The scene of The Lady of Shallot that intrigued me the most is when she first begins looking at Sir Lancelot through the mirror, and the idea of her desiring him in a possibly romantic and/or sexual way is introduced. I found this scene most intriguing because of the nature of how it is written tied into her character - The Lady of Shallot is trapped, and as such she is presented to the readers as a character that is unable to act upon her desires since she cannot leave the tower. The very act of her looking at Sir Lancelot through the mirror can be read as going against the expectations that are set out for her, since it is her gaze that causes her to act out of the established norm as the poem progresses. The image that my group curated, which was the Hunt illustration of the Lady herself, was exemplary of this scene and placed the illustrators own ideas (based on the time of which they were being curated) onto the scene. It depicts the Lady as being one that, although trapped, is making an attempt to coninue to see Sir Lancelot and learn for herself whether she can move past her own entanglements.

Having texts and images conveying portrayals of certain issue speaks to our own cultural moment as being a reflection of it, since texts that are perceived in the modern day do the same thing. The characters that become the fous of a text or an image are used to tell a story about or make commentary on an issue that is going on in the world, during the time of its production. In this way the texts and images that we come into contact with are meant to be reflections of an issue going on in their moment. Even though this is the case, the meaning changes based on who is accessing the text/image and when they are accessing it. Everyone has different values and issues that they may be facing, and these issues at a personal level influence how someone may perceive a text as a whole. It changes what is being read into these texts and images and what is being recognized within them, making the meaning of a next and image non-linear for all readers.