Expected to stay indoors, upkeep domestic tasks, raise the children, keep a home, and often not allowed to participate in society, The Lady of Shalott shows an example of the rigid expectations placed upon Victorian Women. The title “The Victorian Woman” came to represent this type of personage in literature and is even used today. The moment that the Lady of Shalott stops conforming to the rules placed upon her, she is met with her tragic end. The Lady of Shalott is an extreme scenario of the consequences that the Victorian woman would face if she were to step outside of the rigid box placed upon their shoulders: death. For the real Victorian Women, a type of social death may have been more likely, where if these strict expectations were not upheld, they would be looked down upon, outcasted, and personal or physical repercussions from her family.
Another aspect of the Victorian Woman that is not overtly mentioned in The Lady of Shalott is the idea of a woman’s sexuality. Women were expected to remain chaste, “pure”, and loyal to their husbands, and if they were not, they were seen as “fallen” or ruined. Yet it was common for men to have many sexual partners throughout their life, even during their marriage, and unfortunately, divorce was not an option for women at this time. There was no escaping these rules: women could not own property if married for most of this time period, they could not vote, and they had no independence outside o their families. The social stereotypes were upkept in this time through literature: it was a common theme to see unchaste women such as adulteresses meet tragic ends in novels or poems. Fear, embarrassment, and shock controlled the society and rigidly upheld these standards, of which we still see lasting effects of in the twenty-first century.
If the subject of the Victorian Woman interests you, here are some readings I suggest!
The Victorian Woman Question in Contemporary Feminist Fiction by J King (https://k-state.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01KSU_INST/1260r8r/cdi_askewsholts_vlebooks_9780230503571 )
From Spinster to Career Woman: Middle-Class Women and Work in Victorian England by Arlele Young (review) https://k-state.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01KSU_INST/1260r8r/cdi_crossref_primary_10_2979_victorianstudies_63_3_12
Women Writing the Neo-Victorian Novel: Erotic "Victorians" by Kathleen Renk; 2020 https://k-state.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01KSU_INST/1260r8r/cdi_askewsholts_vlebooks_9783030482879