Among Monsters. III. Isabella: The Decaying Romance. IV. The Dream Realized on The Eve of St. Agnes. V. Concluding Remarks

IV. The Dream Realized on The Eve of St. Agnes.
In the third romance of his last poetic collection, Keats addresses the constrictions imposed on romantic love by religion, which is seen as yet another form of social intervention. The poet satirizes the religious superstition about St. Agnes’s Eve, according to which if a female virgin performs a series of rituals on that night of the year she will be presented with a vision of her future husband in her dreams. As it was earlier discussed, visions and illusory reality cannot be tolerated in Keats’s late romances. Madeline, the lead female character in the poem, attempts to perform all required rituals in hope that she will dream about her beloved Porphyro. Porphyro, however, is not willing to risk his love for Madeline because of a religious prejudice and attempts to enter her chambers secretly in order to try to “enter” her dreams and become her vision of future husband. The romance takes place in the medieval period, a time when religious prejudices were taken even more seriously. However, it is the only one of the three romances with an ambiguous prospect for a happy end. As it will be argued, in Madeline and Porphyro’s romance the world of illusions interacts with physical reality and the characters awaken from the “slumber” they have been put in by social prejudices and constrictions.
In a letter to Shelley in August 1820, Keats writes “My imagination is a Monastery and I am its monk” (Forman 508). For the Romantic poet imagination is the only religion he recognizes and serves. He sees imagination not as an illusory perception of reality, but as a vehicle of perceiving a deeper and higher reality; a vehicle through which a higher and spiritual reality can make contact with the physical world when combined with the working of intellect and the human capacity for empathy. Religious superstitions do not have a place in a reality like that, because they are not founded on the workings of the mind as agent, but only on “divine” intervention that cannot be seen, as it was discussed in Lamia, as anything other
than mortal “overinvestment in illusion” (Stillinger 53). The world of dreams can only enter the realm of reality and experience when the human mind and intention become agents that facilitate this contact. I would like to argue that The Eve of St. Agnes can be read as a critique of mortal investment to religious superstitions founded on Christian- virtues, like that of female chastity, and as an effort on Keats’s part to urge his readers to view religion and its teachings in a more allegorical rather than literal sense and avoid institutionalized ceremonies. After all, religion is another form of constriction since it promotes patriarchal values that have resulted in reinforcing binaries about standard performance of masculinity and femininity.
In another letter to George and Georgiana Keats in 1819, around the time he had started working on The Eve of St. Agnes, John Keats confesses that he has started to hate parsons, as he believes a parson to be “an Hypocrite to the Believer and a Coward to the unbeliever” (Forman 300). This hostility can be perceived in the poem through the death of the Beadsman at the end. Further down in the same letter he says that “people who take every thing literally” are in his opinion “very shallow” (Forman 303) and that:
A Man’s life of any worth is a continual allegory- and very few eyes can see the mystery of his life- a life like the scriptures, figurative- which such people can no more make out than they can the hebrew Bible. (Forman 303- 304)
People that fail to see the allegorical aspect of life and religion, and choose to follow religious instructions about life to the letter lead a life of no worth. They remain on the superficial aspect of life and religion, which is devoid of any kind of spirituality. The Beadsman and Angela are the two devout figures in the poem, whose eventual death can be interpreted as the representation of this lack of worth. It is an implicit critique on the absolutism of institutionalized religion that rejects that idea that one can reach a higher state of reality when in doubt. This is why Keats finds parsons to be hypocrites to believers, because they claim to have a fixed answer to all their questions, and cowards to unbelievers, because they avoid answering their questions out of fear that they might contradict their responses. As Cox observes, Keats “[t]ogether with his fellow Cockneys … trace[s] a path beyond the great explanatory systems of classical and Christian cultures …” (66). Therefore, the poet’s celebration of Cockney politics resurfaces in this late romance as well.
On November 3^rd 1817, Keats writes a letter to Benjamin Bailey to express his indignation against the Bishop of Lincoln, Sir George Pretyman Tomline (1750-1827), who appears to repeatedly exhibit a kind of contemptuous pride towards the public. He writes:
… it must be shocking to find in a sacred Profession such barefaced oppression and impertinence. The Stations and Grandeurs of the World have taken it into their heads that they cannot commit themselves towards a[n] inferior in rank-but is not the impertinence from one above to one below more wretchedly mean than from the low to the high? (Forman 59)
Keats criticizes high-ranked religious leaders, like Bishops, for being proud to the point of vanity, and mindless of the public’s need for actual spiritual guidance. He refers to the public metaphorically as “sticks and stones” that Bishops kick and do not bother with, when it should be the most important part of their profession that they help them. Keats expresses acute hostility and disappointment against the hypocrisy of men of the clergy, who he believes only care to abuse their power to control the public. This is why further down in his letter the poet writes:
O for a recourse somewhat human independent of the great Consolations of Religion and undepraved Sensations-… O for a Remedy against such wrongs within the pale of the World! (Forman 59)
In this quote Keats expresses the ideas around which The Eve of St. Agnes is written. The entire poem is built around these thoughts that Keats phrased three years before its creation. The “recourse” and “Remedy” for a life independent from religion are explored and produced through the gradual rejection of institutionalized religion and religious superstitions in the poem, proposing an enjoyment of “Sensations” and a shattering binaries and patriarchal
“values” that religion perpetuates instead.
Wolfson notes that in The Eve of St. Agnes “we are presented with a range of figures variously involved in manipulating, or being manipulated by, illusions …” (290). The poem begins with the old Beadsman devoted to his religious rituals, praying for the rich God-fearing owners of the castle near his church and freezing “… while he told /His rosary …” (5-6).Meanwhile, Madeline “Hoodwinked with faery fancy” (line 70) is waiting for “visions of delight” that will reveal her future husband to her. She has performed the rituals young virgins ought to:
As, supperless to bed they must retire,
And couch supine their beauties, lily white; Nor look behind, nor sideways, but require
Of Heaven with upward eyes for all that they desire. ( 51-54)

The ritual appears in the poem as indicative of strict adherence to religious principle. The description of the religious ritual appears at the beginning in order for the illusions and values of “old romance” to be rejected later on. The exactitude of the minor, but crucial steps the young girls have to take in order to apprehend their desired vision points to a satirical attitude on the narrator’s part, who implicitly criticizes the oppression that women are under because of perpetuated religious superstitions. They need to cover their beauty, abstain from even food on that particular night, and not dare avert their sight from “Heaven”. Keats’ turn against conventions becomes even more evident when the narrator urges us to “wish away” the “triumphs gay/ Of old romance” (40-41). We are asked to call into question and eventually reject religious rites and “the old ways” and embrace new practices and ideas proposed in the “new romance”.

Madeline is tied to these religious superstitions and is captive of a “realm of dreams” waiting “hoodwinked” for a vision of her lover. She is the embodiment of female submission to male- constructed assumptions and prejudices about proper feminine identity and behavior. Her quiet obedience and pious behavior towards religious dictions and values about chastity and passivity are proof of that. Although she loves Porphyro, she decides to wait for a divine approval of her emotions which shows once again that the influence of society, this time in the form of religious influence, endangers the fulfillment of romance. She appears to be a victim of “illusory” values that prevent her from acting upon her desire for Porphyro and keep her passive in anticipation of her “knight in shining armor”. Religion turns out to be a form of authority and control that oppresses men and women to conform to binaries by instigating fear of eternal damnation. It is form of power that controls the believers by making sure that they cause them to feel a sense of guilt if they stray from their “path to God”. The believers, like Madeline, the Beadsman and Angela, are bound to an illusory reality that has been set out for them by the authority of the Church. The Beadsman and Angela remain bound to the superstitions and illusions and therefore have to die, while Madeline manages to escape with Porphyro’s help and is saved.
Madeline’s liberation from illusions is achieved when Porphyro succeeds in “creating” himself within her dream (Sperry 204). The male lover’s manipulation of Madeline’s dream is proof that illusions can be manipulated by the human condition and through the working of human imagination. Human intervention is what brings Madeline back to reality. According to D’Avanzo “Keats seems to have arrived at the conclusion that the true poet cannot isolate himself in an unreal, wholly sensory and dazzling palace of poetry, but must inevitably turn to human problems.” (159). Madeline realizes that the human condition can change reality into a place of wish fulfillment when an individual takes control of the situation instead of waiting for divine intervention. Porphyro’s tampering with her dream helps her realize the futility of living in an illusory world of fantasies, when she can experience them in reality. This is when she finally becomes an agent and makes her reality a space she can control, by deciding to consummate her love for Porphyro. Thus, she breaks free from religious authority and control, and abandons her conditioned “feminine” passivity.
Porphyro “with heart on fire” (75) also begs “all saints to give him sight of
Madeline” (78) at the beginning, so he is too full of religious hope which, however, turns into action by seeking a way to get close to his beloved on his own. He decides he cannot wait for divine intervention when he can act of his own volition. Porphyro defies the danger that awaits him within the castle walls of Madeline’s home. The family feud between the lovers’ families turns out to be yet another obstacle, through which Keats stresses even more the threat that society poses for romance fulfillment. Although the old lady, Angela, warns that “They are all here tonight, the whole blood-thirsty race” (99) Porphyro’s fiery heart is brave and passionate enough to risk his life in order to unite with Madeline. Angela is also the one that, despite her initial doubts and concerns about his intentions, helps Porphyro hide himself in Madeline’s closet.
Porphyro’s character has turned out to be a controversial one as he has troubled scholars a lot. Watkins sees Porphyro as an invader and disruptor of feudal order (75), while he also makes a point of the male lover being a usurper of “a system of belief that is grounded in transcendental or transhistorical notion of power, turning it to his own libidinous advantage” (78). He perceives of him as a representation of masculine domination over the
female “Other”. Stillinger in his essay The Hoodwinking of Madeline argues that Porphyro is a “peeping Tom” and a rapist at first, but in the second half of his essay decides to tone down his harsh criticism and portray him in a more positive way. On the other hand, Jeffrey Cox argues that “[t]o wish for an idealized dream-lover may be (as Porphyro fears) to miss the vitality of warm, breathing human love” (64), which means Porphyro is viewed as a figure that assists Madeline to embrace life, rather than deny it for the sake of imaginative values, by entering the realm of experience. Mellor also describes Madeline and Porphyro’s love as not only passionate, but even transcendent (224), while Sperry yet again argues in favor of Porphyro’s morality of character by reminding us that he calls Madeline twice his “bride” (lines 326, 334) in the poem (Sperry 216). Sperry thus stresses that Porphyro actually takes action out of love for Madeline, and not to take advantage of her. Interestingly, Wolfson expresses on the other hand, a more ambiguous opinion on the male lover’s character. She views Porphyro as “neither holy nor sinister” but as “an amusing embodiment of the various and variable postures of a young man in love” (294), and urges us not to rush into judging him and putting him into a clear-cut category. Wolfson’s theory appears to be, in my opinion, the one closest to Keats’s intention behind the creation of Porphyro’s character, as his ambiguous and controversial identity and intent towards Madeline allow him to emerge as a true chameleon- figure. Our different perspectives and interpretations of his character result into a fluid perception of Porphyro that ties in with Keats’s theories.
Wolfson also observes that:
By manipulating the preparation and properties of romance, as well as indulging its informing desires, Porphyro emerges, surprisingly, as Keats’s first truly “fore-seeing” hero, someone able to give play to the longings of his imagination through a deliberate shaping of circumstance (294).
I agree that eventually Porphyro turns out to be Keats’s ideal hero. Porphyro is the character that manages to employ both his imagination and intellect in order to substantiate his wished perception of truth and reality. His success in shaping reality through imagination makes him an ideal hero for Keats. He succeeds in “entering” Madeline’s dream and they both fulfill their desire for one another through the consummation of their love. They prove that their imagination can be grasped and made into physical reality. Porphyro shows that there is no need for superstitions and supernatural elements to shape one’s reality to their will, but only a “fiery heart” and a busy mind, strong enough to break through social conventions and constrictions. He exhibits a chameleon- changing quality, bravery to surpass social limitations, and “effeminate” features like all of Keats’s male protagonists in the romances.
Hints about Porphyro’s effeminacy can be spotted in various parts of the poem, and allow to contradict his villainous scholarly portrayals. When Angela tells him about Madeline and her belief in the legend about St. Agnes’s Eve, Porphyro “scarce could brook/ Tears, at the thought of those enchantments cold/ And Madeline asleep in lap of legends old” (133-135 ). He is on the verge of tears at the thought of his “bride’s” innocence and her vulnerability to superstitions. He reveals his plan to Angela about hiding in Madeline’s closet until she falls asleep in order to attempt to enter her dream, and swears he will not harm her, saying: “believe me by these tears”, (150). When he finally sees her from inside the closet “Porphyro grew faint” (224), which is yet another hint to his “effeminacy” since women are the ones who traditionally faint at the sight of their beloved. After the lover’s efforts to create himself within Madeline’s dream, she looks awake and speechless at Porphyro “Who knelt, with joined hands and piteous eye, / Fearing to move or speak” (305-306). He is genuinely moved and stressed over Madeline’s reaction. He cries, trembles and is lost for words. His sensitivity and anxiety at Madeline’s presence are not only traits of “effeminacy”, but also indicative of the male lover’s noble intentions and love. Porphyro’s “effeminacy” combined with his bravery place him at a state of gender in-betweenness, and fluidity like the other lovers in Keats’s late romances. Unlike them though, Porphyro, if we dismiss the speculations about his dishonorable masculine intentions, is the lover that is not flawed. He is neither idle and superficial, nor weak and vulnerable to society’s power. He goes against all conventions and constrictions and helps Madeline break free as well.
The connection between the realm of imagination and the physical world is achieved through Porphyro’s attempt to create himself within Madeline’s dream, as it was previously discussed. The ability to turn a dream into reality establishes the creation of a bond between imagination and the physical world. In a letter to his friend Benjamin Bailey in November 1817, Keats mentions Adam’s dream, which “he awoke and found it true” (Forman 67).Adam’s dream was fulfilled, according to the Bible, by means of God’s divine intervention, in contrast to which Madeline’s dream is fulfilled in the poem by means of human agency. Keats further explains that “Adam’s dream … seems to be a conviction that Imagination … is the same as human Life” (Forman 67), because what Adam had imagined in his dream was Eve. Keats transfers the power of “wish-fulfillment” from the divine element to the human agent.The human condition and mind appear to be the powers that control dreams, since Keats rejects God’s intervention.