Leaving the Loom

The Lady of Shalott is a legend revolving around a story within the Arthurian legends about a woman living outside Camelot who is under a curse and has to continually weave a tapestry. She cannot step away from her weaving or she will die as a result of the curse. She watches the world through a mirror facing the window, unable to turn and experience the outside world first hand. When Lancelot comes from Camelot, she leaves her tapestry and goes to the window to see him. Because she did this, she has to die, and she goes to lay in a boat to float down the river for the townspeople to see.

People are fascinated with this story. Many pre-Raphaelites, painters in the 19th century, painted scenes from the story (made famous by Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem) over and over again. These works are still popular today, featured in art museums across the globe and capturing the attention of many visitors. Two particular works that feature different parts of the story are John Waterhouse’s and William Holman Hunt’s “The Lady of Shalott”.

In the Waterhouse painting, we see the Lady boarding the boat, a look of remorse and fear on her face as she faces death. This painting is rather vivid in its color, drawing attention to her hair and face and the tapestry draped over the boat. She also wears a white dress, which represents her innocence and helplessness in this situation.

The painting by Holman Hunt features a different part of the story. It shows the Lady of Shalott at her tapestry, weaving, while Lancelot appears in the window behind her. There is a lot of motion in the painting, between her pose and her wild hair flying above her and Lancelot riding up valiantly in the window. The tapestry itself, lying on the loom, adds to the detail and stimulation of the painting.

In both of these paintings, the Lady of Shalott is helpless. In Waterhouse’s, the expression on her face shows her worry and she looks as though she’s being led forward by something outside of herself and she’s unable to stop it. The chain she’s gripping could also be symbolic of the curse that binds her and chains her to this fate. Waterhouse paints her as a passive subject. This curse is happening to her, forcing her to board a boat and die, and she can’t do anything about it.

In Holman Hunt’s painting, the Lady’s pose and the motion in the painting gives us the impression that she’s in control. However, the clutter around her and the fact that she’s stuck in the tapestry loom shows that she’s just as trapped as the figure in Waterhouse’s interpretation. She looks focused and weighted down by this task. The threads from the tapestry she’s weaving are wrapped around her, showing that she’s entangled in this curse and won’t ever get to experience the world.

These paintings give us part of a story; a myth that has enamored people for many years. People love stories of King Arthur and medieval legends and learning about history. The emotion in this story that is expressed in the paintings helps us to step into that world and understand the Lady of Shalott. Both artists do a wonderful job of capturing the essence of this story, which attracts the attention of art enthusiasts all over the world.