The picture tells us much.

~Boromir's gaze is firmly fixed on the ring. His eyeline never varies. Boromir's expression is of total focus on the ring. In the snowy landscape sound is dulled and the presence of others diminished. In fixing himself on the ring we see that Boromir is obeseesed and tempted by it. The ring itself shows no sign of offering any temptation, this is all shown in Boromir's expression. Though the offeror the ring is utterly inanimate, hanging seemingly passively on the end of the chain. Yet from the expression of Boromir we know that some sort of interaction between object and subject is taking place. Boromir's expression is the reflection of the ring's temptation.

~The chain is an important element in the image. While fixing his eyes on the ring Boromir never contemplates the chain. The chain reminds us of the price of temptation. This is the 'one ring to bind them' and the cost of this 'little thing,' as Boromir calls it is to be bound to the Dark Lord. In not once casting his eye to the chain Boromir reminds us that he thinks only of wielding the ring and not of the cost.

~The image on the glove is the tree of Gondor. This reminds us that Boromir sees the destiny of the ring tied to the survival of his home. Though this is a noble intention the overrall impression of the picture is that the obsession with the ring has become more personal since the Council of Elrond.

This image is a rounded portrait of Boromir. It encourages us to see that Boromir's whole psychology is tied to Gondor but it has maybe put him off guard againts the power of the ring to tempt him personally.

There are very few tones in the frame and much contrast. The black of the glove is set against the white of the background. The remaining tones of Boromir's hair and skin tone draw us into the gold of the ring. The impression is of obsessional aloneness with the object of that obsession. Boromir is unaware of Frodo nearby or that Aragorn stands ready to draw his sword. Neither are we for the image draws us closer to the object that is at this moment corrupting the noble intention of the man of Gondor.

Look again at the gaze. At once the eyes are focussed on the ring. And yet looking again there is a suggestion that they look a way beyond. At what we can only surmise: the salvation of Gondor and of men or maybe a vision of personal domination of Middle Earth by Boromir himself

~ And yet the ring swings on the end of the chain like a hangman's noose. A portent of Boromir's ultimate fate realised later in the film.