Lonely Lady

The Lady of Shalott, a painting by Waterhouse, is a symbolic painting which is better known as Waterhouse’s oil painting. It is based on the poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson, also named The Lady of Shalott. Waterhouse focuses on showing the plight of a beautiful and tragic woman through the usage of color and symbolism.

First, he uses rough colors to indicate that to be isolated in an unknown place is very scary and boring. The general colors he uses in the painting are black, dark red, dark green, and dark blue. These dark colors radiate evil and gloomy vibes, giving us a mysterious or creepy feeling. For example, in our mind, forest and river are bright and fresh, however, in the picture, those are shown as very tragic and depressing. The woman in the center is portrayed with bright colors in the painting. These bright colors symbolize the woman’s purity and her innocence as a stark contrast to the dark background surrounding the woman. As a result, the colors in this painting are very dark to show the fear and solitude of isolation, but only the girl has bright colors because the author tried to show she is innocent and pure.   

On top of that, the painter uses symbolism such as the ship on the river. The black water and ship support the painter to express death of the society, however, the woman is not influenced by the darkness of the society because during that time women were obligated to stay at home. In addition, the only touching point between the woman and the river is her little part of the sleeves, which symbolizes the husband. This would have been different if the husband loves and cares about his wife. Also, the three candles that the woman symbolizes the father, the husband, and the son. In the picture, only one of the candles light is on, but the last one is also very close to going out because of the wind. This candles and light express the effect on people. The first two unlighted candles represent the old people such as her father and husband who are already influenced by the dark society. However, the last candle indicates that young children such as her son are not affected yet. Moreover, the small ship is also symbolizing the women’s society, which shows the position of women. This vivid separation between the background and the woman amplifies the difference between the outside society and the house. Hence, the symbolic objects are painted to enhance the understanding of the audience.  

In conclusion, the author reveals his thoughts about women staying at home and being  separated from outside society. He draws the clear difference between the background and the main subject, who is a woman, to support his idea of the corrupt society. This discrimination between women and men is one of the most sensitive topics in the world even now. This painting shows that the women were left alone but it saved them from being collapsed.

“The Lady of Shalott Analysis”. Artble, 2019. https://www.artble.com/artists/john_william_waterhouse/paintings/the_lady_of_shalott/more_information/analysis. April 7, 2019

Alfred, Tennyson. “The Lady of Shalott Themes”. Shmoop, 2019. https://www.shmoop.com/lady-of-shalott/themes.html. April 7, 2019