In Victorian era, most women who need to
depend on their husband. The women in the period were probably suffering from
such circumstances. They need to get married with men, and their work were
mostly housework at home. The lifestyle which they have is obviously different
from the one in modern society. From paintings by John William Waterhouse,
these aspects are revealed slightly in his contexts. He was fond of literary
topic, such as women's tragedy, femmes fatales, and Arthurian literature. In The Lady of Shalott (1888) by
Waterhouse, he represents Shalott’s death because she sees the man with whom
she falls in love. She “suffers under an undisclosed curse”. (Riggs, 1998) Waterhouse were fond of Tennyson’s poem, and
he created three scenes of The Lady of
Shalott in total. Furthermore, he painted the tragic woman, Ophelia in
Hamlet three times. This blog post will show two paintings of women by
Waterhouse and discuss tragic figure of women in the paintings.
He is classified into one
of the artists in Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which is defined as a group of
English artist to revive the style before Raphael, and the other members are included
Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. For Waterhouse’s
background, in 1849, he was born in Roma where his father was a painter. In 1850s,
he studied at Royal Academy in England and assisted his father there. After he
lived in Primrose Hill Studio, he continued to create more works. His paintings
are fond by rich buyers, particularly, According to Kerr, he did not have
difficulty with money. (Kerr, The Art and Life of John William Waterhouse) For
his personal comments, it remains a few, and some of letters seem to exist. (Tippi,
40)
The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse, 1888
When he was
tired of being criticised paintings in Greek and Roman mythologies, and
Christian history, he tried to highlight classical and modern literary works. (Upstone, 37) In
1889, Waterhouse created the painting The
Lady of Shalott which was based on the same title of Tennyson’s poem. Tennyson’s
poem is also based on Arthurian legend. His aimed was to highlight Arthurian
literature again instead of Christian history, Christian thoughts and Greek and
Roman myth. Waterhouse’s picture is concerned about the scene;
And down the river's dim expanse
Like some bold
seer in a trance,
Seeing all his
own mischance -
With glassy
countenance
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.
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For Tennyson’s poem, Upstone explains the poem "The Lady of Shallot was a
fairy lady engaged in wearving 'a magic web', the tapestry itself having
magical properties" (38). She needs to use a mirror all the time when she
looks outside. Her domestic world is only the building where she lives; on the
other hand, the outside world is always weaving by the mirror. According to
Upstone, three candles in front of the Lady are the implication which the Lady
faces a dreadful fate, death. There are two small swallows which may be implied
that she is going to the new world (38-9). In this case, the new world could be said
death. Because of these elements, it is slightly implied a religious aspect as Christianity.
This point is different from Tennyson’s poem. The painting became popular in
the period; however, Upstone suggests that Waterhouse add his own interpretation
into the work. He describes in dark tone in the background, in contrast, he
might represent her innocence in the way of dressing in white. The tapestry is
especially beautiful colour of pink.
Furthermore, the
story has another interruption from Feminism view. The Lady could be said the
women’s symbol which stays at home and does housework until she dies. In this
idea, the building where she lives is thought her “home”. Once the Lady knows
another world and tries to escape from “the home”, she should die. She might be
restricted by “the home”.
Ophelia by John William Waterhouse, 1889
Another painting of Waterhouse’s
works has the same theme of death. Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, she mostly
goes mad. It is because not only her boyfriend Hamlet rejects her, but also her
father was killed by her boyfriend. She may choose to go the place in danger,
and “falls into the stream while picking flowers.” (Lupton, Thinking with
Shakespeare) The flowers around her are imagined her death. Many artists
described the scene when she dies in the stream, in contrast, Waterhouse’s
first version Ophelia was obviously no water. (Tippi, 22) Waterhouse represent
her deathly emotion in the picture. Her face might show her abandoned feeling
for Hamlet. Her eyes are strongly gazing at viewer, and her left hand grasps
the glasses and her hair powerfully. (Moore, 2007) In Hamlet, she is broken at last, however, in this picture, she is
thought still sane.There are Waterhouse perhaps express both She could face the
death in Waterhouse vision even though her death is suicide or not. Shakespeare’s
Ophelia is sometimes criticised her weakness, and she is probably an unrealistic
woman. Even in Shakespeare’s period, women could be quite stronger than
original Ophelia. On the other hand, Waterhouse might success to make Ophelia more
realistic.
The
two ladies who Waterhouse described suffer under their unfortunate circumstance.
One is because she has curse to see outside by the mirror. Another is because Two stories were made in different period, however,
the treatment of female is thought almost the same. These pictures could show
tragedies by women who get struggled by men.
Work Cited
Lupton, J. “Methods in Madness: Thinking with Ophelia” Thinking with Shakespeare. Web. 09. Dec.
2013
Moore, M. “Waterhouse's Versions of Ophelia”
English and History of Art 151. Brown
University. 2007. Web. 10. Dec. 2013
http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/jww/paintings/moore1.html
Riggs, T.“Summary” John William Waterhouse. Tate. 1998. Web. 10. Dec. 2013
Trippi, P. J. W. Waterhouse. London: Phaidon Press Limited. 2002
Upstone, R. J.M. Waterhouse:
The Modern Pre-Paphaelite the Netherlands: Groniger Muserm Groninegn. 2008
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