Portrayal of Women in La Belle Dame Sans Merci, Lady of Shalott, My last Duchess, and Porphyria's Lover

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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...

... middle of paper ...

...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.

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