ABSTRACT
The allusion to Lamia's body 'touched with miseries' and the rendering of her pain and anguish serve to humanise Lamia in the eyes of the reader. The reader is conflicted between Lamia's figure and her human plea, altering his/her position from repulsion to compassion, from a sense of detachment from her mythological existence to empathy with her human sorrow, from repudiation to condolence. The admiration, pity, and horror, to be excited by humanity, in a brute shape, were never perhaps called upon by a greater mixture of beauty and deformity than in the picture of this creature. According to Van Ghent, Lamia is the dominant figure in the relationship as it is she who takes Lycius to an invisible place and deceives him. The invasion of actuality to Lycius's dream world is not only to uncover the falsity of romantic love but also to unfold Lycius's romantic misconceptions regarding Lamia.
