Industrial Age. She knows only
what she is shown secondhand through other sources in this case represented
by the mirror she watches as she weaves. She delights in what she sees,

knowing all the while that she cannot take part in it because it is simply a
reflection. Soon, however, restlessness creeps in: "I am half sick of shadows,"
she says. The key line, "I am half-sick of shadows", says the Lady's mind, and
probably the poet's mind, is divided about the right choice.
again a reference to arnold's essay where he says that only people with high
class and money could concern themselves and their decisions did not work in
favour of the general public which at this point of time was growing day by
day.the need to find an established set of views that could govern power
relations.
the victorians were conscious of living in an age of unrest and paradox. almost all
writers spoke about the prevailing atmosphere of doubt, especially in matters of
religion. in doing so, they were giving expression to a 'fear' they experienced
collectively. paradoxically enough, what they feared was that very change and
progress which they otherwise celebrated.
with the widening of economic opportunity more and more people could climb
the social scale. at the same time, such a breakdown of class structures created
a peculiar sense of insecurity amongst those very people who had advantage of
social mobility. they now felt the need to protect their status and privileges
against encroachment of the class they had left behind. this fear translated itself
into a powerful desire for social stability and security.
Sir Lancelot, an embodiment of the brightness and light of the new age, strikes
her like a "bow-shot." When she sees his reflection in the mirror, she is moved to
break tradition. Lancelot is all glitter, daring, and boldness, with his silver bugle
and shining armor. In an instant, he brings the Lady of Shalott a flash of
enlightenment. He is "some bearded meteor, trailing light." She moves from her
loom to see the view from the window with her own eyes. The web of her
weaving is broken, as is history. The mirror is crackedshe no longer needs
information from a secondary source. The lady is doomed; the woman she has
been cannot exist with the new knowledge she has received.
(this reflects the conflict growing inside the mind of people. they felt as if their
world was going to implode with all the new information coming in.)
As she leaves her tower, the Lady of Shalott passes the effects of the industrial
age in the natural surroundings, a wind that is "straining," woods that are
"waning," and a river that is "complaining." Enlightenment was seductive, but
fatal. She cannot return, but must realize how she has been kept.
She looses the chain from her boat and moves toward the city, as many women
of the time were forced to do. Her last song is a farewell to life and the
traditional roles of women. She dies as she reaches the city.

here tennyson is trying to show the dying old traditional ways and moving
towards a new age.( the transitional age.)
the aristocracy in the castle is afraid of the corpse in the boat. Only Sir Lancelot
is unworried. He comments, "She has a lovely face; God in his mercy lend her
grace." He is at once realizing her commercial potential and dissolving his own
responsibility for her, just as he would the working class. As the personification
of the industrial age, he is unafraid of letting go of the past in order to realize the
future. (the dipiction of an aristrocrat's mindset)
we also here notice the lack of social cohesion that was a direct result of the
effects of industrialism and the vacuum created by the loss of religious faith.
the Lady looking at the world in a mirror and depicting it in a work of art is some
kind of allegory for the life of the artist-writer. "The Lady of Shalott" is partly
about how being an artist (writer, poet, scholar, etc.) can make you feel isolated
from ordinary life. the old question- whether an artist or writer must be isolated
from the ordinary world. reference to essay- being an aesthetic is important as
decline of morality which was lost due to the extreme radical vision that science
gave - only art or a work of literature could instil
artist should rule the city- by claiming that a state should be rules by the best
elements in a class, a sort of intellectual minority, arnold- replacing real state
with its power politics and class interest with an ideal state that operated largely
with an abstract idea . society which values democracy and rising power of
middle class he was allowing "intellectual aristrocracy" to make a back door
entry.
we notice a clash in his views between the other-worldly and temporal as well as
between traditional virtues and democratic questioning.
though the victorians acknowledged the term 'intellectual anarchy'(john mill) ,
they always looked forward to a period of firm convictions and established
beliefs. to them all changes were a necessary stage in the process of our growth.
what differentiates the victorians from our modern times is this faith in existence
of ultimate truths in both religion and ethics. they also held onto a faith in man's
capacity to discover these truths.