Answer: The central conflict is described from verse five to eight, it describes the life of the lady. She suffers from a mysterious curse and has to continually create images in her head without directly seeing the outside, the world. Rather, she looks into a mirror reflecting the busy road and the people of Camelot passing his island. The reflected images are described as "shadows of the world", a metaphor that clarifies that they are a bad substitute for looking directly at the world ("I am half-sick of shadows", "I am tired of the shadows").
Critics like Hatfield suggested that The Lady of Shalott is a representation of how Tennyson viewed society; the distance at which other people are before the lady's eyes is symbolic of the distance she feels with society. The fact that she only sees them reflected by a mirror points to the way Shalott and Tennyson see the world. This distance is therefore linked to the artistic license used by Tennyson.
Explanation: The poem is based on the legend of King Arthur by Elaine de Astolat, as an account of a 13th century Italian novel titled Donna di Scalotta. Tennyson focused on the isolation of the Lady in the tower and her decision to participate in the living world, two matters not even mentioned in Donna di Scalotta.
The first four stanzas of the poem describe a pastoral setting. The Lady of Shalott lives in an island castle in a river that flows to Camelot, but local farmers know little about her.
From stanza nine to twelve, it describes "Lord Lancelot" when he is riding a horse and is seen by the lady.
The remaining seven stanzas describe what produces seeing Lancelot in the lady; ceasing to create images in his head and sees Camelot from his window, leaving behind the curse. He leaves his tower, finds a boat on which he writes his name, and sails downriver to Camelot. She dies before reaching the palace. Among the gentlemen and ladies who saw her is Lancelot, who thinks she is beautiful.
