Thematic Introduction to Edmund Spenser

1
Thematic Introduction to Edmund Spensers Faerie
Queene

• Book I
• The Legend of Holiness

2

• Holiness signifies devotion to God, the urge to
  conform to his will and as far as is possible in
  a state of mortality, the accomplishment of that
  urge. Ideally, holiness results in spiritual
  perfection and, as such, becomes equivalent to
  sanctity. Etymologically, holy derives from Old
  English hal (whole) and signifies completeness,
  the integrity of ones spiritual and moral
  nature, the union of flesh and spirit.
• Douglas Brooks-Davies, The Faerie Queene, Book
  I, The Spenser Encyclopedia.

3
Characters

• Redcross knight
• St George
• Holiness
• Una
• Oneness, a contrast to Duessa
• RCKs companion
• Truth
• Elizabeth (Queen of the realm head of the
  Church of England)
• Mary
• Eve

4
Characters

• Duessa
• Falsehood, duplicity
• Two-ness, double-ness
• In Bk I, religious falsehood
• Intrinsically ugly, but faire seeming
• A type of Circe and the Whore of Babylon
• Archimago
• Evil magician
• Appears symbolically out of the defeat of Errour
• An emblem of hypocrisy (arch image-maker)

5
Characters

• Sansfoy, -joy, -loy
• Three brothers, bred / Of one bad sire (1.2.25)
• Faithlessness, joylessness, without loyalty
• The order in which they are encountered is
  significant
• Orgoglio
• Italian for pride
• A giant

6
Characters

• Lucifera
• Name derived from Lucifer (Satan)
• Embodiment of RCKs delight in worldly glory
• Queen of the palace of pride
• A parody of Gloriana
• Arthur
• The image of a brave knight, perfected in the
  twelve moral virtues
• The greatest of the British monarchs

7
The Faerie Queene

• Book 2
• The Legend of Sir Guyon
• Or
• Temperance

8
Book II

• Thematically self-contained
• with analysis of moral life and human nature as
  his business, Spenser no longer needs to draw
  extensively on the Bible and the church for
  imagery
• The new impetus in Book II is humanism
• René Graziani, The Faerie Queene, Book II, The
  Spenser Encyclopedia.