Argue this thesis: “Lord Randal” dramatizes the conflict between love and the social structure within which the lovers find themselves.

In the poem “Lord Randal”, there is a conflict between love and social structure in which the lovers find themselves in. Lord Randal goes to see his lover who poisons him either metaphorically or physically to obtain his wealth. He later dies broken-hearted at home with his mother who loves him and pays a lot of attention to him, but who also may want his wealth. Lord Randal expected love from the relationship while his lover wanted money. The interaction between Lord Randal and his mother started as loving and caring, but it slowly turned to more questions and demands from the mother. Randal’s “true love” and desires conflict with the responsibilities that society expects of him. His mother focuses on the social structure and what is expected of Randal, which is taking care of his family financially and the woman he is involved with. This may be why his true love poisoned him, to gain wealth from his death. “Lord Randal” brings to life the clash between Lord Randal’s expectations for love and the reality he faces using incremental repetition, dialogue choices, and the creation of suspense and uncertainty. The poet uses incremental repetition to capture the reader’s attention on how society is structured and how it conflicts with love. Incremental repetition is using lines that are repeated with little changes that change the meaning of the context. One example from the poem is the first line of each stanza. The first line has always been the same, but different at the beginning. There are some differences, but it ends the same way with “Lord Randal, My son?” (1)The mother started to ask her son questions using the 5Ws ( who, where, when, why, what) to give the reader an idea of the poem and the storyline. In the last four stanzas, she changes the context of the question and the poem from being more caring to being more selfish. In the first line of the poem the mother says, “O where ha’ you been,”(1) which shows the reader that she is paying attention to her son, but later on when she asks, “What d’ye leave to your mother,” it shows that she only cares about what he owns and what he would do with his money. By using incremental repetition, this shows the reader that in society, the mother and the lover are more focused on their own financial security and well-being instead of love. Therefore, the poet uses incremental repetition to focus on the conflict between social structure and love.

The use of dialogue in the poem reveals Lord Randal's role in the family as well as his mother's true intentions. The dialogue between Randal and his mother is important because it tells us what happened in the poem and reveals that his true love poisoned him. The dialogue also revealed his role as the head of his family and the social structure he is placed under. This includes“[his] gold and [his] silver” (31), which provides money for his sister, as well as “[his] house and [his] lands” (35), which Randal leaves to his brother once he dies. The dialogue and questioning between Randal and his mother helped Randal realize he was poisoned and his true love was the one that poisoned him. In the beginning, when Randal first got home, his mother asked where he was. Randal answered that he was in the forest and asked his mother to make his bed because he was tired and wanted to rest. Even from the very first stanza, the forest suggests a place that is filled with danger and uncertainty. The mother continues to ask questions about who he was with and what he ate. He replied that he was with his true love and ate fish and broth. At this time, Randal was really tired and was getting more impatient as he kept on rushing his mother to make the bed. The final question Randal’s mother asked was what happened to the leftover food and Randal responded that the hawks and hounds ate it. Randal then realizes that he had been poisoned, as the hounds and hawks that ate the leftovers had all died. He realized that his tiredness from hunting was the combination of poison and the sickness of his heart after being betrayed by his true love. After Randal’s mother discovered this information, she asked him for money rather than worrying about him and helping him. It changes from her asking how he is feeling to her asking about his wealth and what he will do with it when he dies. It was almost as if she knew from the very beginning what had happened and only asked the questions to confirm her thoughts. In the beginning, she said “O I fear you are poisoned” which shows the reader that she is scared to lose her son, but then she says “ What d’ye leave to your mother”(25) that shows the reader that she is selfish, and she only cares about the wealth more than her son. Thus, the conflict between Lord Randal’s love and his role within his family is revealed through the dialogue.

The poem creates suspense and uncertainty because at the beginning, the reader is unaware that Randal has been poisoned or why he was poisoned. Lord Randal thinks he is eating a meal made with love; however, it was poisoned, creating ballad irony. As more information is revealed in each verse, the suspense builds up until he admits that he was poisoned at which point Randal becomes wary of his love and eventually feels sick. After the truth has been revealed, Randal becomes “sick at the heart” (24) as his true love’s image has been shattered. When one loves someone, they only see them in a positive light, and not the negative things they are capable of. True love may not always be “true” and instead, a one-sided or self-serving love. Lord Randal is also unsure of the reason, but does not leave her anything and is very bitter towards her as seen when he states “I leave her hell and fire” (39). This is because he feels betrayed and lied to. The reason that his true love poisoned him could either be that she wants somebody else or she wants his wealth. Suspense is further created when Lord Randal’s dogs died, which foreshadows what might happen to Lord Randal later in the story. Confirmed by the last stanzas, Lord Randal was poisoned and is close to death since he ate the same food his dogs ate. The mother and the son seemed to have a good relationship from the outside, but if you go deeper, this relationship is not the caring relationship that the audience can see on the outside. The son wants his mom to make his bed, but the mother keeps demanding answers. It is almost as if the mother does not want to “make his bed” or in other words, let him die, until all the affairs are in order. This is another example of uncertainty and allows the ending to be more shocking and unexpected because it reveals the personality flaws of both the mother and the lover, which are not something the reader can pick out at first. Hence, suspense and uncertainty are created in the poem through exposing Randal’s conflict regarding his true love and the questionable love his mother shows towards him. “Lord Randal” can dramatize the conflict between love and the social structure through incremental repetition, dialogue between characters, and the creation of suspense and uncertainty. Although Lord Randal thinks his true love loves him, the truth is that she is willing to give up their love. Through incremental repetition, the reader is meant to pay more attention to the societal expectations of Randal as said by the mother, rather than his relationship with his lover. Through the dialogue of the poem, the reader can have a better understanding of the role Lord Randal has in his family as well as the context of the story. The creation of suspense and uncertainty helps the reader speculate why Lord Randal has been poisoned. All of these methods used in writing the poem enhances the conflict between love and social structure.