“La Belle Dame Sans Merci,” or in translation, “the beautiful lady without mercy” is a phrase appropriated by John Keats as the title of his 1820 poem describing the story of a seductive and deceptive woman who tempts men away from the world of masculinity and then leaves them with a life in ruins. It has been argued that the poem is anti-feminist, reflecting the concept of the femme fetale. Feminist critics question how the “fairy child” is represented to the reader, focusing on power relations and why this is significant when considering the social context of the 19th century. While it can be argued that a feminist reading is extremely helpful in portraying the allegorical significance of the character's representation as a woman, recent criticism has questioned the extent to which this allegory is true. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Keats's La Belle takes the form of a traditional medieval ballad with 12 alternating quatrains in iambic tetrameter and trimetric lines and a rhyme scheme written in ABCB. This form, having been taken up by the Romantic poets, creates a disturbing and portentous effect throughout the poem, foreshadowing the "woe" that will follow. Feminist critics have argued that in addition to form, Keats uses the motif of supernatural imagery to alert the reader to the power of women. The repetition of comments about the mysterious woman's "wild eyes" serves as a warning to the "knight in arms" of this woman's evil power of seduction and the destruction this could cause. It would have been challenging to expect a 19th century male audience to conceptualize female power as positive when the ideal was that of the pure, dependent woman, indicating that Keats's intent when using said supernatural imagery was to represent something other than this ideal expectation. how dangerous. Similarly, feminist criticism points to La Belle's idea that promotes the concept of binary opposition man/woman. Keats's description of her use of “strange speech” represents woman as something “other,” implying that women are “essentially different” in character from men. Feminist critics find this unacceptable, arguing that differences between men and women should be seen as socially constructed and therefore it is more of a necessity than simply useful to criticize La Belle from a feminist perspective for challenging gender roles. However, the romantic context must be considered here – while the poem may initially appear as a “warning” against female power and readers should undoubtedly sympathize with male power, it could be interpreted as a reminder of medieval chivalry. With this tradition, love was considered more of an abstract concept than something that could, or should, actually be experienced. La Belle is an example of courtly love poetry, as it deals with an idealized view of love. However, the motif of supernatural imagery in the poem complicates this concept, indicating that love is actually complex. This would imply that the poem serves as a warning against love in general rather than the power of women. Reading the poem from a feminist perspective forces the reader to ignore the context and is therefore useless. Furthermore, Theresa M Kelley argues that "her (the fairy's) otherness is a provocative... response to Keats's early critics, the fair lady makes this story of reception part of her meaning" further supporting the thesis that the context of the poem is able to explain the apparently anti-feminist aspects. Yescould argue that the meaning of the Belle Dame is more of an exaggerated parody in response to criticism that Keats's early works were too simple rather than an allegorical representation against all women. The use of archaic language such as "withereth" and "hath" implies that Keats is explicitly making the point of being deliberately exaggerated. Therefore, reading La Belle Dame Sans Merci from a feminist perspective would be a complete misunderstanding of the poet's intentions. Furthermore, it can be argued that it is the “meadow lady” who truly deserves our sympathy, the “fairy” is the real victim. Kate Millet's Sexual Politics examined male characters in classic works similar to Keats's La Belle and found that male characters were "denigrating, exploitative and repressive in their relationships with women". This idea is reflected throughout the poem when looked at from a feminist perspective, and would therefore suggest that such a perspective is very useful in understanding the ambiguities surrounding male power. Keats uses a semantic field of entrapment when referring to the knight's relationship with the mysterious woman. While on the surface the making of “bracelets” and “garlands” appear to symbolize kindness and love towards the “fairies”, when considering the poem in the context of 19th century attitudes towards power, it seems more logical that they should tie and capture her. The knight has clearly made the Fair Lady his possession, in telling us that he “put her to my steed” it is clear that La Belle has little control and it is arguable that in conjunction with Millet's theory, the lady is being exploited for her sake” full beauty” to allow the rider to feel a sense of masculine control. Then, when the couple arrive at the supernatural-looking “elf cave”, we are told how the fairy was “crying and sighing in pain” – she doesn't want to be there. However, the issue of ambiguity surrounding the tears has been contested by critics who do not take a feminist perspective, it could be argued that the tears actually represent the Belle Dame's guilt - the plot of the dream implies that this is not the first time who has left a man she promised to “love,” and is already mourning the knight's destruction. After all, the use of the “withering rose” metaphor in the third stanza reflects this sense of inevitable doom. Feminist critics might point to the question of how much the speaker can be trusted when he tells a passing stranger about the supernatural temptress who destroyed him and left him full of “anguish.” It could be argued that it is not the obligation of women to "love" men and considering the "pale kings, "princes" and "warriors" as victims of this femme fatale is an unfair assumption to make, especially when this blame is attributed to the woman by speaker's point of view. Some feminist critics might look to the link between the "fairy" and nature when examining the gifts of "sweet-tasting roots" and "wild honey and manna dew", commenting on how nature was feminized in the early 19th century as having the same qualities as women; graceful, weak, simple and, of course, “beautiful”. In contrast to this, we are told of the strong male “warrior”, suggesting that this would be the perfect balance of gender roles. However, it could be argued that the purpose of the poem is not to present women in general as weak, and it does not have to have a meaning that represents more women than the poem refers to. Furthermore, it could instead be argued that instead of connecting women to nature, these gifts hold an element of suspicion: there are indications in the poem that these natural gifts are actually drugs, distorting the mind and perspective of the.