Discussion on Themes of Woman Subordination in The Victorian Period on Tennyson's 'The Lady of Shallot and Mariana'; and Browning's 'My Last Duchess and Porphyria's Lover'.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE……………………………………………………………………
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………....
ii
ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………..
iii
CHAPTER ONE : INTRODUCTION
Background of the study…………………………………………….
Statement of the Problems…………………………………………..
Purpose of the Study…………………………………………………
Methods of Research…………………………………………………
Organization of the Thesis…………………………………………..
1
3
3
3
4
CHAPTER TWO
: DISCUSSION ON THEMES OF WOMAN
SUBORDINATION IN TENNYSON’S LADY OF SHALLOT AND
MARIANA; AND BROWNING’S MY LAST DUCHESS AND
PORPHYRIA’S LOVER………………………………… …………..
5
CHAPTER THREE
: CONCLUSION……………………………………..
18
BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………...
22
APPENDICES
Poem of Lady of Shallot………………………………..………………
Poem of Mariana……………………………………………………….
Poem of My Last Duchess……………………………………………..
Poem of Porphyria’s Lover…………………………………………….
Biography of Browning..………………………………………………
Biography of Tennyson………………………………………………..
24
32
36
39
42
43
ii
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
ABSTRACT
Bila kita lihat antara pria dan wanita sebenarnya tidak ada perbedaan yang
terlalu mencolok, yang membedakan mereka hanyalah jenis kelaminnya. Perbedaan
jenis kelamin inilah yang seringkali membuat wanita dibedakan dari pria. Wanita
seringkali dianggap sebagai makhluk yang lemah dan hal ini membuat wanita
menjadi the second gender setelah pria. Karena anggapan itu maka wanita seringkali
mendapatkan perlakuan yang tidak adil. Mereka juga seringkali menjadi obyek
kekerasan dari pria. Sekarang ini meskipun wanita sudah mengalami emansipasi,
tetapi anggapan wanita sebagai makhluk yang lemah masih dapat kita lihat. Salah
satunya adalah dalam hal pekerjaan, untuk pekerjaan-pekerjaan tertentu seperti
hakim, wanita dianggap tidak cocok karena perasaan mereka dianggap terlalu lemah
sehingga untuk memutuskan suatu perkara mereka dianggap akan terlalu
menggunakan perasaan mereka yang sering dianggap kelemahan mereka.
Wanita dianggap sebagai the second gender ternyata sudah ada dari jaman
dahulu kala. Salah satu contoh yang dapat kita lihat adalah pada jaman pemerintahan
Victoria. Di jaman itu perbedaan jenis kelamin terlihat sangat jelas sekali. Wanita
pada jaman itu dianggap sebagai obyek dari pria. Mereka harus mengerjakan semua
tugas rumah tangga yang merupakan kewajiban mereka dan mereka tidak
iii
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
diperbolehkan mengerjakan pekerjaan lainnya karena pekerjaan di luar rumah hanya
patut dikerjakan oleh pria.
Puisi Lady of Shallot dan Mariana yang dikarang oleh Tennyson; dan puisi
My Last Duchess dan Porphyria’s Lover yang dikarang oleh Robert Browning,
menggambarkan kondisi wanita yang tertekan. Tokoh wanita dalam puisi tersebut
dapat pula kita lihat sebagai symbol dari wanita di jaman pemerintahan Victoria.
Tennyson dan Browning menceritakan wanita yang sangat tertekan dan sedih karena
lingkungan di sekitar mereka, tetapi secara tidak langsung mereka juga
memperlihatkan wanita sebagai the second gender dari cara penceritaan dan
penulisan puisi mereka.
iv
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
APPENDICES
The Lady of Shallot
Part I
On either side of the river lie
1
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And through the filed the road runs by
To many-towered Camelot;
5
And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below,
The island of Shalott.
Willows whiten, aspens quiver,
10
Little breezes dusk and shiver
Thro' the wave that runs for ever
By the island in the river
Flowing down to Camelot.
Four gray walls, and four gray towers,
15
- 24 -
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle imbowers
The Lady of Shalott.
By the margin, willow veil'd
Slide the heavy barges trail'd
20
By slow horses; and unhail'd
The shallop flitteth silken-sail'd
Skimming down to Camelot:
But who hath seen her wave lier hand?
Or at the casement seen her stand?
25
Or is she known in all the land,
The Lady of Shalott?
Only reapers, reaping early
In among the bearded barley,
Hear a song that echoes cheerly
30
From the river winding clearly,
Down to tower'd Camelot:
And by the moon the reaper weary,
Piling sheaves in uplands airy,
Listening, whispers "Tis the fairy
35
Lady of Shalott"
Part II
- 25 -
There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay.
She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay
40
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be,
And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath she,
The Lady of Shalott
45
And moving thro' a mirror clear
That hands before her all the year,
Shadows of the world appear.
There she sees the highway near
Winding down to Camelot:
50
There the river eddy whirls,
And there the curly village-churls,
And the red cloaks of market girls,
Pass onward from Shalott.
Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,
55
An abbot on an ambling pad,
Sometimes a curly shepherd lad,
- 26 -
Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad,
Goes by to towered Camelot;
And sometimes thro' the mirror blue
60
The knights come riding two and two:
She hath no loyal knight and true,
The Lady of Shalott.
But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror's magic sights,
65
For often thro' the silent nights
A funeral, with plumes and lights,
And music, went to Camelot:
Or when the moon was overhead,
Came two young lovers lately wed;
70
"I am half sick of shadows" said
The Lady of Shalott.
Part III
A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,
He rode between the barley-sheaves,
The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves,
And flamed upon the brazen greaves
Of bold Sir Lancelot.
- 27 -
75
A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd
To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field,
80
Beside remote Shalott.
The gemmy bridle glitter'd free,
Like to some branch of stars we see
Hung in the golden Galaxy.
The bridle bells rang merrily
85
As he rode down to Camelot:
And from his blazon'd baldric slung
A mightly silver bugle hung,
And as he rode his armour rung,
Beside remote Shalott.
90
All in the blue unclouded weather
Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather,
The helmet and the helmet-feather
Burn'd like one burning flame together,
As he rode down to Camelot.
95
As often thro' the purple night,
Below the starry clusters bright,
Some bearded meteor, trailing light,
Moves over still Shalott.
- 28 -
His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;
100
On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow'd
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down to Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
105
He flash'd into the crystal mirror,
"Tirra lirra." by the river
Sang Sir Lancelot.
She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces thro' the room,
110
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She looked down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
115
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott.
Part IV
In the stormy east-wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
- 29 -
The broad stream in his banks complaining,
120
Heavily the low sky raining
Over tower'd Camelot;
Down she came and found a boat
Beneath a willow left afloat,
And round about the prow she wrote
125
The Lady of Shalott.
And down the river's dim expanse
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Seeing all his own mischance -With a glassy countenance
130
Did she look to Camelot.
And at the closing of the day
She loosed the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
The Lady of Shalott.
135
Lying, robed in snowy white
That loosely flew to left and right -The leaves upon her falling light -Through the noises of the night
She floated down to Camelot:
140
- 30 -
And as the boat-head wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song,
The Lady of Shalott.
Heard a carol, mournful, holy,
145
Chanted loudly, chanted lowly,
Till her blood was frozen slowly,
And her eyes were darkened wholly,
Turned to tower'd Camelot.
For ere she reach'd upon the tide
150
The first house by the water-side,
Singing in her song she died,
The Lady of Shalott.
Under tower and balcony,
By garden-wall and gallery,
155
A gleaming shape she floated by,
Dead-pale between the houses high,
Silent into Camelot.
Out upon the wharfs they came,
Knight and burgher, lord and dame,
160
And round the prow they read her name,
The Lady of Shalott
- 31 -
Who is this? and what is here?
And in the lighted palace near
Died the sound of royal cheer;
165
And they cross'd themselves for fear,
All the knights at Camelot:
But Lancelot mused a little space;
He said, "She has a lovely' face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
170
The Lady of Shalott."
171
Mariana
With blackest moss of the flower-pots
1
Were thickly crusted, one and all:
The rusted nails fell from the knots
That held the pear to the garden-wall.
The broken sheds look’d sad and strange:
5
Unlifted was the clinking latch;
Weeded and worn the ancient thatch
Upon the lonely moated garage,
She only said, “My life is dreary,
He cometh not,” she said;
10
She said, “I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!”
- 32 -
Her tears fell with the dews at even;
Her tears fell ere the dews were dried;
She could not look on the sweet heaven,
15
Either at morn or eventide.
After the flitting of the bats,
When thickest dark did trance the sky,
She drew her casement-curtain by,
And glanced athwart the glooming flats.
20
She only said,” The night is dreary,
He cometh not,” she said;
She said, “ I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!”
Upon the middle of the night,
25
Walking she heard the night-fowl crow:
The cock sung out an hour ere light:
From the dark fen the oxen’s low
Came to her: without hope of change,
In sleep she seem’d to walk forlorn,
30
Till cold winds woke the grey-eyed morn
About the lonely moated grange.
She only said, “My life is dreary,
He cometh not,” she said;
- 33 -
She only said, “I am aweary, aweary,
35
I would that I were dead!”
About a stone-cast from the wall
A sluice with blaxken’d waters slept,
And o’er it many, round and small,
The cluster’d marish-mosses crept.
40
Hard by a poplar shook alway,
All silver-green with gnarled bark:
For leagues no other tree did mark
The level waste, the rounding gray.
She only said, “My life is dreary,
45
He cometh not, “she said:
She said, “I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!”
And ever when the moon was low,
And the shrill winds were up and away,
50
In the white curtain, to and fro,
She saw the gusty shadow sway.
But when the moon was very low,
And wild winds bound within their cell,
The shadow of the poplar fell
55
Upon her bed, across her brow.
- 34 -
She only said, “The night is dreary,
He cometh not, “she said:
She said,” I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!”
60
All day within the dreamy house,
The doors upon their hinges creak’d;
The blue fly sung in the pane; the mouse
Behind the mouldering wainscot shriek’d,
Or from the crevice peer’d about.
65
Old faces glimmer’d thro’ the doors,
Old footsteps trod the upper floors,
Old voices called her from without.
She only said, “My life is drery,
He cometh not,” she said;
70
She said,” I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!”
The sparrow’s chirrup on the roof,
The slow clock ticking, and the sound
Which to the wooing wind aloof
75
The poplar made, did all confound
Her sense; but most she loathed the hour
When the thick-moted sunbeam lay
- 35 -
Athwart the chambers, and the day
Was sloping toward his western bower.
80
Then, said she,” I am very dreary,
He will not come,” she said;
She wept,” I am aweary, aweary,
O God, that I were dead
84
My Last Duchess
That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,
1
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Fra Pandolf's hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will't please you sit and look at her? I said
5
"Fra Pandolf" by design, for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
But to myself they turned (since none puts by
The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)
10
And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
How such a glance came there; so, not the first
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, 'twas not
Her husband's presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess' cheek: perhaps
- 36 -
15
Fra Pandolf chanced to say "Her mantle laps
Over my lady's wrist too much," or "Paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
Half-flush that dies along her throat": such stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
20
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
A heart---how shall I say?---too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
Sir, 'twas all one! My favour at her breast,
25
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
The bough of cherries some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
She rode with round the terrace---all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
30
Or blush, at least. She thanked men,---good! but thanked
Somehow---I know not how---as if she ranked
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody's gift. Who'd stoop to blame
This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
In speech---(which I have not)---to make your will
Quite clear to such an one, and say, "Just this
Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
Or there exceed the mark"---and if she let
- 37 -
35
Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
40
Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse,
---E'en then would be some stooping; and I choose
Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
45
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive. Will't please you rise? We'll meet
The company below, then. I repeat,
The Count your master's known munificence
Is ample warrant that no just pretence
50
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
Though his fair daughter's self, as I avowed
At starting, is my object. Nay, we'll go
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
55
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!
56
- 38 -
Porphyria's Lover
The rain set early in tonight,
1
The sullen wind was soon awake,
It tore the elm-tops down for spite,
and did its worst to vex the lake:
I listened with heart fit to break.
5
When glided in Porphyria; straight
She shut the cold out and the storm,
And kneeled and made the cheerless grate
Blaze up, and all the cottage warm;
Which done, she rose, and from her form
10
Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl,
And laid her soiled gloves by, untied
Her hat and let the damp hair fall,
And, last, she sat down by my side
And called me. When no voice replied,
15
She put my arm about her waist,
And made her smooth white shoulder bare,
And all her yellow hair displaced,
And, stooping, made my cheek lie there,
And spread, o'er all, her yellow hair,
20
Murmuring how she loved me--she
Too weak, for all her heart's endeavor,
- 39 -
To set its struggling passion free
From pride, and vainer ties dissever,
And give herself to me forever.
25
But passion sometimes would prevail,
Nor could tonight's gay feast restrain
A sudden thought of one so pale
For love of her, and all in vain:
So, she was come through wind and rain.
30
Be sure I looked up at her eyes
Happy and proud; at last I knew
Porphyria worshiped me: surprise
Made my heart swell, and still it grew
While I debated what to do.
35
That moment she was mine, mine, fair,
Perfectly pure and good: I found
A thing to do, and all her hair
In one long yellow string I wound
Three times her little throat around,
40
And strangled her. No pain felt she;
I am quite sure she felt no pain.
As a shut bud that holds a bee,
I warily oped her lids: again
Laughed the blue eyes without a stain.
45
And I untightened next the tress
- 40 -
About her neck; her cheek once more
Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss:
I propped her head up as before
Only, this time my shoulder bore
50
Her head, which droops upon it still:
The smiling rosy little head,
So glad it has its utmost will,
That all it scorned at once is fled,
And I, its love, am gained instead!
55
Porphyria's love: she guessed not how
Her darling one wish would be heard.
And thus we sit together now,
And all night long we have not stirred,
And yet God has not said a word!
60
- 41 -
Robert Browning
(1812 – 1889)
Robert Browning was born in Camberwell, London, in 1812. His father was a
Bank of England clerk and his mother was Sarah Anna Wiedemann. Browning
received little formal education. His learning was gained mainly from his father's
library at home in Camberwell, South London, where he learnt something, with
his father's help, of Latin and Greek and also read Shelly, Byron and Keats. He
attended lectures at the University of London in 1828, but left after only one
session.
In 1834 he visited St Petersburg and visited Italy in 1838 and 1844. Browning
lived with his parents in London until his marriage in 1846. It was during this
period that most of the plays and the earlier poems were written and, except
Strafford, published at his family's expense.
After the secretly held marriage to Elizabeth Barrett in 1846, Browning and
his wife travelled to Italy where they were, apart from brief holidays in France
and England, to spend most of their married life together. After his wife’s death in
1861, Browning returned to England, where he achieved popular acclaim for his
Dramatis Personae and The Ring and the Book. He died in Venice when he was
on holiday in 1889 and was buried at Westminster Abbey.
(Volpe, 1982:261-266)
- 42 -
Alfred Lord Tennyson
(1809-1892)
Alfred Tennyson was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire. His father was George
Clayton Tennyson, a clergyman and rector. Alfred began to write poetry at an early
age in the style of Lord Byron. After spending four unhappy years in school he was
tutored at home. Tennyson then studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he
joined the literary club 'The Apostles' and met Arthur Hallam, who became his closest
friend. The undergraduate society discussed contemporary social, religious, scientific,
and literary issues. Encouraged by 'The Apostles', Tennyson published Poems,
Chiefly Lyrical, in 1830, which included the popular 'Mariana'.
After marrying Emily Sellwood, whom he met in 1836, the couple settled in
Farringford, a house in Freshwater on the Isle of Wright in 1853. From there the
family moved in 1869 to Aldworth, Surrey. During these later years he produced
some of his best poems. He became the favourite target of attacks of many English
and American poets who saw him as a representative of narrow patriotism and
sentimentality. Later critics have praised Tennyson again. T.S. Eliot called him 'the
great master of metric as well as of melancholia' and that he possessed the finest ear
of any English poet since Milton.
(Hewett, 1968:81-82)
43
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
I prefer discussing poetry to novel or drama because many people know
that poetry is harder to analyze than novel and drama. Seeing this, I feel
challenged to analyze poetry. I also find that reading poetry is more enjoyable
because of the rhyming words which make poetry sound beautiful when it is
recited. As well poetry is ‘… the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken,
designed to produce pleasure through beautiful, element of profound thoughts.’
(Shawn, 1972:292).
I choose Browning and Tennyson; English poets of the Victorian period. I
am interested in Browning and Tennyson because ‘they were the two greatest
poetic figures of their time.’ (Thornley, 1986:107). Besides, they also used
women as the characters in the four poems to be analyzed in this thesis.
Some works of Browning and Tennyson were based on the social
condition which happened at their time. Moreover, they used the condition at that
time
in
most
of
their
-1-
works.
At
that
time,
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
women had some rules which last made them oppressed and suffer. They were
oppressed especially by men and women’s voice is often overshadowed by men’s
voice.
Browning and Tennyson are very well known because they have produced a
lot of good works, but I decide to choose My Last Duchess, Porphyria’s Lover, The
Lady of Shallot, and Marianna. I see that the women characters in these poems
portray the characteristics of women who lived in the Victorian period. They had to
stay at home and do the housework. They did not have freedom to express their
opinions and reasons. They often became the sexual objects of men. The married
women got less sympathy. Women were isolated in their rooms. A lot of women were
even killed just because of men’s ambition. (http://victorianweb.org/gender.html).
Staying at home, not having freedom to express their opinions and reasons, becoming
sexual objects, getting less sympathy, being isolated, and being killed made women at
that time subordinate to men.
Therefore, these poems are interesting to be analysed further using
sociological background. Sociological criticisms also analyse the social content of
literary works like the culture (Kennedy, 1996:2194) and it is explained in How to
Analyze Poetry that ‘we arrive at a greater understanding of people and society by
arriving at an understanding of poetry; there is indeed a relationship between literature
we read and the life we lead.’ (Reaske, 1966:10). I also use some poetic devices to
reveal the hidden meaning in these poems. The poetic device used is symbol ‘a visible
object or action that suggests some further meaning in addition to itself’ (Kennedy,
1996:997). So, by knowing the women subordination at that time which is revealed
through the poetic device, we can understand the meaning of the poem together with
the themes.
-2-
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
I decide to analyse the four women characters in the poems because I am
interested in showing the themes of the four poems and I also want to show that the
women subordination in the poems is the same as the women subordination in the
society at that time. So by using sociological approach to analyse those poems, I hope
the readers can know the women subordination in the Victorian period which is
reflected in the themes of the poems.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
I state the problems as follows:
1. What are the themes of the four poems related to women subordination?
2. What are the poetic devices used to reveal the themes?
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The analysis is done for the purposes as follows:
1 To show the themes of the four poems through the women subordination
2. To show poetic devices used to reveal the themes
METHOD OF RESEARCH
I use library research in writing my thesis. Firstly, I begin by reading the
poems. Then I read several references, which are related to the topic being discussed.
In addition, I have also taken some data as the references from internet web site, in
order to support my analysis of the poems. In the end, I make some conclusions of the
analysis of the poems.
ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS
-3-
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
This thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter One is the Introduction, which
consists of the Background of the Study, the Statement of the Problem, the Purpose of
the Study, the Method of Research and the Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two is
the analysis on women subordination in Tennyson’s The Lady of Shallot and
Marianna; and Browning’s My Last Duchess and Porphyria’s Lover. The last chapter,
Chapter Three, is the Conclusion of what has been discussed in the previous chapter.
The thesis also includes the poems and the biographies of the authors.
-4-
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
CHAPTER THREE
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I would like to draw a conclusion of the discussion which
has been discussed before. After I have discussed Tennyson’s Lady of Shallot and
Mariana and Browning’s My Last Duchess and Porpyria’s Lover, I find that
Tennyson and Browning are such great poets that they deliver a reality at that time
to their poems. I have analyzed their poems and from my analysis I can see
women‘s lives in the Victorian period and conclude the themes of the four poems.
In Tennyson’s poem, Lady of Shallot, the theme of the poem which is
‘Women are conditioned to be domestic while the outside world belongs to man’
is showed by Tennyson’s idea of telling that The Lady of Shallot should stay in
her room and not be involved in other activities outside because the outside world
belongs to man. If the lady gets involved in the activities outside, she will get a
punishment. The fact that the outside world belongs to man can be seen in the
poem when the lady decides to leave her room, she finally dies.
In Tennyson’s other poem, Mariana, Tennyson wants to tell that woman’s
life depends on man’s existence in her life. It can be seen by the way
- 18 -
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
Tennyson uses his words to express how depressed the woman character in the
poem is. By using repetition ‘aweary’, Tennyson implies that the woman feels
lonely and useless because her lover doesn’t come back. Tennyson also states his
choice of words by saying ‘the blackened moss’, ‘the rusted nails’ in his poem to
show the woman’s gloomy feeling from the first time. Another description used
by Tennyson is by stating that her life, her night and her day are very dreary. That
gives an impression that all women will always get depressed if there is no man
beside them. As well, the woman’s presence in the Victorian period really
depended on man’s presence. By looking at all the statements above, I can see that
Tennyson’s choice of words in the poem really reflects the impression that
woman’s life really depends on man’s presence.
My Last Duchess, which was written by Browning, shows that woman is
an object. The Duchess here is actually the picture the owner of which is the
Duke. That shows that the woman character in the poem is described as a picture
which becomes the object to be owned by the Duke. The Duke is very proud of
the picture because the picture is really good. He always shows the picture to the
people by the hope the people will respect him because he has something good
while other people don’t have. Man makes a woman an object to be showed off
and proud of to make other people respect him. The picture is closed by a curtain,
so when the Duke wants to show it to people, the Duke opens the curtain. The
Duke controls the access to see the picture. It gives an implication that woman is
controlled by man. Browning uses a picture as a woman character in his poem.
Realizing it or not, Browning reduces woman’s position by using it.
- 19 -
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
In Porphyria’s Lover, another poem written by Browning, the woman
character is said to serve man without any exception. Woman’s roles in the
Victorian period were taking care of her husband and children besides doing
housework. In the poem, the woman and man characters are wet because it is
raining. The first thing the woman does is stoking the fire to make sure that the
man becomes warm. She doesn’t change her wet cloth first but she stokes the fire
first. Woman must serve man without any exception can be clearly seen here.
Woman must serve man first before doing something for herself. The woman in
the poem serves the man anything including sex, after she has served the man, she
is strangled by her hair. She is said not to scream, this statement shows that
woman must serve man, but she cannot refuse to serve him although she suffers.
That the woman does not scream when she is strangled shows that fact.
The four poems show the similarity that all the poems show the woman’s
condition in the Victorian period if they are analyzed by sociological approach.
Each poem shows the different situations of woman but the condition is the same
as women’s condition in the Victorian period. I think both Tennyson and
Browning are successful in revealing the themes of their poems and compare them
with the real condition. Browning and Tennyson create their women characters in
their poems as if they were concerned with the women condition at their time. But
they probably do not realize that their choice of words often makes the woman
character in their poem overshadowed by their voice.
The characters in the four poems are women, but their characters in the
poem are always seen through man’s point of view. That can happen because the
authors are men. The masculine voice of the author sometimes dominates the
- 20 -
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
poems so that it creates a distance between the readers and the women in these
poems.
- 21 -
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
BIBLIOGRAPHY
References
Hewett, R. A Choice of Poets. London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd. 1968
Kennedy, X.J. and Dana Gioia. Literature, United States: Longman. 2002
Ousby, Ian. Guide to Literature in English, Britain: Cambridge University Press.
1993
Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: McGraw Hill Book
Company.1972
Thornley,G.C. and Gwyneth Roberts. An Outline of English Literature. London:
Longman.1968
Volpe, Edmond, An Introduction to Literature: Poetry, New York: THE
COLLEGE DEPARTMENT, Random House.Inc. 1982
Internet Sites
Gender
in
Victorian
Period.
14
October
2005.
(http://victorianweb.org/gender.html)
History. 27 April 2006. (http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1992/smithe.htm)
- 22 -
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
Ian Lancashire. 8 August 2005. (http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display_rpo)
Poetry of Tennyson 30 September 2005. (http://www.poetry-online.org/tennysonlord-alfred-poetry.htm)
Robert Browning 8 August 2005. ((http://www.bartleby.com/246/index12.html)
Tennyson
14
October
2005.
(http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/rb/buron14.html)
Women
works.
15
August
2005.
(http://www.ohiou.edu/oupress/womenwork.htm)
Primary Text
Hewett, R. A Choice of Poets. London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd. 1968
Thomas, Donald. The Everyman Book Of Victorian Verse: The Post-Romantics,
Everyman:
Orion
Publishing
- 23 -
Group.
1992
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
PREFACE……………………………………………………………………
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………....
ii
ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………..
iii
CHAPTER ONE : INTRODUCTION
Background of the study…………………………………………….
Statement of the Problems…………………………………………..
Purpose of the Study…………………………………………………
Methods of Research…………………………………………………
Organization of the Thesis…………………………………………..
1
3
3
3
4
CHAPTER TWO
: DISCUSSION ON THEMES OF WOMAN
SUBORDINATION IN TENNYSON’S LADY OF SHALLOT AND
MARIANA; AND BROWNING’S MY LAST DUCHESS AND
PORPHYRIA’S LOVER………………………………… …………..
5
CHAPTER THREE
: CONCLUSION……………………………………..
18
BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………...
22
APPENDICES
Poem of Lady of Shallot………………………………..………………
Poem of Mariana……………………………………………………….
Poem of My Last Duchess……………………………………………..
Poem of Porphyria’s Lover…………………………………………….
Biography of Browning..………………………………………………
Biography of Tennyson………………………………………………..
24
32
36
39
42
43
ii
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
ABSTRACT
Bila kita lihat antara pria dan wanita sebenarnya tidak ada perbedaan yang
terlalu mencolok, yang membedakan mereka hanyalah jenis kelaminnya. Perbedaan
jenis kelamin inilah yang seringkali membuat wanita dibedakan dari pria. Wanita
seringkali dianggap sebagai makhluk yang lemah dan hal ini membuat wanita
menjadi the second gender setelah pria. Karena anggapan itu maka wanita seringkali
mendapatkan perlakuan yang tidak adil. Mereka juga seringkali menjadi obyek
kekerasan dari pria. Sekarang ini meskipun wanita sudah mengalami emansipasi,
tetapi anggapan wanita sebagai makhluk yang lemah masih dapat kita lihat. Salah
satunya adalah dalam hal pekerjaan, untuk pekerjaan-pekerjaan tertentu seperti
hakim, wanita dianggap tidak cocok karena perasaan mereka dianggap terlalu lemah
sehingga untuk memutuskan suatu perkara mereka dianggap akan terlalu
menggunakan perasaan mereka yang sering dianggap kelemahan mereka.
Wanita dianggap sebagai the second gender ternyata sudah ada dari jaman
dahulu kala. Salah satu contoh yang dapat kita lihat adalah pada jaman pemerintahan
Victoria. Di jaman itu perbedaan jenis kelamin terlihat sangat jelas sekali. Wanita
pada jaman itu dianggap sebagai obyek dari pria. Mereka harus mengerjakan semua
tugas rumah tangga yang merupakan kewajiban mereka dan mereka tidak
iii
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
diperbolehkan mengerjakan pekerjaan lainnya karena pekerjaan di luar rumah hanya
patut dikerjakan oleh pria.
Puisi Lady of Shallot dan Mariana yang dikarang oleh Tennyson; dan puisi
My Last Duchess dan Porphyria’s Lover yang dikarang oleh Robert Browning,
menggambarkan kondisi wanita yang tertekan. Tokoh wanita dalam puisi tersebut
dapat pula kita lihat sebagai symbol dari wanita di jaman pemerintahan Victoria.
Tennyson dan Browning menceritakan wanita yang sangat tertekan dan sedih karena
lingkungan di sekitar mereka, tetapi secara tidak langsung mereka juga
memperlihatkan wanita sebagai the second gender dari cara penceritaan dan
penulisan puisi mereka.
iv
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
APPENDICES
The Lady of Shallot
Part I
On either side of the river lie
1
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And through the filed the road runs by
To many-towered Camelot;
5
And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below,
The island of Shalott.
Willows whiten, aspens quiver,
10
Little breezes dusk and shiver
Thro' the wave that runs for ever
By the island in the river
Flowing down to Camelot.
Four gray walls, and four gray towers,
15
- 24 -
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle imbowers
The Lady of Shalott.
By the margin, willow veil'd
Slide the heavy barges trail'd
20
By slow horses; and unhail'd
The shallop flitteth silken-sail'd
Skimming down to Camelot:
But who hath seen her wave lier hand?
Or at the casement seen her stand?
25
Or is she known in all the land,
The Lady of Shalott?
Only reapers, reaping early
In among the bearded barley,
Hear a song that echoes cheerly
30
From the river winding clearly,
Down to tower'd Camelot:
And by the moon the reaper weary,
Piling sheaves in uplands airy,
Listening, whispers "Tis the fairy
35
Lady of Shalott"
Part II
- 25 -
There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay.
She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay
40
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be,
And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath she,
The Lady of Shalott
45
And moving thro' a mirror clear
That hands before her all the year,
Shadows of the world appear.
There she sees the highway near
Winding down to Camelot:
50
There the river eddy whirls,
And there the curly village-churls,
And the red cloaks of market girls,
Pass onward from Shalott.
Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,
55
An abbot on an ambling pad,
Sometimes a curly shepherd lad,
- 26 -
Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad,
Goes by to towered Camelot;
And sometimes thro' the mirror blue
60
The knights come riding two and two:
She hath no loyal knight and true,
The Lady of Shalott.
But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror's magic sights,
65
For often thro' the silent nights
A funeral, with plumes and lights,
And music, went to Camelot:
Or when the moon was overhead,
Came two young lovers lately wed;
70
"I am half sick of shadows" said
The Lady of Shalott.
Part III
A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,
He rode between the barley-sheaves,
The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves,
And flamed upon the brazen greaves
Of bold Sir Lancelot.
- 27 -
75
A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd
To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field,
80
Beside remote Shalott.
The gemmy bridle glitter'd free,
Like to some branch of stars we see
Hung in the golden Galaxy.
The bridle bells rang merrily
85
As he rode down to Camelot:
And from his blazon'd baldric slung
A mightly silver bugle hung,
And as he rode his armour rung,
Beside remote Shalott.
90
All in the blue unclouded weather
Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather,
The helmet and the helmet-feather
Burn'd like one burning flame together,
As he rode down to Camelot.
95
As often thro' the purple night,
Below the starry clusters bright,
Some bearded meteor, trailing light,
Moves over still Shalott.
- 28 -
His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;
100
On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow'd
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down to Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
105
He flash'd into the crystal mirror,
"Tirra lirra." by the river
Sang Sir Lancelot.
She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces thro' the room,
110
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She looked down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
115
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott.
Part IV
In the stormy east-wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
- 29 -
The broad stream in his banks complaining,
120
Heavily the low sky raining
Over tower'd Camelot;
Down she came and found a boat
Beneath a willow left afloat,
And round about the prow she wrote
125
The Lady of Shalott.
And down the river's dim expanse
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Seeing all his own mischance -With a glassy countenance
130
Did she look to Camelot.
And at the closing of the day
She loosed the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
The Lady of Shalott.
135
Lying, robed in snowy white
That loosely flew to left and right -The leaves upon her falling light -Through the noises of the night
She floated down to Camelot:
140
- 30 -
And as the boat-head wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song,
The Lady of Shalott.
Heard a carol, mournful, holy,
145
Chanted loudly, chanted lowly,
Till her blood was frozen slowly,
And her eyes were darkened wholly,
Turned to tower'd Camelot.
For ere she reach'd upon the tide
150
The first house by the water-side,
Singing in her song she died,
The Lady of Shalott.
Under tower and balcony,
By garden-wall and gallery,
155
A gleaming shape she floated by,
Dead-pale between the houses high,
Silent into Camelot.
Out upon the wharfs they came,
Knight and burgher, lord and dame,
160
And round the prow they read her name,
The Lady of Shalott
- 31 -
Who is this? and what is here?
And in the lighted palace near
Died the sound of royal cheer;
165
And they cross'd themselves for fear,
All the knights at Camelot:
But Lancelot mused a little space;
He said, "She has a lovely' face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
170
The Lady of Shalott."
171
Mariana
With blackest moss of the flower-pots
1
Were thickly crusted, one and all:
The rusted nails fell from the knots
That held the pear to the garden-wall.
The broken sheds look’d sad and strange:
5
Unlifted was the clinking latch;
Weeded and worn the ancient thatch
Upon the lonely moated garage,
She only said, “My life is dreary,
He cometh not,” she said;
10
She said, “I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!”
- 32 -
Her tears fell with the dews at even;
Her tears fell ere the dews were dried;
She could not look on the sweet heaven,
15
Either at morn or eventide.
After the flitting of the bats,
When thickest dark did trance the sky,
She drew her casement-curtain by,
And glanced athwart the glooming flats.
20
She only said,” The night is dreary,
He cometh not,” she said;
She said, “ I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!”
Upon the middle of the night,
25
Walking she heard the night-fowl crow:
The cock sung out an hour ere light:
From the dark fen the oxen’s low
Came to her: without hope of change,
In sleep she seem’d to walk forlorn,
30
Till cold winds woke the grey-eyed morn
About the lonely moated grange.
She only said, “My life is dreary,
He cometh not,” she said;
- 33 -
She only said, “I am aweary, aweary,
35
I would that I were dead!”
About a stone-cast from the wall
A sluice with blaxken’d waters slept,
And o’er it many, round and small,
The cluster’d marish-mosses crept.
40
Hard by a poplar shook alway,
All silver-green with gnarled bark:
For leagues no other tree did mark
The level waste, the rounding gray.
She only said, “My life is dreary,
45
He cometh not, “she said:
She said, “I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!”
And ever when the moon was low,
And the shrill winds were up and away,
50
In the white curtain, to and fro,
She saw the gusty shadow sway.
But when the moon was very low,
And wild winds bound within their cell,
The shadow of the poplar fell
55
Upon her bed, across her brow.
- 34 -
She only said, “The night is dreary,
He cometh not, “she said:
She said,” I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!”
60
All day within the dreamy house,
The doors upon their hinges creak’d;
The blue fly sung in the pane; the mouse
Behind the mouldering wainscot shriek’d,
Or from the crevice peer’d about.
65
Old faces glimmer’d thro’ the doors,
Old footsteps trod the upper floors,
Old voices called her from without.
She only said, “My life is drery,
He cometh not,” she said;
70
She said,” I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!”
The sparrow’s chirrup on the roof,
The slow clock ticking, and the sound
Which to the wooing wind aloof
75
The poplar made, did all confound
Her sense; but most she loathed the hour
When the thick-moted sunbeam lay
- 35 -
Athwart the chambers, and the day
Was sloping toward his western bower.
80
Then, said she,” I am very dreary,
He will not come,” she said;
She wept,” I am aweary, aweary,
O God, that I were dead
84
My Last Duchess
That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,
1
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Fra Pandolf's hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will't please you sit and look at her? I said
5
"Fra Pandolf" by design, for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
But to myself they turned (since none puts by
The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)
10
And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
How such a glance came there; so, not the first
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, 'twas not
Her husband's presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess' cheek: perhaps
- 36 -
15
Fra Pandolf chanced to say "Her mantle laps
Over my lady's wrist too much," or "Paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
Half-flush that dies along her throat": such stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
20
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
A heart---how shall I say?---too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
Sir, 'twas all one! My favour at her breast,
25
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
The bough of cherries some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
She rode with round the terrace---all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
30
Or blush, at least. She thanked men,---good! but thanked
Somehow---I know not how---as if she ranked
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody's gift. Who'd stoop to blame
This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
In speech---(which I have not)---to make your will
Quite clear to such an one, and say, "Just this
Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
Or there exceed the mark"---and if she let
- 37 -
35
Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
40
Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse,
---E'en then would be some stooping; and I choose
Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
45
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive. Will't please you rise? We'll meet
The company below, then. I repeat,
The Count your master's known munificence
Is ample warrant that no just pretence
50
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
Though his fair daughter's self, as I avowed
At starting, is my object. Nay, we'll go
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
55
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!
56
- 38 -
Porphyria's Lover
The rain set early in tonight,
1
The sullen wind was soon awake,
It tore the elm-tops down for spite,
and did its worst to vex the lake:
I listened with heart fit to break.
5
When glided in Porphyria; straight
She shut the cold out and the storm,
And kneeled and made the cheerless grate
Blaze up, and all the cottage warm;
Which done, she rose, and from her form
10
Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl,
And laid her soiled gloves by, untied
Her hat and let the damp hair fall,
And, last, she sat down by my side
And called me. When no voice replied,
15
She put my arm about her waist,
And made her smooth white shoulder bare,
And all her yellow hair displaced,
And, stooping, made my cheek lie there,
And spread, o'er all, her yellow hair,
20
Murmuring how she loved me--she
Too weak, for all her heart's endeavor,
- 39 -
To set its struggling passion free
From pride, and vainer ties dissever,
And give herself to me forever.
25
But passion sometimes would prevail,
Nor could tonight's gay feast restrain
A sudden thought of one so pale
For love of her, and all in vain:
So, she was come through wind and rain.
30
Be sure I looked up at her eyes
Happy and proud; at last I knew
Porphyria worshiped me: surprise
Made my heart swell, and still it grew
While I debated what to do.
35
That moment she was mine, mine, fair,
Perfectly pure and good: I found
A thing to do, and all her hair
In one long yellow string I wound
Three times her little throat around,
40
And strangled her. No pain felt she;
I am quite sure she felt no pain.
As a shut bud that holds a bee,
I warily oped her lids: again
Laughed the blue eyes without a stain.
45
And I untightened next the tress
- 40 -
About her neck; her cheek once more
Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss:
I propped her head up as before
Only, this time my shoulder bore
50
Her head, which droops upon it still:
The smiling rosy little head,
So glad it has its utmost will,
That all it scorned at once is fled,
And I, its love, am gained instead!
55
Porphyria's love: she guessed not how
Her darling one wish would be heard.
And thus we sit together now,
And all night long we have not stirred,
And yet God has not said a word!
60
- 41 -
Robert Browning
(1812 – 1889)
Robert Browning was born in Camberwell, London, in 1812. His father was a
Bank of England clerk and his mother was Sarah Anna Wiedemann. Browning
received little formal education. His learning was gained mainly from his father's
library at home in Camberwell, South London, where he learnt something, with
his father's help, of Latin and Greek and also read Shelly, Byron and Keats. He
attended lectures at the University of London in 1828, but left after only one
session.
In 1834 he visited St Petersburg and visited Italy in 1838 and 1844. Browning
lived with his parents in London until his marriage in 1846. It was during this
period that most of the plays and the earlier poems were written and, except
Strafford, published at his family's expense.
After the secretly held marriage to Elizabeth Barrett in 1846, Browning and
his wife travelled to Italy where they were, apart from brief holidays in France
and England, to spend most of their married life together. After his wife’s death in
1861, Browning returned to England, where he achieved popular acclaim for his
Dramatis Personae and The Ring and the Book. He died in Venice when he was
on holiday in 1889 and was buried at Westminster Abbey.
(Volpe, 1982:261-266)
- 42 -
Alfred Lord Tennyson
(1809-1892)
Alfred Tennyson was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire. His father was George
Clayton Tennyson, a clergyman and rector. Alfred began to write poetry at an early
age in the style of Lord Byron. After spending four unhappy years in school he was
tutored at home. Tennyson then studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he
joined the literary club 'The Apostles' and met Arthur Hallam, who became his closest
friend. The undergraduate society discussed contemporary social, religious, scientific,
and literary issues. Encouraged by 'The Apostles', Tennyson published Poems,
Chiefly Lyrical, in 1830, which included the popular 'Mariana'.
After marrying Emily Sellwood, whom he met in 1836, the couple settled in
Farringford, a house in Freshwater on the Isle of Wright in 1853. From there the
family moved in 1869 to Aldworth, Surrey. During these later years he produced
some of his best poems. He became the favourite target of attacks of many English
and American poets who saw him as a representative of narrow patriotism and
sentimentality. Later critics have praised Tennyson again. T.S. Eliot called him 'the
great master of metric as well as of melancholia' and that he possessed the finest ear
of any English poet since Milton.
(Hewett, 1968:81-82)
43
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
I prefer discussing poetry to novel or drama because many people know
that poetry is harder to analyze than novel and drama. Seeing this, I feel
challenged to analyze poetry. I also find that reading poetry is more enjoyable
because of the rhyming words which make poetry sound beautiful when it is
recited. As well poetry is ‘… the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken,
designed to produce pleasure through beautiful, element of profound thoughts.’
(Shawn, 1972:292).
I choose Browning and Tennyson; English poets of the Victorian period. I
am interested in Browning and Tennyson because ‘they were the two greatest
poetic figures of their time.’ (Thornley, 1986:107). Besides, they also used
women as the characters in the four poems to be analyzed in this thesis.
Some works of Browning and Tennyson were based on the social
condition which happened at their time. Moreover, they used the condition at that
time
in
most
of
their
-1-
works.
At
that
time,
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
women had some rules which last made them oppressed and suffer. They were
oppressed especially by men and women’s voice is often overshadowed by men’s
voice.
Browning and Tennyson are very well known because they have produced a
lot of good works, but I decide to choose My Last Duchess, Porphyria’s Lover, The
Lady of Shallot, and Marianna. I see that the women characters in these poems
portray the characteristics of women who lived in the Victorian period. They had to
stay at home and do the housework. They did not have freedom to express their
opinions and reasons. They often became the sexual objects of men. The married
women got less sympathy. Women were isolated in their rooms. A lot of women were
even killed just because of men’s ambition. (http://victorianweb.org/gender.html).
Staying at home, not having freedom to express their opinions and reasons, becoming
sexual objects, getting less sympathy, being isolated, and being killed made women at
that time subordinate to men.
Therefore, these poems are interesting to be analysed further using
sociological background. Sociological criticisms also analyse the social content of
literary works like the culture (Kennedy, 1996:2194) and it is explained in How to
Analyze Poetry that ‘we arrive at a greater understanding of people and society by
arriving at an understanding of poetry; there is indeed a relationship between literature
we read and the life we lead.’ (Reaske, 1966:10). I also use some poetic devices to
reveal the hidden meaning in these poems. The poetic device used is symbol ‘a visible
object or action that suggests some further meaning in addition to itself’ (Kennedy,
1996:997). So, by knowing the women subordination at that time which is revealed
through the poetic device, we can understand the meaning of the poem together with
the themes.
-2-
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
I decide to analyse the four women characters in the poems because I am
interested in showing the themes of the four poems and I also want to show that the
women subordination in the poems is the same as the women subordination in the
society at that time. So by using sociological approach to analyse those poems, I hope
the readers can know the women subordination in the Victorian period which is
reflected in the themes of the poems.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
I state the problems as follows:
1. What are the themes of the four poems related to women subordination?
2. What are the poetic devices used to reveal the themes?
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The analysis is done for the purposes as follows:
1 To show the themes of the four poems through the women subordination
2. To show poetic devices used to reveal the themes
METHOD OF RESEARCH
I use library research in writing my thesis. Firstly, I begin by reading the
poems. Then I read several references, which are related to the topic being discussed.
In addition, I have also taken some data as the references from internet web site, in
order to support my analysis of the poems. In the end, I make some conclusions of the
analysis of the poems.
ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS
-3-
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
This thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter One is the Introduction, which
consists of the Background of the Study, the Statement of the Problem, the Purpose of
the Study, the Method of Research and the Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two is
the analysis on women subordination in Tennyson’s The Lady of Shallot and
Marianna; and Browning’s My Last Duchess and Porphyria’s Lover. The last chapter,
Chapter Three, is the Conclusion of what has been discussed in the previous chapter.
The thesis also includes the poems and the biographies of the authors.
-4-
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
CHAPTER THREE
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I would like to draw a conclusion of the discussion which
has been discussed before. After I have discussed Tennyson’s Lady of Shallot and
Mariana and Browning’s My Last Duchess and Porpyria’s Lover, I find that
Tennyson and Browning are such great poets that they deliver a reality at that time
to their poems. I have analyzed their poems and from my analysis I can see
women‘s lives in the Victorian period and conclude the themes of the four poems.
In Tennyson’s poem, Lady of Shallot, the theme of the poem which is
‘Women are conditioned to be domestic while the outside world belongs to man’
is showed by Tennyson’s idea of telling that The Lady of Shallot should stay in
her room and not be involved in other activities outside because the outside world
belongs to man. If the lady gets involved in the activities outside, she will get a
punishment. The fact that the outside world belongs to man can be seen in the
poem when the lady decides to leave her room, she finally dies.
In Tennyson’s other poem, Mariana, Tennyson wants to tell that woman’s
life depends on man’s existence in her life. It can be seen by the way
- 18 -
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
Tennyson uses his words to express how depressed the woman character in the
poem is. By using repetition ‘aweary’, Tennyson implies that the woman feels
lonely and useless because her lover doesn’t come back. Tennyson also states his
choice of words by saying ‘the blackened moss’, ‘the rusted nails’ in his poem to
show the woman’s gloomy feeling from the first time. Another description used
by Tennyson is by stating that her life, her night and her day are very dreary. That
gives an impression that all women will always get depressed if there is no man
beside them. As well, the woman’s presence in the Victorian period really
depended on man’s presence. By looking at all the statements above, I can see that
Tennyson’s choice of words in the poem really reflects the impression that
woman’s life really depends on man’s presence.
My Last Duchess, which was written by Browning, shows that woman is
an object. The Duchess here is actually the picture the owner of which is the
Duke. That shows that the woman character in the poem is described as a picture
which becomes the object to be owned by the Duke. The Duke is very proud of
the picture because the picture is really good. He always shows the picture to the
people by the hope the people will respect him because he has something good
while other people don’t have. Man makes a woman an object to be showed off
and proud of to make other people respect him. The picture is closed by a curtain,
so when the Duke wants to show it to people, the Duke opens the curtain. The
Duke controls the access to see the picture. It gives an implication that woman is
controlled by man. Browning uses a picture as a woman character in his poem.
Realizing it or not, Browning reduces woman’s position by using it.
- 19 -
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
In Porphyria’s Lover, another poem written by Browning, the woman
character is said to serve man without any exception. Woman’s roles in the
Victorian period were taking care of her husband and children besides doing
housework. In the poem, the woman and man characters are wet because it is
raining. The first thing the woman does is stoking the fire to make sure that the
man becomes warm. She doesn’t change her wet cloth first but she stokes the fire
first. Woman must serve man without any exception can be clearly seen here.
Woman must serve man first before doing something for herself. The woman in
the poem serves the man anything including sex, after she has served the man, she
is strangled by her hair. She is said not to scream, this statement shows that
woman must serve man, but she cannot refuse to serve him although she suffers.
That the woman does not scream when she is strangled shows that fact.
The four poems show the similarity that all the poems show the woman’s
condition in the Victorian period if they are analyzed by sociological approach.
Each poem shows the different situations of woman but the condition is the same
as women’s condition in the Victorian period. I think both Tennyson and
Browning are successful in revealing the themes of their poems and compare them
with the real condition. Browning and Tennyson create their women characters in
their poems as if they were concerned with the women condition at their time. But
they probably do not realize that their choice of words often makes the woman
character in their poem overshadowed by their voice.
The characters in the four poems are women, but their characters in the
poem are always seen through man’s point of view. That can happen because the
authors are men. The masculine voice of the author sometimes dominates the
- 20 -
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
poems so that it creates a distance between the readers and the women in these
poems.
- 21 -
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
BIBLIOGRAPHY
References
Hewett, R. A Choice of Poets. London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd. 1968
Kennedy, X.J. and Dana Gioia. Literature, United States: Longman. 2002
Ousby, Ian. Guide to Literature in English, Britain: Cambridge University Press.
1993
Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: McGraw Hill Book
Company.1972
Thornley,G.C. and Gwyneth Roberts. An Outline of English Literature. London:
Longman.1968
Volpe, Edmond, An Introduction to Literature: Poetry, New York: THE
COLLEGE DEPARTMENT, Random House.Inc. 1982
Internet Sites
Gender
in
Victorian
Period.
14
October
2005.
(http://victorianweb.org/gender.html)
History. 27 April 2006. (http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1992/smithe.htm)
- 22 -
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA
Ian Lancashire. 8 August 2005. (http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display_rpo)
Poetry of Tennyson 30 September 2005. (http://www.poetry-online.org/tennysonlord-alfred-poetry.htm)
Robert Browning 8 August 2005. ((http://www.bartleby.com/246/index12.html)
Tennyson
14
October
2005.
(http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/rb/buron14.html)
Women
works.
15
August
2005.
(http://www.ohiou.edu/oupress/womenwork.htm)
Primary Text
Hewett, R. A Choice of Poets. London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd. 1968
Thomas, Donald. The Everyman Book Of Victorian Verse: The Post-Romantics,
Everyman:
Orion
Publishing
- 23 -
Group.
1992
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN MARANATHA