To what extent could it be argued that the aesthetic representation of the women in Keats’ ‘Lamia’ and Swift’s ‘The Lady’s Dressing Room’ is used in order to vilify them?

One way in which both poems could be seen as similarly vilifying the characters of Celia and Lamia is through the depiction of their physical appearances as devices of deception by means of concealing their true forms, and the subsequent implications this has on the male protagonists. In ‘The Lady’s Dressing Room’, Swift synonymises Celia’s methods of achieving an aesthetically-pleasing appearance with artifice – with her adornment in ‘Lace, Brocades and Tissues’[1] representing the completely veiled reality of her existence as a common human being. In accordance with this, each of Strephon’s discoveries of Celia’s imperfections demonstrate the poem’s methodical undressing of her layers of artificiality and are also aided by its reminiscence of the heroic trials of epic convention – thus also establishing Strephon as the ‘epic hero’ and Celia as the antagonist. This can be seen with Strephon’s initial discovery of ‘a dirty Smock.../Beneath the Arm-pits well besmear’d’ (LD,l.12-13) progressing into the ‘excremental Smell’ (LD,l.111) upon the discovery of her chamber-pot. In this sense, Swift’s engaging with the scatological is used to diminish the perception of Celia as a ‘Goddess’ (LD,l.3) that she has endeavoured to preserve by the ‘Rings and Hinges counterfeit’ (LD,l.76) to disguise the reality of her basic humanity.         In relation to the aesthetic contribution to artifice within ‘Lamia,’ Lamia’s physical transformation from a ‘palpitating Snake’[2] to a ‘lady bright’ (LA,p.1,l.171) and her resultant human form could be interpreted as an entirely artificial avenue which she knowingly exploits in order to fulfil the selfish desires of her ‘swooning love’ (LA,p.1,l.219) for Lycius due to the fact that is she is aware of her appearance as a ‘full-born beauty’ (LA,p.1,l.172) as a human. This is furthered by the biblical connotations associated with her authentic form as being serpentine, contributing to her representation as untrustworthy and of a dual nature. Thus, the relationship between Lamia and Lycius can therefore be interpreted as grounded entirely upon the artificial form that Lamia employs for her own personal desire – exemplified by her ‘[winning] his heart/More pleasantly by playing woman’s part’ (LA,p.1,l.336-337).
[1] Jonathan Swift, ‘The Lady’s Dressing Room’, line 4 – featured in Fairer and Gerard, Eighteenth Century Poetry: An Annotated Anthology, 2^nd Edition. Further references to the poem will be included in the text thus (LD, l.x)[2]John Keats, ‘Lamia’, line 45, The Poetical Works of John Keats (London, Macmillan, 1884), Bartleby.com, 1999, retrieved from http://www.bartleby.com/126/36.html [accessed 12 January 2016]. Further references to the poem will be included in the text thus, (LA,P.x,l.x)