Lamia Flashcards
Lamia
- in beginning, Lamia helps Hermes by granting him to the nymph only if she can be transformed into woman so she can be with Lycius. Lamia is determined to be with Lycius forever without having to reveal her true identity (serpent)
- tragedy: Lamia going against nymph’s wishes helps kick start tragedy - along with Hermes. Mythical creatures, such as Lamia, will be brought down by reality/logic - a character possibly sympathised with.
- Lamia represents fantasy and super-nature. Lamia represents Fanny Brawne - the woman Keats was deciding whether or not to get engaged too.
personalty traits:
- manipulation
- enchantment
- weakness
- innocence
- falsehood
- myth
Lamia as dangerous/evil/powerful (32-192)
- ‘penanced lady elf, some demon’s mistress, or the demon’s self’
- ‘elfin blood in madness ran, her mouth foamed, and the grass, therewith besprent’: this demonstrates how the mythical presence is being removed, and she’s also presented as a contrast “so sweet and virtulent” (Keats struggled with money at this point so this can link to cold reality and invigorating fantasy’) - her blood is sweet, yet it destroyed the grass.
- ‘Nothing but pain and ugliness were left’ - her change to into beautiful woman still showed ugly truth.
Lamia as manipulative/powerful (246-409)
‘not with cold wonder fearingly, but Orpheus-like at an Eurydice’ - looking at Lamia would cause tragic events. Orpheus was a great musician and poet in greek mythology and was married to the nymph and daughter of Apollo, Eurydice. After their marriage she was pursued by Aristaeus (God of shepherds and cheesemaking). In an attempt to evade him she was bitten by a snake and died. Orpheus went to the underworld to play music in order to try to bring her back to Earth.
- ‘Delicious were the words she sung’, ‘he had loved them a whole summer long’, ‘his eyes had drunk her beauty up’ - demonstrates her manipulative power and how she’s enchanting Lycius to love her.
- ‘her new lips to his, and gave a fresh’, ‘too sweet for earthly lyres’ - seduction through use of mythical magic, reflects that lamia is still a mythical creature
Lamia victimised (614-end)
‘Full on the alarmed beauty of the bride, brow-beating her fair form, and troubling her sweet bride’ - shows presence of Apollonius is causing Lamia great distress as she is aware of the upcoming events. This is empathised by use of abusive and plosive language, yet this is contradicted by ‘fair form’ which is an example of fricative implying softness and innocence.
- ‘Lamia, no longer fair, there sat a deadly white’ - presents Lamia as victim as her removal out of Lycius’ life has caused her to suffer and become ‘deadly white’ implying end of supernatural realm being in real world. All beauty she once had, has gone.
Lycius
Role: protagonist + tragic hero
Links to tragedy: Hubris: believes he has power over magical Lamia. He is enthralled by Lamia, he’s under her spell and has no anagnorisis
Traits: handsome, stoic, like a young Jove (God like), ‘head in the clouds’
representation: could be Keats, a man who falls for a woman but is warned it will only result in tragedy.
“like a young Jove with calm uneager face” (about Lycius)
AO2: It is tragic that Lycius is referred to as a god as he dies a mortal death
AO4: reference to Jove could show harmatia as Zeus is very confident character. This could be represented in the idea that Lycius thinks he can dominate Lamia
AO5: Lycius could be seen to blame for his own downfall for his confidence in his power over Lamia, a beast that can’t be controlled.
“He, sick to lose the amorous promise of her lone complain, swooned, murmuring of love, and pale with pain”
AO2:the use of plosives “pale with pain” make it seem as though he is truly suffering, being struck or panting in desperateness
AO4: shows tragic connotation Keats has with love. For him there can’t be love without suffering, this could be connected to his real life where he was ill much of the time he loved Fanny Brawne
AO5: Keats showing he connects love with sickness and fragility “sick to lose”.
“Lycius started - the sounds fled, but left a thought, a buzzing in his head”
AO2: use of verb “buzzing” shows Keats sees reality as a nuisance and interference with fantasy.
AO4: could show Lycius’ Hamartia, he lets reality plant its tragic seed in his head instead of simply embracing fantasy and living forever
AO5: this could be seen as Lycius bringing his own downfall as he doesn’t dismiss or ignore trumpet, he lets it fester in his head and with that his hubris forms.
“Lycius’ arms were empty of daylight, as were his limbs of life”
AO2: idea that Lycius has no daylight to hold on to could be Keats highlighting that reality corrupts fantasy and makes it obselete. He would be embracing Lamia but reality and logic has rendered invisible.
AO4: This quote highlights Lycius as a victim not a contributor to his own downfall. This adds strength to the argument that it is Apollonius who is the villain.
AO5: This could reflect Keats distrust and suspicious nature of love, the quote could make it seem like he saw love as something he would give his all to, only to see it disappear from him.
Apollonius
Role: old philosopher is an old philosopher who was previously Lycius’ master. He comes to wedding uninvited and freezes Lamia and forces her to disappear after seeing through her illusion, then Lycius dies.
representation: Keats uses him to represent reality in juxtaposition to Lamia. Apollonius represents battle between fantasy (Lamia) and reality
links to tragedy: He can be viewed as antagonist and can be seen as tragic as he causes Lamia to disappear, causing sympathy of Lamia and negative opinion of Apollonius
Traits: can be viewed as villainous, logical, wise, careless
“with curly grey beard, sharp eyes, and smooth bald crown”
AO2: first description, initially creates image of someone who is basic and straightforward, portraying the idea of reality.
AO4: Lycius talks of Apollonius as a ‘good instructor’ and a ‘ghost of folly’ at first. Later in the poem in his attempt to save Lycius, he ‘murders’ Lamia suggesting that, despite being a ‘trusty guide’ of Lycius, he is in fact a villain. However, whether Apollonius can be seen as a
victim at the end is debatable. Perhaps the blurred line is not between victim
and villain but between hero and villain, though it is easiest to conclude that he
is the latter, for his actions are not congratulated but mourned.
AO5: Allegory for: Charles Brown - Keats’ critics - Science/Rationalism and Reason (lamia)
“And with calm/planted steps walked in austere. ‘Twas Apollonius: something too he laughed…”
AO2: word ‘austere’ suggests a stern, strict attitude in Apollonius, arguably suggesting confidence. Especially accompanied with the laugh
AO4: the laugh could suggest foreshadowing as it could show he’s figured out what is happening, showing reality overcoming fantasy, leading to the tragic downfall of Lamia and Lycius
‘for the sage, let spear-grass and the spiteful thistle wage war on his temples.’ (637-end)
AO2: Keats being a subjective narrator as language he uses is suggesting Apollonius is the antagonist, by using language of pain to portray his opinions.
‘philosophy will clip an angels wings’
AO2: Keats showing key conflict of poem using metaphor to portray how reality affects fantasy
AO4: relates to tragedy as it could potentially foreshadow the events of tragic downfall, where Apollonius (reality) destroys Lamia (fantasy)
“To under perplex bliss from/its neighbour pain”
themes: shame, inevitability, reality, imagination
AO2: Keats suggests that you can’t have “bliss” without “pain”, implying that “bliss” of love has an inevitable tragedy in that it has undoubted “pain” in reality as no love is perfect. Existence of “bliss” love is therefore always defeated by reality which society confines it, and to which Apollonius represents with his, “keen, cruel, perceant, stinging” eyes.
AO3: This could contextually link to Keats love with Fanny Brawne; he had strong feelings for her but was ultimately burdened by the pain of rejection and illness he possessed.
AO4; Image of bliss followed by pain is a common element in Keats’ work, from the unattainable love in this poem, to Lycius’ pitiful and superificial love of Lamia. In ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’, the knights blissful relationship with the Faery’s child is concluded with his banishment to the ‘cold-hill side’.
Ao5: “The union of joy and pain is the fundamental act of human experience that Keats has observed and accepted to be true. (Wright Thomas- “World of imagination provides a release from reality, yet at the same time it renders world of actuality more painful by contrast (Cleanth Brooks)
