Mariana (poem) - Themes

Themes

Tennyson's poems traditionally rely on the use of visual imagery for effect. In Mariana, Tennyson instead emphasizes auditory imagery that serves to emphasize her solitude. Her hearing is sensitive and she is able to hear every sound, which only reveals the silence of her surroundings. Her solitude and loneliness causes her to be unable to recognize the beauty of her surroundings, and the world to her is dreary. In contrast to Tennyson's other poems, including The Lady of Shalott, there is no movement within Mariana. There is also a lack of a true ending within the poem, unlike the later version Mariana in the South, which reworks the poem so there is a stronger conclusion that can be found within death.

The character of Mariana is connected to Shakespeare's Measure for Measure; there is a direct quotation of Shakespeare's play in regards to a character of the same name. In Shakespeare's play, Mariana is rejected by the character Angelo and lives alone as she pines over her love. Tennyson's version is set in Lincolnshire, not Vienna as in the Shakespeare play. This makes the characters completely English. Additionally, the scene within the poem does not have any of the original context but the two works are connected in imagery with the idea of a dull life and a dejected female named Mariana. However, Tennyson is not the only one that uses the image; John Everett Millais's painting Mariana is based on Tennyson's version of Mariana and lines 9 through 12 of Tennyson's poem were used for the catalog description of the painting. Similarly, Millais's version served as the inspiration for Elizabeth Gaskell's novel, Mariana. Tennyson's Mariana and Gaskell's main character, Ruth, are sensitive to the sounds around them and are constantly looking out of their window in image that represents their imprisonment within their homes. The image of Mariana used by Tennyson and the later works are equally of a woman who is weary.

The depictions of Mariana by Tennyson and in later works are not the same. The difference with Millais's depiction is not in the image of a forlorn woman or of a woman who is unwilling to live an independent life; instead, it is her sexualized depiction that is greater than found in Tennyson. His version also removes the dreariness of Tennyson's and replaces it with a scene filled with vibrant colours. Gaskell's depiction is of Ruth is similar to Tennyson in her weariness and wanting to die. However, she is a sexually independent figure when she rejects her lover who has returned. Tennyson's character, on the other hand, would likely have happily accepted her lover. While Tennyson's character cannot recognize beauty within nature, Gaskell's character is able to turn to nature in order to gain spiritually in a manner similar to the Romantic poems, including Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth or This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. There is also a connection with Mariana's condition and the condition within Coleridge's Dejection: An Ode. However, the narrator at the end of Dejection is able to be roused into movement whereas Mariana never reaches that point. Furthermore, Mariana is unlike the Romantic poems because the character is not one with nature or able to achieve transcendence through imagination. Furthermore, there is little outside of Mariana that exists within the poem as Mariana's mood does not respond to changes in nature.

In terms of Tennyson's other poems, there is a strong connection between the character Mariana and Tennyson's other female characters. Both Mariana and Oriana have characters that experience a mental imprisonment, which are revealed in the poetic refrains. However, Oriana is able to have control over her own story when she serves as narrator of it while Mariana is denied control by Tennyson's use of a third-person narrative structure. The difference is further compounded by Oriana's imprisonment coming from her own memories while Mariana's is the external results of her lover having not returned. The character Fatima of Fatima is connected to Mariana simply because she is a reversal of Mariana's character: Fatima, like Mariana, waits for her lover but suffers from an intense passion that causes her to lose control over her mind while also being able to experience the world around her. The character Oenone of Oenone is a combination of aspects from both Mariana's and Fatima's characters. In the revised version Mariana in the South, the second Mariana is similar to the Lady of Shalott in that they both live in a world between fantasy and reality.