She only said, ‘My life is dreary,
He cometh not,’ she said;
She said, ‘I am aweary, aweary,’
I would that I were dead!’
Mariana by John Everett Millais is a Victorian-era painting from 1851 that can be viewed at the Tate Britain museum in London. Millais drew inspiration from Tennyson’s poem “Mariana” and incorporated elements of the poem into the painting to create a narrative. The painting depicts the character of Mariana from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure sitting in a dark and gloomy room, surrounded by decaying objects, lost in thought about her past lover, Angelo, who abandoned her. The painting showcases Millais’s highly detailed and realistic style, which exemplifies the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Furthermore, the painting highlights the loneliness and isolation of women in Victorian society, as Mariana is shown to be trapped in her room, cut off from the world outside, and consumed by her own thoughts and memories. The display caption at the Royal Academy, containing lines from Tennyson’s poem, further reinforces the theme of isolation and despair.
| Mariana | 1851 |
| John Everett Millais | London, Tate Britain, United Kingdom |