According to thefreedictionary.com, a femme fatale is a woman of great seductive charm who leads a man into trouble or complicated events. This same definition applies to the poem “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”. The poem by John Keats, a man describes a lady who is so charming but who ends up leading him to troubling events. Through the theory of femmes fatales and “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” (The Beautiful Lady Without Pity), the poem portrays women as evil through the dangers of their appearance, personality, romance, and power. The poem shows that love is not what it seems and leads the greedy and gullible knight into compromising situations. The narrator encounters a pale, heartbroken knight wandering in the forest. The Pale Knight describes to the narrator a beautiful woman like a “fairy child” (15) with “wild eyes” (16). The woman is beautiful but she is cruel. She does everything in her power to make the pale knight fall in love with her. First, she uses her beauty and charm to seduce the knight by telling him that she loves him. Then she invites him to her “elven grot” (small cave) (29). There she puts him to sleep and he has nightmares of pale kings and queens shouting “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”. The knight wakes up and finds himself alone on a cold hill, without any beautiful women. The merciless woman uses her appearance to lure the knight into her ways. This strategy is common practice for a seductress or enchantress. For example, the popular girl in high school who flirted with the smart guys just so they would help her with her homework or other things she needed. The seductress of the poem flirts with the knight to bring him back to her “elven grot” (small cave) to use him for her pleasure (29). The enchantress... in the middle of a paper......e "while another deceived lover condemns himself" (137). Her interpretation of his actions (flirting with him) is what leads him to his destiny. He ends up on a hillside with his heart broken because he was gullible and wanting the woman to love him. He shouldn't have rushed to believe he was in love with this woman when in reality he barely knew her. Love is not rushed; however, this is learned over time. Works CitedBloom, Harold. How to read and why. NY: Scribner, 2002. PrintKeats, John. “La Belle Dame Sans Merci.” Poetry readings. Composition and literature; English 1102 (Professor Benita Muth). Macon State College. March 2012. MSC Vista Platform.Web.Little, Judy. Keats as a narrative poet. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1975.Print.Moise, Edwin. “Keat is THE BEAUTIFUL LADY WITHOUT MERCY.” Explainer 50.2 (1992): 73. Print