Malory’s “The Fair Maid of Astolat” Forever Changing How to Read Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shallot”

After Reading Malory’s “The Fair Maid of Astolat” so many things have changed in how I interpret and feel about Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shallot”. Since I clearly read the Lady of Shallot first, I originally felt that Lancelot was shallow in seeing only this dead woman’s beauty, but the story was more focused on the mystical place and how the Lady only saw the outside world through a reflection. Lancelot doesn’t even come into the story until a couple of stanzas in and the two never interact. The story by Tennyson is far more focused on the Lady, her escape from the bounds in her castle, and her yearning for a love she will never have as she remains (in Victorian times) the property of her father until wed.

While reading Malory’s poem I noticed the extreme influx in characters. There were so many knight names, real places referenced, more famous names from Arthurian Legend, and so much more backstory. During the first few pages I was overwhelmed with the listing of names and the immense amount of characters that I had no ties to and no way to know if they would remain important throughout the story. During this time, it felt more like a war story or poem in all of its listing of names and battles. The Maiden of Astolat isn’t even referenced until a couple of pages in. There is no mythological or magical interworking in Malory’s story and it is very focused on recounting the exact happenings in the locations, history, and often referenced the round table.

I got a new take on Lancelot throughout Malory’s piece. As much as I despised him in the “Lady of Shallot”, you can see how he only had her beauty to comment on since there was no relationship between them prior to her death. The truth is completely different within Malory’s telling. Lancelot is a cheating bastard. He had an affair with a woman before battle, wore a symbol of her during his fight, hid the fact that he was married from her, used her to nurse him back to health, and then when she revealed her love for him, he turned her down and said he could never be tied down. If you ask me it was karma that he got injured and that Gwenyvere found out, but it was his fault the Fair Maiden of Astolat died in this version. She told Lancelot that she was going to die without him and he still lead her on and lied to her. It was upsetting that the story ended with Lancelot coming out on top. Lancelot used the Maydyn’s dead corpse and note, twisted her telling of their affair, screwed over Lavayne, ruined Lavayne’s reputation, and he got back on good terms with Gwenyvere. This all only makes Lancelot more hated in Malory’s telling.

As far as the Maidens go in each work, my perspective is quite different in each telling of the tale. In Tennyson’s poem, the Lady is someone the reader feels sorry for, she is trapped in a tower, and in solitude. When reading Malory’s version, you realize how much is left unexplained in Tennyson’s tale that is essential to the poem. Is the Lady bound by force? Has she gotten herself stuck in her own weaving? Is their magic or a curse placed upon the Lady? It is never revealed. When I first read the “Lady of Shallot”, there was a work by William Holman Hunt that was placed next to the poem.It persuaded me into reading the poem as she was trapped, caught in her own weavings (art pictured on left). In Malory’s version we have all of the details we need on the Maydyn. She is not stuck in a tower, but gives herself to a man she just met, falls in love to fast, shows feelings he doesn’t seem to have, and commits suicide because she can’t live without this man. The Maydyn is someone you feel sorry for at first when she has been lied to and used, but not when she kills herself because she can’t have Lancelot. She appears weak and dependent whereas the Lady appears strong, rebellious, cursed, and held against her will.

After reading Malory’s poem I realized that Tennyson more or less took the easy way out. He referenced Camelot, Lancelot, and “The Lady of Shallot”, but he ignored Arthur, Gwenyvere, Lavayne, the round table, the injury of Lancelot, and pretty much removed the historical aspects of the Arthurian Legend. Truth be told, I realized that nothing in Tennyson’s story makes me think of the historical Arthur, Lancelot, or Gwenyvere (until I was told that is what Tennyson based his poem off of). There is not enough information in Tennyson’s poem to complete a story and the reader is left questioning so many aspects, but that may be just what Tennyson was going for to keep the reader coming back for more. The sing-song rhythm in his poem is much easier and more interesting to read. As much as I find is missing from Tennyson’s piece, I love his adaptation of the legend told solely from the Lady’s perspective where Lancelot is not such a bad guy and the Lady is someone we pity and come to love as a symbol of rebelling against the constraints of the world.