English Literature

Introduction: There are many different ways to live life. We have all had some encounter with someone of a different social class than the one in which we live. I will be discussing two works where segregation of classes is addressed. Then, I will address the representation of Victorian literature, the causes and effects of segregation, and whether or not the authors were accurate. The Lady of Shalott: This is a poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson. “The Lady of Shalott” is about a young lady who is locked away in a tower. Low and behold, she is also cursed. One day she decides to leave her tower in hopes to find Sir Lancelot. On her journey to Camelot, she dies. What is the cause? Did she freeze to death? Did her curse kill her? There are so many unanswered questions, however, we do know that Lancelot and the Lady of Shalott were wealthier people. “All in the blue unclouded weather/ Thick-jeweled shone the saddle leather,/ The helmet and the helmet-feather/ Burned like one burning flame together, (Lines 91-94)”. This quote represents the wealth of Lancelot. They knew not of the poverty life. It is very interesting how “The Lady of Shalott” ties into segregation in the Victorian Age. She is segregated from society. “She is removed from the life of the everyday world, from love, and from other forms of ordinary human relationships (Dooley).” Her segregation is a little different than the segregation of social classes. We aren’t exactly sure why she is segregated. It could be because her parents are wealthy and wanted to protect her. Dooley also goes on to say that the poem is a reflection of the Victorian themes of isolation and alienation. That seems to fit with segregation. Classes are isolated from each other and people feel alienated if they are different than the status quo. In this article Dooley also goes on to say that a woman such as this unnamed “Lady” represents aristocratic women in the Victorian upper class. This explains quite a bit. Tennyson did portray the woman as being wealthy, which would explain her segregation from society. The Poor Clare: “The Poor Clare” is a short story written by Elizabeth Glaskell. One of the main characters, Bridget Fitzgerald, is also a poor clare. She is just a lonely old caretaker who wishes to be reunited with her daughter. As the years pass she becomes antisocial and even a witch. She prays every day, but is that enough? She ends up cursing her long lost granddaughter, whom she didn’t know existed, and the curse was not lifted until Bridget died. She eventually dies from hunger, which was common for the poor clares during that time. This story definitely goes into detail how tough of a life they have. People who don’t have anything suffer dearly. A poor clare is someone who lives in a convent. They are very religious people and most of the time they die from starvation. Bridget evolves from being a caretaker into being a poor clare. This could be because of her actions and the fact that she feels guilty for cursing her granddaughter. It doesn’t matter how she became a poor clare. What is important is that she was segregated in society. If she had been a part of the middle-class then she wouldn’t have died from starvation. She would have been able to support herself and take care of herself. Bridget had lived in poverty most of her life, but it had never been this severe. She always had food on her table, even if it wasn’t much. This just goes to show that your whole life can change overnight, and you can’t always fix it. Representation of Victorian Literature: In my opinion, “The Poor Clare” represents Victorian Literature better than “The Lady of Shalott”. It seems to be closer to actual society than “The Lady of Shalott”, even though there is sorcery in it. The plot of “The Poor Clare” seems to portray society in a similar way to everyday life. We also wouldn’t fully understand the upper-class. There is so much more to this time period than the middle-class and it is imperative that we study all of the social classes. We need to understand every class’s way of life. “They Lady of Shalott” represents the upper class whereas “The Poor Clare” focuses on the division of the middle and low classes. Cause and Effect: Segregation has a great effect on our understanding of the Victorian Age. If authors only focused on the middle-class in literature then we would have an understanding that everyone was hard-working and lived decent lives. We would see more victories than struggles and we definitely wouldn’t see very many people dying from starvation. Our view on society would be biased and we wouldn’t understand that there were people who struggled to the end of their days and lived in absolute poverty. There were some people who didn’t ever know when they would get their next meal and we wouldn’t know that side of society if we only studied the middle-class. Culture, Politics, and Reality: Segregation plays a key role in culture, politics, and reality, especially during this time period. In my opinion, segregation makes it worse because when society is split then the low-class doesn’t get any help or support that it needs. Their culture is different than the culture of middle-class. They have a different way of life. For example, they don’t take anything for granted and cherish what they have whereas some people in the middle-class may not. During this time period, you will never see anyone, who lives in poverty, in politics. They were not seen as equal, therefore, they were not allowed to participate. Their reality was something else. They looked death in the eyes on a daily basis. Thousands starved to death. If society had been more unified then lives could have been spared. Social classes being segregated doesn’t help any social problems. In all honesty, it probably makes it worse. The society isn’t unified and there are probably more enemies than friends. There is judgment and brutality. We still see things like that happen in modern times. An article I found actually addresses this topic. “In the allegorical scheme, Camelot represents the world of commerce, politics, social responsibility, and daily life (Hoth).” This article is referring to “The Lady of Shalott”. It also describes what the story is supposed to represent. Accurate? Or not? Even though these authors were of middle-class, I feel like they were fairly accurate. Some of the information feels skewed though. They didn’t live in poverty. These authors could have over-exaggerated or under-exaggerated information. They, of course, have a biased opinion but I do think they tried really hard to be as accurate as possible. It is difficult to do because they didn’t experience it first-hand. They had heard stories and based their knowledge off of that. http://search.ebscohost.com.pulaskitech.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=18897161&site=lrc-plus http://search.ebscohost.com.pulaskitech.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=103331POE16979650000363&site=lrc-plus http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2548/pg2548.html Dooley, Deborah A. “Lord Alfred Tennyson’s ‘The Lad of Shalott.’” Literary Contexts In Poetry: Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Lady of Shalott” (2006): 1-8. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 29 Oct. 2014. Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn. "Poor Clare." Poor Clare. 1. n.p.: Project Glutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, 2006. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 29 Oct. 2014. Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. “The Lady of Shalott.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. E. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 1161-1166. Print. Hoth, Whitney. “The Lady Of Shalott.” Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition (2002): 1-3. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.