8406672
Description
Mind Map by Chloe Anderson, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Chloe Anderson
over 7 years ago
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Characterisation of Lamia
- According to ancient myth, Lamia
was a half-woman, half-monster... or
a woman who became a monster, or
gave birth to monsters... or a
creature who ate children, or
devoured men. Keats offers a single,
coherent narrative that
acknowledges these complex
traditions and adds his own
commentary on them.
- Opening of the Poem
- The opening of the poem (lines 1-34) establishes
that its events took place long, long ago, in a
forest far, far away. Its first events don't concern
Lamia at all, but the god Hermes, who is
pursuing a nymph whom he desires. It's quite
clear that this is an intense and potentially
destructive passion: Hermes is described as
'bent warm on amorous theft' (line 8). In setting
the stage this way, Keats subtly critiques the
misogyny, or prejudice against women, of some
versions of Lamia's legend, demonstrating that
sexually predatory beings can be male as well as
female.
- Hermes, sulking, overhears Lamia say
that she wants to 'move in a sweet
body fit for life, / And love, and
pleasure, and the ruddy strife / Of
hearts and lips!' (lines 39-41). That
means exactly what it sounds like.
And it's worth noting that Lamia's
sensual desires here are not about
consuming others but about being
who she wants to be
- The comparisons to multiple
animals suggest possibilities
about the snake's character
(swift, dangerous, vain?). In the
last few lines of this example,
the mysterious nature of the
snake is made even more
explicit; Keats suggests that
she might be a victim of evil,
linked to evil, or the
embodiment of evil.
- This ambiguity continues in subsequent
lines. Lamia is compared to Proserpine,
who, according to mythology, was
kidnapped by the god of the underworld;
but Keats also reminds the reader that 'her
throat was serpent' (line 64), and she
speaks with a sinister sweetness, as
'through bubbling honey' (line 65). In the
ensuing exchange, Lamia and Hermes strike
a bargain: she will help him find the nymph
he wants if he will restore her to a woman's
form, so that she can pursue Lycius, a
young man of Corinth.
- The opening of the poem (lines 1-34) establishes
that its events took place long, long ago, in a
forest far, far away. Its first events don't concern
Lamia at all, but the god Hermes, who is
pursuing a nymph whom he desires. It's quite
clear that this is an intense and potentially
destructive passion: Hermes is described as
'bent warm on amorous theft' (line 8). In setting
the stage this way, Keats subtly critiques the
misogyny, or prejudice against women, of some
versions of Lamia's legend, demonstrating that
sexually predatory beings can be male as well as
female.
- Imagery represented through Lamia's characterisation
- Lamia herself symbolises
any person or thing that
seems to be attractive but
is actually destructive. She
is half-snake, half-woman –
beautiful but deadly.
- Disguised by her ‘full-born’ beauty, Lamia entices
Lycius into a relationship which is notable for its
blissful obliviousness to the outside world and
the house where they live becomes a symbol of
retreat from the ‘real’ world
- The main theme of the poem concerns the
tension between appearance and reality.
Lamia’s beauty is superficial and
destructive. However, Keats seems
ambivalent about the coldly scientific
attitude expressed by Apollonius.
- Lamia herself symbolises
any person or thing that
seems to be attractive but
is actually destructive. She
is half-snake, half-woman –
beautiful but deadly.
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