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What happens to the Lady of Shalott when she sees Sir Lancelot?
Quick answer:
When the Lady of Shalott sees Sir Lancelot, she is compelled to look directly at him, breaking the conditions of her curse. The mirror cracks, and she leaves her tower, gets into a boat, and sails toward Camelot, singing a song of death. Ultimately, she dies as a result of activating the curse.
Part II of this narrative poem begins with the explanation of why the Lady of Shalott is forbidden from looking at anything outside her window:
No time hath she to sport and play:A charmed web she weaves alway.A curse is on her, if she stayHer weaving, either night or day,To look down to Camelot.She knows not what the curse may be;Therefore she weaveth steadily,Therefore no other care hath she,
She left the web, she left the loom She made three paces thro' the room She saw the water-flower bloom, She saw the helmet and the plume, She look'd down to Camelot.
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