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'Ulysses' As A Critique On Victorian Imperialism

Tennyson's 'Ulysses' critiques Victorian imperialism through the character of an aged Ulysses who yearns for exploration and self-discovery, reflecting the era's spirit of expansion. The poem juxtaposes Ulysses' adventurous nature with his son Telemachus' role as a civilizer, embodying the Victorian ideal of the 'white man's burden.' Ultimately, Ulysses' determination to seek new worlds symbolizes both a personal quest against death and the imperialistic drive of the time.

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247 views2 pages

'Ulysses' As A Critique On Victorian Imperialism

Tennyson's 'Ulysses' critiques Victorian imperialism through the character of an aged Ulysses who yearns for exploration and self-discovery, reflecting the era's spirit of expansion. The poem juxtaposes Ulysses' adventurous nature with his son Telemachus' role as a civilizer, embodying the Victorian ideal of the 'white man's burden.' Ultimately, Ulysses' determination to seek new worlds symbolizes both a personal quest against death and the imperialistic drive of the time.

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bablumodak9800
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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'Ulysses' as a critique on Victorian imperialism

Intro: Tennyson's 'Ulysses' is inspired both by Homer's 'Odyssey' and


Dante's 'Divine Comedy'. Tennyson has used both the sources in this
dramatic monologue. Tennyson has the mastery to blend myth with reality.
His poems like 'Tithonus', 'The Lotos Eaters', also depict mythical tales with
Victorian implications. This poem also reflects Victorian imperialism in its
connotations and overtones.

In the poem the speaker Ulysses is no longer the hero of the Trojan War.
He is an aged king "Match'd with an aged wife". Ulysses laments the
restrictions that prevent him from his freedom---"I cannot rest from
travel". Travel for Ulysses is a process of mental development as well as a
life of commitment. He knows that he has "become a name". He has
become a sign of his time.

Ulysses is not afraid of death. But he is afraid of waiting for death. His
journey has been a process of self-discovery. He has travelled far and long.
Yet "all experience is an arch" to show him "Gleams that untravell'd
world".

Ulysses feels that "Life piled on life/Were all too little," for him. To reach
out for something unreachable becomes the only way to reveal the best of
oneself. Ulysses feels that it is a life of action that can bring new ideas
before the final sleep. So he boasts "I will drink/Life to the lees".

Tennyson's Ulysses is no doubt a man of curiosity and courage who wants


to move on till death. But he is also a voice of Victorian imperialism.
Victorian age is marked by exploration and expansion. It is the age of
discovery and settling new colonies. When Ulysses introduces his son
Telemachus, his praise of his son reveals the character of a cunning
administrator. Telemachus has the ability "by slow prudence to make
mild /A rugged people".
While Ulysses is exploring new worlds, his son may do his duty to tame the
savage people of conquered lands. When Ulysses addresses his mariners
and says "’T is not too late to seek a newer world.", his tone reflects the
Victorian spirit. It was a part of Victorian white man's burden to civilise the
world using education, poetry and criticism.

The concluding line of the poem is suggestive both as myth and reality.
Ulysses no doubt wants to move on because travelling for him is the means
of conquering death. As he urges the mariners to move on, his voice is
optimistic for they can "touch the Happy Isles,/ And see the great
Achilles". So this journey will glorify him forever. Yet the last line deserves
more attention. Ulysses boldly comments that, "To strive, to seek, to find,
and not to yield." The line clearly echoes Satan's words in Milton's
'Paradise Lost' Book I, "And the courage never to submit or yield." As a
hero, born with Victorian spirit this Ulysses may represent the imperialistic
attitude to life. He will seek and strive to find new land and never surrender
until death.

Tennyson may be caught between (confused) his personal struggle to


understand death as self-dissolution and the more aggressive ideology of
conquest and self-assertion.

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