Elaine is entrusted with his shield until Lancelot returns. Lancelot wins the tournament, but is slightly wounded in the process. However, she learns that her love for the knight will remain unrequited. When Lancelot departs, Elaine wishes for death, and ten days later dies of a broken heart. Elaine had made clear that on her death, she wished her body to be taken by boat to Camelot, bearing a last letter. Her wishes are followed by her father and brothers, who place her in a boat with one of their servants, who is stricken with grief at her death.
As with all paintings of this phase of the story, she is dead when placed in the boat, and accompanied by a servant. The story of the Lady of Shalott is not told in association with any related events at Camelot, and her origins are mysterious.
She apparently lives in a castle which is connected with Camelot by river, and is subject to an equally mysterious curse. This confines her to weaving images on her loom, and forbids her from looking directly at the outside world. It shows her, thoroughly world-weary at her loom, with a large mirror facing the viewer, acting as her window on the world so that she does not fall foul of the curse. Knotted up in the threads of her weaving, she knows that she has broken the curse, and will die.
She leaves the tower in which she has been confined, and goes down to the river, where there is a boat bearing her name. Although the two stories have many similarities in literary terms, they have very different implications for the visual artist. These include the reality of images, seen directly or in reflection, or created by weaving, and the symbolic association of the thread of life, which was about to be broken for the Lady of Shalott.
Wikipedia on the Lady of Shalott. Wikipedia on Elaine of Astolat. When Lancelot is well, he makes ready to leave, and offers to pay Elaine for her services; insulted, Elaine brings him his shield, which she had been guarding, and a wary Lancelot leaves the castle, never to return but now aware of her feelings for him. Ten days later, Elaine dies of heartbreak. Per her instructions, her body is placed in a small boat, clutching a lily in one hand, and her final letter in the other.
She then floats down the Thames to Camelot , where she is discovered by King Arthur's court, being called a little lily maiden.
Lancelot is summoned and hears the contents of the letter, after which he explains what happened. Lancelot proceeds to pay for a rich funeral. Quondam et Futurus Explore. Wiki Content. Explore Wikis Community Central.
Thus Elaine can not only assure that her story is properly understood, but she can tell that story in such a way that it will have real efficacy for her, even after her death. An explosion of images of Elaine occurred in varying mediums after Tennyson wrote his versions of her story. Rather than meeting and falling in love with Lancelot, this lady is set apart from the world and only spies Lancelot through a window.
The opening of the poem presents the lady as isolated and stationary in her tower, while the people and geography outside all progress toward Camelot. When Lancelot rides by and his reflection appears in the mirror, the lady moves her gaze for the first time away from the mirror and to the window:. This most famous scene shows the lady in motion for the first time; a moment of unmediated sight is quickly followed by the tangled web and cracked mirror of the curse.
There is no mute oarsman to steer the way, but it seems instead inevitable that the lady will reach Camelot, since she has entered the world and the world moves inexorably in that direction.
Although this parchment differs greatly from the letters of earlier narratives, it nonetheless ends the poem with her own words. He looks upon her, not knowing that she has died as a result of looking upon him. The poem has been hugely influential in both British Literature and popular culture, and it spawned countless artistic renderings. Famous Pre-Raphaelite images by artists such as John William Waterhouse, William Holman Hunt, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti depict two main episodes: the moment the curse comes upon the lady and her journey down the river to Camelot.
Continued fascination with these artistic renderings has kept the story alive. It is widely regarded as a poem about the artist figure, since the Lady must focus on her weaving and is cursed for looking at the world outside.
As with other Elaines, when the Lady of Shalott enters the world she dies into a beautiful corpse, an object for the gaze of the court.
The poem opens with a description of her as:. Elaine the fair, Elaine the loveable, Elaine, the lily maid of Astolat, High in her chamber up a tower to the east Guarded the sacred shield of Lancelot.
The opening of the poem, which dives right in to a description of Elaine, places the focus completely on her.
Like the Lady of Shalott, this lady is isolated in a tower, and like that lady, this one is an artist figure, sewing and decorating a shield cover for Lancelot. Unlike the Lady of Shalott, however, Elaine has already met and fallen in love with him, and the art she creates is for him specifically. This version of the lady is more modest than earlier iterations, in keeping with Victorian norms. When she asks him to wear her favor, it is with a sense of unaccustomed recklessness. Yet she is also clever, convincing him to take her favor by pointing out that it will help him in his anonymity.
Elaine says nothing to Gawain about whether Lancelot loves her, yet he passes the gossip around the court quite purposefully. Unlike her previous iteration in the Stanzaic Morte , Elaine here in no way misleads Gawain, willfully or otherwise. As in Malory, everyone is talking about Elaine before her boat floats in, but unlike Malory the talk is more pointed. Again, she speaks in terms of innocence and feminine virtue. She focuses not on the quest itself, but on her ultimate objective of fulfilling the appropriately feminine role of caretaker and nurturer.
Perhaps we can infer an extramarital romantic relationship in her request, but it is not explicit. It seems that she would be willing to continue to serve and take care of him as she has been doing while he recovered from his wound. Though this Elaine is a sweet and submissive Victorian ideal, she nonetheless maintains some authorial control. She never blames Lancelot in any way and is devoted to him throughout, but she still wants to tell her story in her own way and in her own time.
Even in her death, she shines as a beacon of hope and goodness in the tainted world that Camelot has become. The letter is addressed to Lancelot, and he is there when it is discovered as opposed to what happens in earlier versions. Here she imagines her voyage as a final movement toward Lancelot after he has moved away from her. Even though she is dead at this point, her image of herself is active.
And everyone, including the queen, does pity Elaine. And let the story of her dolorous voyage For all true hearts be blazoned on her tomb In letters gold and azure! Thus her image and her story become jointly immortalized on her tomb, and the court responds to her post-mortem arrival precisely as she plans. And readers responded in kind.
Known for promoting social issues and complicating the romanticism of the Arthurian legends, Phelps places the Lady of Shalott in a nineteenth-century slum amid squalor and disease. Tennyson has omitted to mention in his poem.
The crushing poverty of the nineteenth-century slums is expressed through the person of a seventeen-year old girl stuck in an attic where she lacks the health or strength to even rise from bed. Her only solace is a small mirror through which she can see the world outside—a world of hungry and sick children, dead bodies carried away, and a dirty hydrant.
We are told specifically that this hydrant, which replaces the flowing river of Tennyson's poem, is the only source of water for the entire building. All the world came for the Lady of Shalott into her little looking-glass,—the joy of it, the anguish of it, the hope and fear of it, the health and hurt,—ten by six inches of it exactly.
This Lady never looks out the window, never even gets out of bed. The outside bursts into her attic world and breaks the mirror through no action of her own. When a doctor, who happens to be visiting the neighborhood, rushes up to see if anyone is hurt, he finds the girl, unhit by the stone and yet nonetheless shattered. Oh, my glass! My glass! But never mind. I suppose there'll be some other—pleasant thing. The Flower Charity Heaven bless it!
He takes the lovable Elaine from Tennyson and renders her even more saintly. Unlike the miracle that Launcelot usually performs in freeing Elaine of Corbenic from individual torment see T. White, below , Launcelot here simply demonstrates his prowess and bravery by defeating the Worm.
Yet his quest does lead him to Elaine. Unlike other versions of Elaine, this maiden convinces him to fight and is present at the tournament.
As in Malory and Tennyson, Elaine asks her father if she may go on a quest to seek Launcelot after he is injured, but in this version the quest is her own idea, not one she inherits from Gawain. For even though I may see happiness within my reach yet I cannot reach out my hand to take it.
And Elaine saves him by recognizing him and making sure that he is cared for. Once again it is Elaine who convinces him to return to court, but he agrees only if she will accompany him. Guinevere responds to her rival with false friendliness, offering her a chamber next to her own royal one with the true purpose of keeping Launcelot and Elaine apart. Separated from Launcelot, Elaine grows sick and weak, neither eating nor sleeping.
Is not my duty first of all toward that lady to whom I have sworn my duty? While she is serene, she also grows increasingly ill, and Launcelot does not know that she has taken to her sickbed.
Her words before her death present themselves in sharp contrast to the willful girl dying from romantic love in early versions of the narrative. She repeats the prophecy that her son Galahad will achieve the Holy Grail and explains,. Yet anon that mist shall pass, and I shall behold those gates very near by and shining in glory; for soon I shall quit this troubled world for that bright and beautiful country.
Nevertheless, I shall leave behind me this child who lieth beside me, and his life shall enlighten that world from which I am withdrawing. In Pyle, her pronouncements are all spiritual in nature, and her arrangements are for her son.
She says nothing about displaying her body or floating to Camelot. In fact, her brother Lavaine organizes everything after her death, and the manner in which her body is displayed and delivered is his own idea. Behold the work that thou hast done; for this that thou beholdest is thy handiwork.
Launcelot responds with deep remorse and leaves the court without a word to anyone. This ending allows Elaine to be saintly and sweet, while still placing blame on Launcelot through her brother. Though in many ways this is the most positive depiction of Elaine, it also removes her authorial power from the ending, as she passively accepts her fate and does not attempt to narrate her story after her death, leaving her hopes for the world with her son. The character we initially meet resembles Elaine of Corbenic.
We are told that she is in a place called Corbin, and, like that Elaine, Lancelot must save her from a magical spell that keeps her constantly in a pot of boiling water. Even as the scene clearly echoes Elaine of Corbenic, however, White also associates this maiden with Elaine of Astolat by describing her innocent and undying love for Lancelot. The love of an innocent maiden for Lancelot, which characterizes the Astolat story, is here heightened by the addition of the miraculous rescue of that maiden.
As with Elaine of Corbenic, Lancelot is tricked into sleeping with this maiden in order to conceive Galahad. The butler and nurse help the lovesick girl by getting Lancelot drunk and perhaps using a love potion on him , and then convincing him that Elaine is Queen Guenever.
Lancelot is horrified in the morning, believing his status as best knight is ruined forever by his loss of virtue. The entire episode with Elaine proves to be transformative for Lancelot. It gives him his first miracle and demonstrates his clear preeminence, but it also leads to the loss of his virginity, which he believes will hinder him from performing any further miracles. It leads to his affair with the queen, since he goes to her when he leaves Elaine, but it also leads to the jealousy and misery between himself and the queen, since she can never fully believe that he does not desire Elaine.
Again she tricks Lancelot into sleeping with her while believing he was with the queen. In fact, neither the reader nor Lancelot knows that it was Elaine he spent the night with until the queen erupts in anger. Elaine openly blames the queen for driving Lancelot mad. The novel continually contrasts Elaine with the queen in terms of beauty and personality.
Elaine understands Lancelot better than the queen does, but she is simply not the vibrant character that the queen is. In many stories her nursing is what makes Lancelot indebted to her, but here it is her restraint from nursing him. As he recovers, he agrees to live with her, though not to marry her. In this version he can make a life with her outside of marriage because they already have a son, which contrasts with all of the above versions. When he leaves her again, Elaine does not try to stop him, only asking to know whether he will return to her one day.
He promises to come back, a fact that gives her a reason to live. When he is wounded, this time she does nurse him herself, yet he must tell her that he plans to leave her again, and she dies soon after.
When Elaine finally floats to Camelot, it is as a middle-aged woman rather than a young maiden. She is pitiful, but not a beautiful corpse. The assumption of suicide here is jarring, since traditional Elaine narratives never broach the subject. It is a huge departure from the usual depictions of Elaine to describe her as anything but a beautiful victim of love.
It was not a lily maid of Astolat they saw, but a middle-aged woman whose hands, in stiff-looking gloves, grasped a pair of beads obediently.
Death had made her look older and different. The image, then, is in stark contrast to the usual lovely maiden covered in flowers made so famous in pre-Raphaelite artwork.
She is pitiable, and in keeping with other versions even the queen pities her more surprising in this version, since the queen has actually met Elaine and has had two decades to build up her jealousy , but she is not beautiful. The novel, though it takes place in a modern high school, explicitly responds to the source material. Her rejection of the Elaine role comes to fruition when she turns out to instead represent the Lady of the Lake and to be a strong and heroic figure.
Unlike the young adult novels discussed above, Song of the Sparrow seems at first more traditional in that it places Elaine in the medieval court of King Arthur rather than in the modern world. Though she cannot fight with the men on the battlefield, Elaine feels that she provides valuable healing services and should be included in Round Table discussions. She finally proves her worth when she is shot on her way to warn the knights of an attack.
She appears dead as she floats up in her barge, but is actually only wounded and is able to save the day. Quite unique in Elaine stories, this heroine is asked to join the Round Table and is able to find a happy ending as part of the community she loves. Unlike the above versions, this version gives us the traditional story of a maiden falling in love with Lancelot and pining to death.
She is also an adventurous person. No warrior ever displayed a more abiding sense of purpose. I was bold and fearless — because I had to be.
That's your choice. I too have a choice to make. And I choose not to live without your affection. As usual, she dies only after planning her post-mortem journey and penning her letter to Lancelot, which we get in full:. Most noble Lord, now death has parted us. Ascribe no blame to yourself, for I blame you not.
I, whom men call the Lily Maid of Astolat, set my love upon you, and I have died for your sake. When I gave you my love, I did so fully and faithfully.
My love was such that I expected nothing in return. Yet I received untold pleasure just in the giving. This, then, is my last and only request of you: pray for my soul and offer the Mass-penny for me. Then bury my body in Camelot, so that I may always be near you and sleep for eternity in your view.
0コメント