According to thefreedictionary.com, a femme fatale is a woman of great seductive charm who leads a man into trouble or comprising events. This same definition applies to the poem “La Belle Dame Sans Merci.” The poem by John Keats, a man describes a lady who is so lovely but eventually leads him to troubling events. Through the theory of femme fatales, and “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” (The beautiful lady with no pity) the poem portrays the woman as evil through the dangers of her appearance, personality, romance, and power. The poem shows that love is not what it appears to be and leads the eager, gullible knight to compromising situations.
The narrator meets a pale broken hearted knight loitering in the forest. The pale knight describes a beautiful woman as “faery’s child” (15) with “wild eyes” (16) to the narrator. The woman is beautiful but she is cruel. She does everything in her power to get the pale knight to fall in love with her. First, she uses her beauty and charm to seduce the knight by saying she loves him. Then she invites him to her “elfin grot” (small cave) (29). There she makes him fall asleep and he has nightmares of pale kings and queens shouting “La Belle Dame Sans Merci.” The knight wakes to find himself on a cold hillside all alone and no beautiful woman to be found.
The Woman with no pity uses her appearance to lure the knight in to her ways. This strategy is common practice for a seductress or an enchantress. For example, the popular girl in high school who would flirt with the smart guys just to get them to help her with her homework or other things she needed. The seductress in the poem flirts with the knight to bring him back to her “elfin grot” (small cave) to use him for pleasure (29). The enchantress ...
... middle of paper ...
...e” as another deluded lover dooms himself” (137). His interpretation of her gestures (flirting with him) is what leads him to his fate. He is left on the hillside with a broken heart because he was gullible and eager for the woman to love him. He should not have rushed into believing that he was in love with the woman when actually, he barely knew her. Love is not rushed; however, it is learned over time.
Works Cited
Bloom, Harold. How to Read and Why. NY: Scribner, 2002.Print
Keats, John. “La Belle Dame Sans Merci.” Poetry Readings. Composition and Literature; English 1102 (Professor Benita Muth). Macon State College. March 2012. MSC Vista Platform.Web.
Little, Judy. Keats as a Narrative Poet. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1975.Print.
Moise, Edwin. “Keat’s LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI.” Explicator 50.2 (1992): 73. Print
As is custom with Marie De France, her lai “Lanval” presents the idea of a romance in which the power of fairies and/or magic is present and works to aid or hurt the romance in question. In the case of “Lanval” magic and fairies come to the aid of our protagonist Lanval, and ultimately lead to the formation of a romantic relationship in his life. However, Lanval faces a dilemma as he talks of his love to the fairy woman while rejecting the Queen’s love, and thus realizes he will never be able to see his beloved again, as she had told him never to speak of their romance or he would lose her. Luck turns in his favor though, as even after having spoken of their love, his beloved returns and they leave together. Many may speculate as to why Marie
The phrase ‘femme fatale’ originated during early twentieth-century in the English language but existed as an image during the nineteenth-century in French literature, it implied that women consciously seduced and ruined men by using their potent sexual charms for evil. The ‘femme’ was given more distinct qualities by Virginia M. Allen in her book The Femme Fatale. The ‘femme’ is described as a beautiful, erotic, seductive,
The ideal man is brave and strong, and in The Lady of the House of Love, the soldier is unafraid despite the strangeness of the surroundings, and remains untroubled when the Countess reveals that he shall be her prey. Therefore, it could be said that he fits the typical masculine role. However, it is abundantly clear that he is a rational character, and so does not believe in the supernatural; therefore, it may be said that he is not heroic, but simply ignorant – he is not afraid, because he is unaware that there is something to be afraid of. Whilst the soldier is rational and protective, some of the masculine and feminine roles in the story have been switched: the soldier is good, kind, and gentle, whereas the Countess is cruel and sadistic – this is illustrated by their behavior with the lark. The countess enjoys keeping the lark trapped, and takes pleasure from the control, whereas the soldier releases it from its cage with “a lift of joy in his heart” (Carter 123). This reversal f gender roles can also be seen in the Countess’ assertion of power over men. The traditional, extremely sexual, scene depicts a male vampire feeding on a female, but by taking on the role of the vampire, the Countess becomes the predator and the villain. Typically, women are the submissive gender, but Carter
After meeting with the knight, La Belle allows him to temporarily make her his object of affection. Quite coyly, she returns this affection with her looks of love and "sweet moans" (19, 20).
The issue of betrayed expectations in love from is confronted in both The Prince’s Progress and Goblin Market. In both stories the topic of the power of temptation to entice man from the worthy and earnest work of life is common. In Goblin Market the temptations are both resisted and overcome; in The Prince’s Progress they succeed over the main characters. Also, in the case of Goblin Market the main temptations taking over Laura were sensory and in the end were equated with sexual pleasures. She allowed the goblin men to ravage and soil her with the juices of their fruits with the end objective as Lizzie breaking away from her spell. Only one of the two central temptations, lust, in The Prince's Progress prevents the understanding of the implied ideal that married bliss is not only...
It is seen even in the first tale told – The Knight’s Tale – that the women portrayed within it are not passive at all, but, as previously stated, manage to persuade the males in charge to help them or do what they feel should be done. In the tale itself, the weeping of women is seen twice, and both times their weeping influences the men’s actions.
Which is caused by the narrator having a male perspective. The narrator does not give the women and credit or redeeming qualities. All the women follow a general stereotype. If they tried to break away from the stereotype, they would me more important and influential characters. Paquette, a chambermaid in the Baron’s castle, is described as “a pretty and obedient brunette” (5). She is identified obedient not because of her job as a chambermaid, but because she is willing to exploit her soul and body to the men around the castle. In regards to the old woman, she doesn’t even have an actual name, which does not matter since is ugly and useless. The old woman has the mindset that she is; an object; a mistake; a disgrace. That her time has passed as a beautiful useful woman. All the rape and abuse has physically affected her and she is out of luck. In fact, she is lucky if men talk to her, or even look at her without
Lanval, a handsome knight, falls desperately in love with a beautiful maiden, who grants the knight her love on the condition that he keep their bliss in full secrecy. Upon returning home, Lanval is confronted by Guinevere, who attempts to seduce him . After her initial advances are rejected, the Queen tries a new tactic, attacking Lanval 's masculinity: "I have been told often enough that you have no desire for women. Base coward, wicked recreant, my lord is extremely unfortunate to have suffered you near him. " By questioning Lanval 's worthiness to serve by Arthur, Guinevere is questioning Lanval 's very status as a knight, and once again we see a knightly protagonist put into a hopeless situation as many of his chivalric duties--- courteousness to the Queen, faithfulness to his King, honesty and loyalty to his lover, and defense of his own honor--- are forced into an unresolvable conflict. Lanval defends his honor and honors his King 's trust, but breaks his promise to his lover and grievously insults the Queen: "I love and am loved by a lady who should be prized above all others... you can be sure that one of her servants, even the very poorest girl, is worth more than you, my lady the Queen, in body, face and beauty, wisdom and goodness. " Lanval 's inability to simultaneously commit to all of his knightly responsibilities is comically underscored by his polite hesitation ("my lady the Queen") even
Despite the fact that this lady was supposedly untouchable due to her status as “taken” this man or rather knight made it his mission to win her over or it was his mission to please her. This Knight would go to great lengths sometimes setting into long journeys, battling other knights and going into chivalric adventures in what is known as the other world. This knight or the courtly lover is like a slave to this passionate, romantic love for example in the tale “Le Chevalier de la charrette”, a courtly romance whose hero obeys every imperious and unreasonable demand of the heroine. A slave willing to put his own life at risk in order to show his love and passion for this one woman. For example, In “Lancelot, the Knight of Cart” Lancelot first part is a physical quest though driven by love, the knight tries to rescue Guinevere. However, once he finds her, he does not stop, he continued to quest in order to deserve her love. Even after they consummate their relationship in the tower, he must continue to do her bidding, suggesting that the quest for love never ceases. We see this untouchable love through his love and adulterous feelings for the queen, Lady Guinevere, this lady made untouchable through her marriage to King
Womanhood in The Eve of St. Agnes and La Belle Dame Sans Merci and Mariana by Keats
Keats, John. “The Eve of St. Agnes”. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic
In The Lais of Marie de France, the theme of love is conceivably of the utmost importance. Particularly in the story of Guigemar, the love between a knight and a queen brings them seemingly true happiness. The lovers commit to each other an endless devotion and timeless affection. They are tested by distance and are in turn utterly depressed set apart from their better halves. Prior to their coupling the knight established a belief to never have interest in romantic love while the queen was set in a marriage that left her trapped and unhappy. Guigemar is cursed to have a wound only cured by a woman’s love; he is then sent by an apparent fate to the queen of a city across the shores. The attraction between them sparks quickly and is purely based on desire, but desire within romantic love is the selfishness of it. True love rests on a foundation that is above mere desire for another person. In truth, the selfishness of desire is the
The poem begins as the Duke draws the attention of his fellow conversationalist, who is, we discover, a messenger representing the Count’s family whose daughter’s hand the duke seeks in marriage, to the image of his deceased bride on the wall. The Duke lionizes the work of the artist, Fra Pandolf, who exhausted a day’s worth of effort on the portrait to make it so lifelike. He invites the messenger to take a seat, and proceeds to discuss how all who have ever lain eyes upon that picturesque expression on the deceased’s painted face have inquired as to the reason behind the lively expression. He then reminisces about his late wife, remembering that it wasn’t solely his company which brought color to her cheeks. He ponders the possibility that the painter complimenting her brought forth such a response, as she believed that such attentions were all just formalities and politeness. He continues, scorning the nature of the duchess; she found something to praise in whatever she saw. He finds it disdainful that things so simple and unworthy as the sunset or a small offering of fruit some officer could make her as happy as his gift to her, his hand in matrimony and an ancient name. He says that no one could really fault the duchess for her flighty nature, but even if he had the power of speech required to make his expectations from her clear, it was beneath him to do so. He hints at the fact that the duchess seemed to smile at everyone in the same way that s...
Although these poems are both centered around the theme of love, they each contain a different meaning. Lord Byron's “She Walks in Beauty” is dedicated to conveying love through the use of metaphors. Keats' poem, “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” on the other hand, tells a story about how love can be deceiving. Despite their differences, these poems have similarities as well. They each have three parts that progress a story along through the use of literary techniques. Each poem was also written in the early 1800's. These poems both implicate the reader to make a connection to everyday life by relating possible experiences of love.
Her tale discusses a knight desperate for an to the question, what do women most desire? The answer is in the hands of an old lady who is described as an ugly, horrid fowl creature. In return for the answer the decrepit woman wants the knight to marry her. The knight has no choice and marries the hag. The knight was truly the one with no power and the hag was holding all the cards.