Belle Bella

Going back to the Gothic themes that we discussed last class period, the sexualized images of La Belle Dame were very obvious to me. Her “sweet moan,” deep sighs, and deep gazes showed her subjecting to the speaker. As I read those parts, I felt as if she was captivated by him and gave into his gestures of giving her “garland” and “bracelets.” Typical woman right? Just kidding. When the speaker “shut her wild sad eyes.” I think it really showed the male control. In addition, the kings and princes’ “starv’d lips” were very shocking to me. It was at that moment that I questioned the supernatural incorporations of the poem.

Going back, speaker depicts the girl with “wild” eyes, light foots, and “full beautiful.” At first, I thought that this was to connect her with nature. Nature is beautiful, therefore, she must also be pure and beautiful coming from nature. However, as the speaker describes the men looking for her as “death-pale” and having “starv’d lips,” I couldn’t help but think of the modern day vampire stories. I then thought that maybe the meaning of “wretched wight,” which I originally thought to be snow, was perhaps the speaker’s body turning to white, as it does in death. While this could just be in ordinary death, I thought that maybe the kings and princes were transforming him into them, being “death-pale.” I know it’s the Twilight fan in me, but this really reminded me of modern day Bella.