A Portrait of Isabella & Her Pot of Basil

In a majority of images related to "Isabella," a poem by John Keats, usually portray her holding her pot of basil.  Why must all artists focus on Isabella and her pot?  None of the images even attempt to show Lorenzo or the brothers murdering him.  The poem may be titled "Isabella," but that does not make Isabella the center of attention. 

Although almost all the events in the poem revolve around Isabella, that does not mean she is or should be the main focus of the story.  The climax of the poem was when Lorenzo was killed by Isabella's brothers, without Lorenzo's murder there could not have been a turning point in the poem for Isabella's madness.  Another scene that should be portrayed more often is the madness Isabella went through in search for her lovely Lorenzo's body in the dark forest. 

A picture that needs to be portrayed are the moments of her odd encounters with Lorenzo after his death.  More paintings and portraits of Isabella's ghostly dream, her digging him up, or her cutting his head should exist.

Searching for an image that relates to "Isabella," without finding a picture of a girl moping next to a plant, is almost impossible.  It should not be a difficult task to find a portrait of some sort that is somewhat relevant  to the poem without having a girl next to a pot, but sadly it is. 

Artists should widen their perception of "Isabella," and share other scenes from the gruesome poem.  People need to step away from the obvious and go more in depth.  Obviously "Isabella" depicts how Isabella planted her loved one's head in a pot for basil to grow, but many other aspects of the poem portray events just as prominent.  All the pictures serve as an after shot of Isabella's state of being, none of the images show what happened to make her that way. 

All of her sadness was shown, but all of her other emotions were overlooked.  No one even bothered to capture her happiness, love, or craziness.  Isabella's sadness and grief was just the last part of the poem. 

However, her other emotions made up the rest of John Keats's poem.  Isabella's craziness was the most outstanding emotion in the entire poem.  People need to look beyond the last note of a poem, and search for the major impression that the poet left.