Portrayal of Women in La Belle Dame Sans Merci, Lady of Shalott, My last Duchess, and Porphyria's Lover
Within the five poems we have studied, 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci',
'Lady of Shalott', 'My last duchess', 'Porphyria's lover' and
'Marianna'. Women are portrayed as weak characters with no voice. All
of these poems are seen through the eyes of men, who accuse them of
being self-centred and lacking in morals. However, these judgements
can be placed upon the men themselves. The social/historical position
of women during the nineteenth century can be identified within the
poems. Browning's dramatic monologues in particular show women's lack
of voice and dependency on men during the eighteen hundreds. Showing
both women as possessions of men.
The powerlessness of women is shown within Tennyson's poems; 'Mariana'
and ' The Lady of Shalott'. 'Mariana' wastes her life because of a man
and the 'The Lady of Shalott' looses her life due to Sir Lancelot.
However, in Keats' poem 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci", the balance of
power changes. The mythical female in the poem woos the knight and
takes him under her control, but still she is portrayed negatively.
She is displayed as a deceitful character who lures men into danger
'she took me to her elfin grot. And there she wept and sigh'd full
sore'. 'La Belle Sans Merci. Thee hath in thrall.' This quote
highlights the female's seduction of the Knight and his piers.
'La belle dame' is described as a beautiful character implied by her
name. However the other side of her character is shown within the rest
of the title 'Sans Merci', without Merci. 'Her hair was long and her
foot was light', 'Her eyes w...
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...hed a point where he has the power over her not
vice- versa.
In all the poems the balance of power is different. Even though, it
appears as if the poets are showing the greatness of men over women
they in fact agree that women should be treated as mans equal.
Browning shows how the fictional power possessed by a male tyrant can
easily cause the death of a women, this is shown in both his dramatic
monologues. Although, all the women within the poems die the poets
show a sense of hidden power within all the characters excluding
Tennyson's depiction of Marianna. Their lack of voice shows the lack
of respect shown towards the female characters. Only in 'La belle dame
sans merci' is the female treated with a vague amount of admiration,
however she is perceived as the most deceitful and untrustworthy of
the five women.
Riverside Shakespeare, 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1997. 366-398. Neely, Carol Thomas. “Shakespeare’s Women: Historical Facts and Dramatic Representations.”
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