Chapter 4
Sir Guyon: Temperance and Self-Mastery
Book II shifts focus to Sir Guyon, knight of Temperance, accompanied by a Palmer (representing reason) as they confront various forms of excess and intemperance. This book explores the classical virtue of moderation, showing how self-control applies to different aspects of human experience.
Guyon's quest begins when he discovers a dying woman who has committed suicide after her husband was seduced by the enchantress Acrasia. Taking responsibility for their orphaned infant (whose hands are stained with his mother's blood), Guyon vows to defeat Acrasia and destroy her Bower of Bliss, where she transforms men into beasts through sensual pleasure.
Throughout his journey, Guyon faces challenges to temperance in various forms. He encounters Braggadocchio, a boastful coward who steals Guyon's horse and spear, representing vainglory without substance. He mediates between the extremes represented by three sisters: Elissa (deficiency), Perissa (excess), and Medina (the golden mean). He resists the rage of Pyrochles and Cymochles, brothers representing anger and desire, and rejects the idle pleasure of Phaedria's wandering island.
Perhaps most remarkably, Guyon descends into the Cave of Mammon, where he resists temptations of wealth for three days without food or drink. Though he ultimately faints from exhaustion, his resistance demonstrates remarkable self-control. After being rescued by Prince Arthur from Pyrochles and Cymochles, Guyon completes his quest by destroying Acrasia's Bower of Bliss-a place of artificial beauty and sensual indulgence that perverts natural pleasure.
Spenser's treatment of temperance goes beyond simple abstinence. The Bower of Bliss episode illustrates that the problem isn't pleasure itself but its distortion into mere sensuality divorced from proper context. As Guyon and the Palmer travel through Acrasia's domain, they encounter increasingly seductive scenes-from bathing maidens to the enchantress herself caressing a sleeping youth. The destruction of this artificial paradise represents not puritanical rejection of beauty but the necessary discipline to channel natural desires toward virtuous ends.
Chapter 5
Britomart: Chastity and Female Heroism
Book III introduces one of Spenser's most compelling characters: Britomart, a female knight representing Chastity. Far from depicting chastity as mere abstinence, Spenser presents it as active virtue directed toward honorable love and marriage.
Britomart's quest begins when she glimpses her future husband, Artegall, in a magic mirror. Lovesick, she disguises herself as a knight and sets forth to find him. Her journey weaves together personal romance and dynastic destiny, as their eventual union will produce the Tudor lineage leading to Queen Elizabeth.
Throughout her adventures, Britomart demonstrates that female strength and virtue can equal or surpass male counterparts. She defeats Sir Guyon in jousting, rescues Amoret from the enchanter Busirane, and navigates complex social situations with wisdom and courage. Unlike many knights who fall prey to lust or deception, Britomart maintains her integrity while pursuing legitimate love.
Spenser contrasts Britomart with other female characters representing different aspects of love and sexuality. Malecasta embodies lustful pursuit, mistaking Britomart for a male knight and attempting seduction. Hellenore represents infidelity, abandoning her husband Malbecco for the knight Paridell. Florimell, constantly fleeing unwanted suitors, represents beauty that inspires both protection and predation. Through these contrasts, Spenser explores how chastity functions not as repression but as proper direction of desire.
The most disturbing episode in Book III occurs when Britomart enters the House of Busirane to rescue Amoret, who has been kidnapped from her wedding to Scudamour. Inside, she witnesses the "maske of Cupid," a procession of allegorical figures representing love's dangers: Fancy, Desire, Doubt, Danger, Fear, Hope, and others. This masque culminates in the revelation of Amoret bound to a pillar, her heart pierced by a dart while Busirane writes spells in her blood. By defeating Busirane, Britomart liberates love from perversion and cruelty, allowing it to fulfill its proper purpose in marriage.
Chapter 6
Friendship and Concord: The Binding Force of Society
Book IV, focusing on Friendship, departs somewhat from the pattern of following a single knight's quest. Instead, it explores various relationships-between friends, lovers, and political allies-showing how concord binds individuals and societies together. This exploration encompasses not just personal friendships but also the broader social bonds that maintain civil society, demonstrating Spenser's view that individual virtue and social harmony are inseparable.
The book continues several storylines from previous books, particularly following Britomart, Amoret, and Scudamour. It introduces new characters like Cambel and Triamond, whose friendship transforms from bitter rivalry to brotherhood through the intervention of Cambina. Their story illustrates how true friendship transcends competition and self-interest. Initially sworn enemies destined to fight to the death, they become exemplars of male friendship, showing how former adversaries can become the closest of allies. This transformation reflects Renaissance ideals of friendship as a noble virtue that elevates human nature.
One of the book's central episodes is the tournament for Florimell's girdle, which can only be worn by the truly chaste. When the false Florimell (a magical duplicate created in Book III) wins the beauty contest but cannot wear the girdle, the resulting dispute reveals how superficial judgments lead to discord. The girdle itself symbolizes how true virtue cannot be counterfeited. This episode serves as a complex allegory about authenticity versus appearance, showing how social harmony depends on genuine virtue rather than mere outward show. The failure of the false Florimell exposes the dangers of valuing appearances over substance in both personal relationships and social institutions.
The book culminates in an elaborate allegory of love and marriage: the wedding of the Thames and Medway rivers, attended by Neptune, various sea gods, and personified rivers from throughout Britain. This cosmic celebration represents the harmonious union that sustains both natural and social order. The marriage ceremony brings together geographical, mythological, and political elements, suggesting that true concord operates at multiple levels simultaneously. The detailed catalog of British rivers serves both as a celebration of national unity and as a reminder that harmony in nature reflects and supports harmony in human society.
Throughout Book IV, Spenser emphasizes that friendship requires active virtue rather than mere affection. True friends must sometimes oppose each other's faults, as when Arthur prevents Artegall from killing a defeated opponent, demonstrating that real friendship includes moral guidance. They must sacrifice self-interest for others' welfare, as when Britomart continues searching for Amoret despite her own desire to find Artegall. And they must recognize that genuine friendship extends beyond personal preference to embrace broader social harmony. This conception of friendship as an active force for moral improvement and social cohesion reflects both classical philosophical traditions and Christian ideals of brotherly love.
The book also explores how friendship intersects with other virtues, particularly justice and temperance. Through various episodes, Spenser suggests that true friendship helps moderate extreme passions and guides individuals toward just actions, serving as a fundamental force for social stability and moral development.
Chapter 7
Justice and Political Order
Book V explores Justice through the adventures of Artegall, Britomart's future husband. As the knight of Justice, Artegall travels with Talus, an iron man who represents the impartial execution of law. Together they confront various forms of injustice and disorder.
This book contains Spenser's most explicit political commentary, addressing contemporary issues like the Netherlands' rebellion against Spain, the execution of Mary Queen of Scots (represented by the trial of Duessa), and English intervention in Ireland. Artegall's quest to restore the rightful princess Irena to her throne parallels England's attempts to establish order in Ireland, while his recall before completing this mission reflects Queen Elizabeth's controversial decision to recall Lord Grey (whom Spenser had served in Ireland).
Throughout Book V, Spenser examines the tension between justice's severity and mercy's compassion. When Artegall encounters Radigund, an Amazon queen who forces captured knights to wear women's clothes and perform women's work, he initially defeats her but hesitates to deliver the killing blow upon seeing her beauty. This mercy proves misguided, as she subsequently captures and humiliates him. Only Britomart's intervention-defeating Radigund and restoring proper gender hierarchy-resolves the situation.
The book's most philosophically rich episode occurs when Artegall debates a giant who proposes to eliminate inequality by redistributing the world's resources. The giant's arguments sound superficially reasonable-why should some have excess while others lack necessities?-but Artegall reveals their fundamental error: nature's apparent inequalities serve divine purposes beyond human comprehension. When the giant attempts to weigh abstract concepts like truth and falsehood, his scales prove inadequate, demonstrating that justice requires wisdom beyond mere calculation.
Despite its sometimes harsh vision of justice, Book V concludes with a recognition that even the most righteous cause faces criticism. When Artegall returns from his quest, he is assailed by Envy and Detraction, who misrepresent his actions to the world. This reminds readers that pursuing justice often brings opposition, requiring moral courage beyond mere physical bravery.
Chapter 8
Courtesy and Civil Society
Book VI examines Courtesy through Sir Calidore's pursuit of the Blatant Beast, a monster representing slander and malicious gossip. Unlike previous virtues with clear classical or theological foundations, courtesy was primarily a social virtue associated with court behavior and civil conversation. This virtue gained particular significance in Renaissance society, where social mobility and court politics made graceful interaction essential for success.
Calidore embodies the ideal courtier-gracious, brave, and skilled in navigating social complexities. His character draws inspiration from Castiglione's "The Book of the Courtier," demonstrating sprezzatura (studied nonchalance) and diplomatic finesse. His adventures demonstrate that true courtesy extends beyond mere manners to encompass genuine concern for others' welfare. When he rescues Pastorella from brigands or reconciles the feuding Coridon and Meliboe, he shows how courtesy creates harmony in human relationships. These episodes illustrate courtesy's power to bridge social divisions and resolve conflicts through understanding rather than force.
The book's central episode occurs when Calidore, temporarily abandoning his quest, discovers shepherds dancing on Mount Acidale. There he witnesses the three Graces dancing around a fourth maiden (possibly representing Spenser's wife Elizabeth Boyle). This vision represents poetry's power to capture and preserve beauty that would otherwise be transient. The Graces themselves symbolize the essential elements of social harmony: giving, receiving, and returning benefits. When Calidore's approach disrupts the vision, Spenser suggests that direct pursuit sometimes destroys what it seeks-a paradox applicable to both artistic inspiration and social harmony. This scene also explores the tension between courtly sophistication and pastoral simplicity.
Ultimately, Calidore captures the Blatant Beast and muzzles it, temporarily silencing malicious speech. The Beast's hundred tongues and iron teeth represent the many forms that discourtesy can take, from subtle backbiting to outright slander. However, Spenser notes that the Beast eventually breaks free and continues ravaging society-including attacking Spenser's own poetry. This acknowledgment that courtesy's victory remains incomplete reflects the poem's increasingly pessimistic tone in later books. The Beast's escape suggests that maintaining civil discourse requires constant vigilance and that social harmony is always vulnerable to disruption.
The pastoral episodes in Book VI also explore how true courtesy might exist outside courtly settings, suggesting that genuine civility transcends social class. Through characters like the shepherdess Pastorella, Spenser examines how natural grace might surpass artificial manners, while still acknowledging the importance of refined behavior in civilized society. This tension between natural and cultivated courtesy remains relevant to modern discussions of authenticity and social conduct.
Chapter 9
The Mutabilitie Cantos: Change and Permanence
The unfinished seventh book, known as the Mutabilitie Cantos, presents perhaps Spenser's most profound philosophical meditation, addressing fundamental questions about the nature of existence and transformation. These cantos describe how Mutabilitie, a powerful Titaness representing change and transformation, boldly challenges Jove's supreme authority by claiming that all things-even the seemingly eternal celestial bodies-are subject to her domain of alteration and decay.
The dramatic confrontation unfolds on Arlo Hill, a location in Ireland personally significant to Spenser, where Mutabilitie presents her case before the court of Nature. The setting itself becomes symbolic, as Ireland represented for Spenser both the possibility of change (through colonization) and the resistance to order that characterized his view of mutability. To resolve this cosmic dispute, both parties appeal to Nature, who summons all of creation to testify in a grand cosmic trial that echoes both classical philosophical debates and medieval legal proceedings.
Mutabilitie presents an impressive and methodical case, demonstrating how seasons cycle endlessly, months succeed one another, hours flow continuously, and even the supposedly unchanging celestial bodies demonstrate motion and transformation. She points to the cycles of growth and decay in living things, the rise and fall of empires, and the constant flux of human affairs. Her arguments draw on both empirical observation and philosophical tradition, particularly reflecting the influence of Heraclitus's concept that everything is in constant flux.
However, Nature ultimately rules against Mutabilitie, offering a sophisticated philosophical resolution. While acknowledging the reality of change, Nature observes that while things change in appearance, their essential nature remains constant: "They are not changed from their first estate; / But by their change their being do dilate." This ruling suggests that change itself operates within a framework of deeper permanence, where transformation serves to fulfill rather than destroy essential nature.
This subtle philosophical conclusion weaves together multiple intellectual traditions, reconciling classical philosophy with Christian theology. It suggests that change itself is part of a divine plan, operating within the bounds of eternal law. The final stanza looks forward to an eschatological resolution when "all shall rest eternally / With Him that is the God of Sabbaoth hight," suggesting that earthly mutability ultimately yields to divine permanence. This ending connects the philosophical discourse to Christian doctrine about the end of time, when all change will cease in the perfect stability of divine presence.
The Mutabilitie Cantos thus serve as both the culmination of Spenser's philosophical thinking and a bridge between medieval and Renaissance worldviews, offering a sophisticated meditation on how change and permanence coexist in both natural and divine orders.
Chapter 10
Spenser's Enduring Legacy
The Faerie Queene remains one of English literature's most ambitious and complex achievements. Its intricate allegory, vivid characterization, and moral vision continue to reward careful reading. Though modern readers may find its archaic language and elaborate symbolism challenging, the poem's exploration of virtue, temptation, and human nature remains profoundly relevant.
Spenser's innovation extended beyond content to form. He invented the "Spenserian stanza"-nine lines with the rhyme scheme ababbcbcc, the final line an alexandrine-which creates a distinctive rhythmic pattern that alternately drives forward and pauses for reflection. This versatile form influenced poets from Milton to Keats to Tennyson.
Beyond its formal qualities, The Faerie Queene's lasting significance lies in its comprehensive vision of human experience. Spenser recognized that virtue requires not just good intentions but practical wisdom to navigate complex situations. His knights don't simply vanquish obvious villains; they must discern truth from sophisticated deception, balance competing values, and sometimes recognize their own limitations.
In our age of moral uncertainty and competing value systems, Spenser's exploration of how virtues operate in challenging circumstances offers valuable perspective. The poem reminds us that ethical development is a lifelong journey requiring both personal discipline and supportive community. Like the Redcrosse Knight, we must learn to recognize our vulnerabilities to deception; like Sir Guyon, we must find the mean between harmful extremes; like Britomart, we must direct our desires toward worthy ends.
The Faerie Queene thus stands not merely as a historical artifact but as a living resource for ethical reflection. Its allegorical world-where virtues and vices take tangible form, where moral choices have visible consequences, and where divine providence operates through human agency-offers a framework for understanding our own moral challenges. In Spenser's poetic universe, as in our own lives, the path to virtue remains an unfinished quest, requiring continuous renewal of courage, wisdom, and hope.
