本篇論文旨在討論〈蕾米亞〉一詩中「幻想」與「命運」兩個主題的結合。「幻想」是想像力的操作方式，也是想像力趨於極至表現的有力翅膀。「命運」看似與「幻想」無關，其實有關，因為兩者皆無法合理定義。
〈蕾米亞〉迷人之處有許多，本篇論文也試加以詳細探討，例如詩中表達得不清不楚的部分，恣意揮灑的想像空間，理性被痛批之慘狀，愛情猙獰面目的柔情昇華，命運輪迴的鐵則，利修斯的天真愚蠢，蕾米亞的嫵媚瀟灑，一段註定的塵緣，人與鬼，無不真情。
筆者不曾嘗試解構理性，只將蕾米亞與利修斯視為被理性迫害的兩個角色。如果「理性」能與「幻想」和平共存，那該多好？如此一來，理性仍是無可批判的行為準則，而象徵著幻想的翅膀，也不會是一刀剪去雙翅的天使，化身為物質凡間的妓女，讓無法理性的人發洩。
筆者嘗試從中國的民間傳說故事〈白蛇傳〉來影射出〈蕾米亞〉的內在情節與命運的主題。若要仔細欣賞〈蕾米亞〉，往往需要透過一個類似的比較來彰顯，就像蕾米亞那座華麗宮殿中的鏡子，映射出那位鏡中的女演員。另外必須一提的是蕾米亞的多重內在性格，筆者引述〈哥林斯新娘〉和〈愛而希．凡爾〉中的部分情節來和〈蕾米亞〉作交互參照。
本詩終極迷人之處，在於濟慈從第一個部分到第二個部分中不變的態度。批評家往往把本詩的第二個部分讀作詩人對現實世界中理性的妥協，殊不知利修斯的死亡，除了是承認他被這個很理性的世界打敗之外，更啟發了這個問題：「愛情是否可以不死？」答案是肯定的。〈哥林斯新娘〉即是見證。蕾米亞痴心地要一副肉身，化作利修斯人間的新娘，是愛情在凡間重生的開始。伊莎貝拉對羅勒花盆的堅持喜愛，以及失去花盆後的死亡，又是另一個見證。「物質世界只是精神世界的產物，以及倒影」，也許這才是〈蕾米亞〉所呈現出的想法。

Abstract
Lamia is a poem about an incurable young scholar, Lycius, who is attracted by a lamia, and who, regardless of his mentor’s dissuasion, wants to marry her. The outcome is predictable: the goddess Lamia disappears, and Lycius dies wrapped in his marriage robe. This simple statement of the facts conceals the attractions of the poem, which deals with a romantic dream in Part I and then puts the romance in the city of Corinth in Part II. Both parts are inextricably linked. Keats’ poetic gift is manifest in this text, with its beautiful and idealized account of Lamia.
This thesis consists of five chapters. The first introduces briefly the poem’s sources and main theme. Since the poem contrasts the ideal world of romantic imagination and the material world of stark reality, my discussion centers on the duality of vision and visibility. The second chapter surveys Keats’ artistic “transformation” and the aesthetic value of Lamia. Here then I analyze the poem’s sound and imagery through which, in effect, the ambiguities in/of Nature are “corrected.” The third chapter attempts to trace Lamia’s Greek origins: she is a member of the race of Lamiae, a group of deadly creatures with the head and the breasts of a woman and the body of a serpent. This interesting creature is studied and compared with the White Snake in the ancient Chinese story, The Legend of the White Snake. Vampirism is another quality shared by the Lamia and the White Snake. I also use another poem, Goethe’s “The Bride of Corinth”, to clarify and enhance Lamia’s vampire motif.
The fourth chapter reconsiders Lamia’s ophidian disposition as observed and experienced by Oliver Wendell Holmes; Holmes’ Elsie Venner also tells of the romance of a young lady born with ophidian attributes and a young scholar.
In my conclusion I summarize my main argument: Keats’ Lamia, while embarked on a journey to the human world which may be circumscribed by fate and brings her much suffering, is also freely seeking or choosing her destiny and her dream; if this journey (and Lycius himself) is indeed nothing but her own dream, then it is one which leaves us with open possibilities for the future—including the possibility that Lycius and Lamia will still be reconciled in “another” and yet “newer” world.

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