Discuss Christina Rossetti's presentation of love in her poem 'A Triad'.

Rossetti explores the effects that love has on Victorian women in 'A Triad' through her presentation of 'Three' distinct women. Although described as individuals, these three can also be seen as symbolic representations of the options for women in Victorian society. Rossetti's use of colour is central in both distinguishing the women and demonstrating their symbolic nature. Each woman is assigned a particular colour: 'Crimson' for the first, the white of 'snow' for the second and 'blue' for the last. In Victorian society, red was often associated with 'fallen', or sexually active, women, whilst white was linked to the idealised image of the pure and perfect woman. The colour blue does not have such a clear social meaning, but when read alongside the reference to 'famine' suggests illness or even death. The association of each woman with a colour creates an immediate and vivid image in the reader's mind of their situations and differences. These situations can be seen as a result of their experiences of love, since the poem's opening line states that the women 'sang of love together', which both unifies them and suggests that love is central to their characterisation. The position of these women as representative of all women in Victorian society is suggested by the social connotations of the colours used to describe them. Therefore, the strong distinction between the three, achieved effectively through the use of colour, can be seen to imply that the poem presents the only options for Victorian women. The importance of love to the women's situations is suggested both by the repeated reference to 'love' throughout the poem and the societal use of red and white to comment on women's sexual activities in the Victorian era. Rossetti ends the poem on a negative note, with all three women 'short of life'. If the women are seen to represent all possibilities for Victorian women, then the poem can be read as a social critique of the position of women, since any approach to love must fall into one of the three categories outlined, none of which ends in happiness.