The woodblock engraving depicts the Lady of Shalott in the second after looking out the window at the forbidden view of Camelot (and the rest of the world outside her tower). The mirror she is allowed to use as a viewing portal is not clearly portrayed. Instead, the windows in her room--or circular gateways--are occupied by Jesus Christ on the cross and the knight Lancelot riding away from the Lady to Camelot, respectively. Her weaving tapestry has gone haywire and appears to fill nearly half the illustration from the bottom-up. It seems to encircle and almost frame the window that contains Sir Lancelot. @Elizabeth Nelson, Ladies of Shalott: A Victorian Masterpiece and its Contexts, ed. George P. Landow, 1985, November 30 2004, Victorianweb.org, 12 February 2011 <http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/tennyson/los2.html>This is an indication that Lancelot is linked to her doom and imminent death. Aside from symbolizing the creative work of an artist, her tapestry may also represent the life of an artist. Evidently this would mean that if an artist allows their life to be consumed by emotions (such as the Lady’s infatuation and admiration of Sir Lancelot), their natural human weaknesses make way for them to reach their mortality. @George P. Landow, Tennyson's Poetic Project, http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/tennyson/im/improject.html (February 2010)

    The Lady of Shalott represents creativity and artistic spirit. Hunt’s illustration carries on the theme of isolationism which is originally provided by Tennyson’s poem. He stresses the Lady’s turmoil with the erratic character of the tapestry unraveling, and contrasts that with her untroubled expression and Lancelot riding away in the distance. This leaves the viewer with a sense of Hunt’s initial thoughts and impression upon reading the poem. His oil painting (which was also created to accompany the poem) possesses few differences and slightly different details than the wood block engraving, yet the message remains the same: the Lady of Shalott is doomed.

 

    Similarly, the Lady of Shalott possesses a calm and composed look, while her world is slowly deteriorating around her. Therefore, it is evident that Hunt’s choice of depicting the Lady at her moment of awareness was a deliberate remark. In the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood Journals, Hunt explains, that the Lady he depicted represents the defeat of a being that has a preordained responsibility. Upon giving into her carnal desires in pursuit of love (or perhaps companionship), ruination befalls her and her creation is destroyed. @Elizabeth Nelson, Ladies of Shalott: A Victorian Masterpiece and its Contexts, ed. George P. Landow, 1985, November 30 2004, Victorianweb.org, 12 February 2011 <http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/tennyson/los2.html>As an artist, Hunt is familiar with Earthly temptations and distractions that appear to an individual. Through the painting, he gives a clearer presentation of this theme of artist isolationism and the rebellion of an artist to these binds. Capturing her at the exact instant of artistic rebellion, his Pre-Raphaelitic disposition demands of him to display her attempt at defiance. However, her resistance is obviously met with negligence and indifference; she is inevitably going to die. @Sharyn R. Udall, "Between Dream and Shadow: William Holman Hunt's "Lady of Shalott"", Woman's Art Journal (Summer, 1990) 34-38, JSTOR,Woman's Art, Inc., 10 Feb 2011 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1358385>