Aspects of tragedy - Exemplar student response and commentary for AS Paper 2A - Explore the view that, in Keats’ poems, the boundaries between villains and victims are continually blurred

Oct 20, 2026

Exemplar student response and examiner commentary for AS Paper 2A analyzing how Keats’ poetry continually blurs the boundaries between villains and victims. The response closely studies Keats’ authorial methods in the extract from Lamia, using language and imagery of beauty, love, secrecy, fear, and ambiguity to question whether Lamia, Apollonius, or Lycius fit the villain or victim role. It then contrasts this with the clearer division in La Belle Dame sans Merci by examining setting, nature imagery, cyclical structure, and emotional hopelessness.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time13 min

AccessFree to download

Explore the view: blurred boundaries between villains and victims

Lamia: ambiguity of roles through language, fear, and pity

Apollonius: villain or victim within the extract

La Belle Dame sans Merci: clearer division and nature imagery

Challenging traditional gender portraits of villain and victim

Aspects of tragedy: Exemplar student response and commentary for AS Paper 2A Below you will find an exemplar student response to a section A question in the specimen assessment materials, followed by an examiner commentary on the response. Sample script-AS Paper 2A, band 5 response Explore the view that, in Keats’ poems, the boundaries between villains and victims are continually blurred. In your answer you need to analyse closely Keats’ authorial methods and include comment on the extract below. From Lamia Muffling his face, of greeting friends in fear, Her fingers he pressed hard, as one came near With curled grey beard, sharp eyes, and smooth bald crown, Slow-stepped, and robed in philosophic gown: Lycius shrank closer, as they met and passed, Into his mantle, adding wings to haste, While hurried Lamia trembled: 'Ah,' said he, 'Why do you shudder, love, so ruefully? Why does your tender palm dissolve in dew?'— 'I’m wearied,' said fair Lamia: 'tell me who Is that old man? I cannot bring to mind His features—Lycius! wherefore did you blind Yourself from his quick eyes?' Lycius replied, '’Tis Apollonius sage, my trusty guide And good instructor ; but tonight he seems The ghost of folly haunting my sweet dreams.' Keats often in his poems attempts to use classical or mythical ideas-sometimes in mythical language and other times structurally, such as the ballad-like form of La Belle Dame sans Merci– to gain recognition amongst the other romantic poets of his time, whilst revealing his own, more unique opinions through these words, perhaps subconsciously. As a result the boundaries between villain and victim are often blurred due to the contrast between traditional ideas and Keats’own. A perfect example of this is his epic poem Lamia. The title and main focus of the poem is Lamia herself, named purposefully after a mythical demon who ate children as a result of having hers stolen by Zeus’ jealous wife, clearly placing her in the domain of villain before the poem has even begun. However, as the poem continues Keats uses language that seems to pity her (‘Happy in beauty, life, and love, and every thing, a song of love, too sweet for earthly lyres’) as well as language that reminds us of who she is (‘the cruel lady’) . He writes of her as beautiful and pure when he mentions her love, and by the end of the poem weare made to feel as if this love has converted her to goodness, for she submits to Lycius and lets him marry her. Her ultimate death blurs the line even further. Is Lamia a villain entrapping an unwilling man, or is she a victim of prejudices held against her who only wishes to be in love? Thus we turn to Apollonius as the antagonist of the poem shown by Lycius’sudden fear of him when they pass in the street. As the philosopher passes by‘Lycius shrank closer’ and Lamia trembles. When Lamia asks who he is Lycius ominously says it is his ‘good instructor’ but also that he haunts his ‘sweet dreams’. Herein lies the ambiguity of the sage – the blurring of villain and loyal servant, though Apollonius could also be said to be a victim because Lamia later insists that he is not invited to their wedding. In the extract Keats uses contrasting language and images of beauty, love, secrecy and fear to highlight the way that boundaries are blurred. Lycius muffles his face; Apollonius has‘sharp eyes’, Lamia ‘trembled’, Lycius speaks of her ‘tender palm’ and his ‘sweet dreams’ and Lycius talks of Apollonius as both a ‘good’ instructor and a ‘ghost of folly’. In the extract Keats also has his characters asking each other questions, some of which cannot be answered. Lucius asks ‘Why do you shudder, love, so ruefully?’ and Lamia asks who is the old man. Later in the poem it could be said that Apollonius, in his attempt to save Lycius,‘murders’ Lamia suggesting that, despite his being a sage and ‘trusty guide’ of Lycius, he is in fact a villain. However, whether Apollonius can be seen as a vi

FAQs

What is the central focus of the exemplar response for AS Paper 2A?

It explores how Keats’ poems continually blur the boundaries between villains and victims, analyzing Keats’ authorial methods using an extract from Lamia and discussion of La Belle Dame sans Merci.

How does the response argue that Lamia blurs villain and victim roles?

It highlights pity and beauty alongside cruelty, secrecy, and fear, questioning whether Lamia is an entrapping villain or a victim of prejudice, with the ambiguity deepened by her death and the characters’ interactions.

How does the response contrast La Belle Dame sans Merci with Lamia?

It argues that La Belle Dame sans Merci presents a more distinct victim-villain division, linking the woman’s destructive nature to foreshadowing through natural setting and repeated structural effects that heighten hopelessness.

Oct 20, 2026

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