Date Thesis Awarded
5-2020
Access Type
Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only
Degree Name
Bachelors of Arts (BA)
Department
English
Advisor
Henry Hart
Committee Members
Christopher MacGowan
Suzanne Raitt
Leisa Meyer
Abstract
This thesis argues that T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land is Eliot's version of a modern fertility ritual with women as the principal drivers of the narrative. Women show both the depth of desolation that spiritual bankruptcy brings, but ironically contain within them the hope and possibility for redemption. Through figures such as the Sybil, Madame Sosostris, Lil, Philomela, and Ganga, Eliot shows the full range of emotion and possibilities to be found in The Waste Land. Ultimately, women are the catalysts in the poem - they make up the steps of the fertility rituals set out by Jessie Weston in the book that so influenced Eliot: From Ritual to Romance. Ultimately, with the help of the women both in his life (Vivienne Eliot and Emily Hale) as well as those of ancient history and myth, Eliot completes his spiritual quest to find everlasting peace.
Recommended Citation
West, Angela Rose Granados, "Resurrecting the Women of The Waste Land" (2020). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 1527.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/1527
