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  • Essay / Ironic tragedy evident in "Lamia"

    As a romantic, Keats maintained a tragic concern with the importance of dramatic irony - or, as Schlegel noted, "secret irony" in which the audience is aware of the protagonist's situation. and his own ignorance. In "Lamia", this notion is evident both throughout the poem as Lycius ignores Lamia's true form as a serpent, and in the excerpt where Lamia "won his heart more pleasantly by playing the role of woman » ; Keats' choice of wording has significance here in that the phrase "woman's role" creates a connection with dramatic tragedies, where actors play the "role" of a character, thus emphasizing how Lamia actively creates a mistake in order to be with Lycius. : something that will surely fail and eventually end in tragedy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay This “secret irony” is also found in other Keat poetry: for example in “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”, the lady tricks the knight-at-arms into believing that she is an innocent "fairy child", although she is a temptress who "has under the influence" her victims "pale as death"; This irony is important in the tragedies of Keats and other Romantics because it shows the inevitable influence of selfish motivations present in human nature, allowing the reader or audience to gain deeper insight into the tragedy. A biographical reading of Keats's poetry may focus on how his tragic concerns explore the tragedies of his own life and his experiences with Fanny Brawne; in particular, an allegorical reading of "Lamia" can follow Lycius as Keats himself and Lamia as Fanny Brawne, whom Keats wished to love deeply but without societal expectations and without the limitations of marriage. Following this allegory, Keats's tragic concerns regarding forbidden love and the idea of ​​doomed lovers taking refuge in magical dream worlds to protect themselves from the harsh reality outside are emphasized, as we can infer that these ideas are representative of how Keats felt about his relationship with Brawne. Additionally, the phrase "nor grew pale, as moral lovers do" in "Lamia" provides further evidence for Keats's belief that "moral" human love is inferior and destined to end in death. dead, as the word "pale" is often used. by Keats around questions of death and weakness, as with the knight-at-arms “loitering palely” in “La Belle Dame”. However, it can be argued that “Lamia” is not representative of these tragic concerns to the same extent. that Keats's other poems are; "The Eve of Saint Agnes" shows a great juxtaposition between Madeline's room, surrounded by sumptuous images of the sublime which serves as a refuge for herself and Porphyro, and the "barbarian hordes" which refute them inside the castle and “the assault”. ' outside, which successfully reflects Keats's tragic concerns about love brought on by his own love affair with Brawne. Additionally, “Isabelle; or, The Basil Pot" is perhaps more appropriate to show Keats's tragic concern about a doomed and cursed love than "Lamia", in that, because of Porphyro's social class, Isabella and Porphyro "could not live in the same mansion", and are therefore doomed to be separated only to "cry at night" over their situation, the word "cry" suggesting feelings of helplessness and despair. Although it is possible to see Keats's tragic concerns in "Lamia" through a reading,.