giovedì 9 ottobre 2014

La Quarta Era. Capitolo 10. La principessa di Andunie



La principessa Silmarien, che fino a quel momento aveva ascoltato in silenzio, si alzò e prese la parola, tra lo stupore generale, dal momento che non si era mai interessata di questioni politiche:
<<Nostra madre ha parlato con saggezza. Nella sua lunga vita ha imparato a riconoscere i pericoli e le insidie. Fratello mio, ti prego di seguire i suoi consigli e di non chiedere alla Gente Piccola qualcosa che finirebbe per schiacciarli. Possiamo difendere il regno di Gondor e tutta la nostra terra anche senza sottrarre ai Mezzuomini e ai Nani i loro risparmi! Hanno già contribuito fin troppo alla salvezza di tutti. Ora tocca agli Uomini. Se questa è davvero la nostra era, allora l'onere della difesa spetta a noi>>
Eldarion sospirò:
<<Gli Uomini non capirebbero. Potevano tollerare che nostro padre, con tutta la sua gloria, chiudesse un occhio in favore dei suoi amici, ma non accetteranno che lo faccia io. I costi della difesa dell'ordine interno e delle frontiere sarebbero troppo grandi se non attingiamo alle ricchezze di chi per oltre un secolo ha goduto di un regime privilegiato. 
Mi dispiace, ma ormai ho deciso e non ho intenzione di tornare sui miei passi>>

Silmarien scosse il capo:
<<Se questa è la tua decisione, io ne prendo apertamente le distanze. Non rimarrò a Minas Tirith come connivente di una Famiglia Reale di cui non condivido le scelte>>
Arwen le si avvicinò:
<<Io andrò con lei>>
Eldarion scosse il capo, affranto:
<<Madre e sorella, voi mi spezzate il cuore. Mai avrei pensato che si sarebbe arrivati a questo punto...>>
Silmarien stava per cedere.
Arwen la fermò e puntò l'indice contro il figlio:
<<Sai qual è stato il più grande errore della mia vita? Averti detto sempre sì. Una madre dovrebbe saper dire anche di no. Io non ne ho mai avuto la forza, ma ora è diverso. Stavolta c'è in gioco qualcosa che è molto più importante di me e di te. La tua visione del futuro di questo regno, di questa terra e di questo mondo è all'opposto di quello in cui tuo padre ed io abbiamo sempre creduto. Non sarò tua complice, e non lo sarà nemmeno Silmarien>>
Il re sentì una fitta nel petto e per un attimo pensò che sarebbe potuto morire.
Forse una parte di lui morì davvero in quel momento.
Sospirò.
<<Se questa è la vostra volontà, io non posso oppormi. Però è mio dovere avvertirvi che i tempi si sono inaspriti e non sarà facile per voi sopravvivere fuori da queste mura>>
La regina vedova lo guardò con profonda tristezza, ma anche con determinazione:
<<Ce la caveremo. Ti chiedo solo un favore, non per me, ma per Silmarien. Una cosa che non ti sottrarrà nemmeno una moneta del tuo prezioso denaro. Concedile il titolo che fu dei tuoi antenati di Numenor, amici degli Elfi. Nominala Principessa di Andunie e consentile di trasmettere questo titolo a colui che la sposerà e ai figli che nasceranno>>

Eldarion capiva il significato simbolico di quella richiesta.
Gli Andunie furono gli unici a salvarsi dalla catastrofe di Numenor. 
Era dunque quello il destino di Gondor?
Un brivido gli percorse la schiena.
Quanto era grande il potere evocativo di certi luoghi, soprattutto quando non esistevano più.
La perduta Andunie! Ma in fondo, altro non è che un nome.
Annuì:
<<Darò ordine che l'investitura avvenga entro domani, dopodiché sarete libere di recarvi dove vorrete e con chi vorrete>>
Arwen lo fissò con severità:
<<Andremo a Lothlorien. Legolas e Gimli ci accompagneranno. Cerca di tenere le tue spie lontano da noi>>
La freddezza con cui quella frase era stata pronunciata acuì il senso di malessere interiore di Eldarion.
Alla fine ci separiamo come estranei. 
Era un fallimento per tutti.
Dove sono finiti tutti i valori che ci legavano? Dove sono i nostri ricordi? E' stato tutto solo un sogno?
Forse sì, eppure era stato un bel sogno, finché era durato.
<<Così sia. Ma non serbatemi rancore, perché io vi ho amato...>>
A stento trattenne le lacrime.
Il male si era insinuato tra loro scavando solchi di incomunicabilità che erano divenuti evidenti soltanto quando ormai c'era ben poco da fare per ricucire i legami.
Eldarion vide che suo figlio Vardamir lo osservata con l'aria di chi si aspetta qualche premio per la propria fedeltà.
<<Coloro che mi sono rimasti fedeli possono chiedermi a quale carica aspirano. E' consuetudine che il re da poco insediato manifesti in questo modo la gratitudine verso chi non lo abbandona>>
Vardamir non se lo fece ripetere due volte:
<<Principe della Corona e Capitano di Gondor>>
Eldarion annuì:
<<Accordato. E voi, sorelle maggiori?>> 
Ancalime accennò un sorriso complice:
<<Chiedo l'incarico di Sovrintendente di Gondor per me, e suggerirei, per Vanimelde e suo marito, il titolo di Principi reggenti di Dol Amroth>>
Vanimelde parve felice di quella proposta, non capendo che era un modo per allontanarla dalla capitale e portarla in prima linea nella difesa del fronte sud.
Un'abile mossa da parte di Ancalime. Di fatto ha ottenuto tutto ciò che voleva: allontanare i rivali e assumere la carica di primo ministro del regno.
C'era Pallando dietro a tutto questo disegno. Opporsi sarebbe stato inutile.
Eldarion sapeva da tempo che l'unico modo di ricomporre le liti, in politica, era distribuire titoli, onori e poteri in modo da soddisfare le ambizioni di tutti.
Provò disgusto per tutto ciò, eppure la sua voce espresse l'esatto contrario:
<<Domani voi tutti riceverete l'investitura. Spero che ognuno possa essere all'altezza della carica che gli è stata conferita, perché i tempi sono inclementi e non possiamo permetterci di sbagliare>>

Pubblicato da alle 2 commenti:

The Faerie Queene, la Regina delle Fate, di Edmund Spenser



La regina delle fate (in inglese The Faerie Queene) è il poema epico incompiuto di Edmund Spenser, edito nel 1590.
Edmund Spenser definì The Faerie Queene come un'allegoria, in una lettera a Walter Raleigh pubblicata insieme alla prima edizione del poema.

Struttura

È una lunga e densa allegoria delle virtù cristiane, calata nel contesto della leggenda di re Artù. L'idea originaria di Spenser era di scrivere dodici libri divisi a loro volta in dodicicanti, ma la morte prematura ha fermato a metà la sua opera. Il numero dei canti, comunque, rimanda all'Eneide di Virgilio.
Il poema è scritto in strofe spenseriane (otto pentametri giambici e un verso alessandrino legati dalla rima ababbcbcc), poi ripresa da William Wordsworth, John Keats, Lord Byron e Alfred Tennyson.

Temi e personaggi


La regina delle fate con il principe Artù, di Johann Heinrich Füssli.
In ognuno dei sei libri, vengono introdotti altrettanti cavalieri che rappresentano delle virtù. Redcrosse è quello della santità; Guyon della temperanza; donna Britomart della castità; seguono quelli dell'amicizia, della giustizia e della cortesia. Ogni significato è spiegato gradualmente nel corso dell'opera in maniera complessa.
Inoltre, la regina delle fate e Britomart possono essere identificate nella regina Elisabetta I d'Inghilterra, il che complica ulteriormente il poema. Si inserisce così un'allegoria storica che coinvolge anche vari eventi del Cinquecento inglese e irlandese. La stessa epicità del poema rimanda alla gloria della sua nazione.

Fortuna

La regina delle fate ha ispirato decine di scrittori, tra cui John Milton, John Keats, James Joyce e Ezra Pound.

Traduzione italiana

Il 21 novembre del 2012, oltre quattrocento anni dopo la morte di Spenser, viene pubblicata la prima traduzione integrale italiana (e con ogni probabilità in ogni lingua) della "Faerie Queene", a cura di Luca Manini, per i tipi di Bompiani (collana "Classici della letteratura europea").[1]

Note

  1. ^ la regina delle fate | CULTURAINBLOG

Collegamenti esterni



The Faerie Queene is an incomplete English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. The first half was published in 1590, and a second installment was published in 1596. The Faerie Queene is notable for its form: it was the first work written in Spenserian stanza and is one of the longest poems in the English language.[1] It is an allegorical work, and can be read (as Spenser presumably intended) on several levels of allegory, including as praise of Queen Elizabeth I. In a completely allegorical context, the poem follows several knights in an examination of several virtues. In Spenser's "Letter of the Authors," he states that the entire epic poem is "cloudily enwrapped in allegorical devices," and that the aim of publishing The Faerie Queenewas to “fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline.”
The Faerie Queene found such favour with Elizabeth I that Spenser was granted a pension for life amounting to fifty pounds a year, though there is no evidence that Elizabeth I read any of the poem. This royal patronage helped the poem along to such a level of success that it became Spenser's defining work.[2]

A celebration of the virtues


Prince Arthur and the Faerie Queenby Johann Heinrich Füssli, circa 1788.
A letter written by Spenser to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1590[3] contains a preface for The Faerie Queene, in which Spenser describes the allegorical presentation of virtues through Arthurianknights in the mythical "Faerieland". Presented as a preface to the epic in most published editions, this letter outlines plans for twenty-four books: twelve based each on a different knight who exemplified one of twelve "private virtues", and a possible twelve more centred on King Arthur displaying twelve "public virtues". Spenser names Aristotle as his source for these virtues, though the influences of Thomas Aquinas and the traditions of medieval allegory can be observed as well.[4] It is impossible to predict how the work would have looked had Spenser lived to complete it, since the reliability of the predictions made in his letter to Raleigh is not absolute, as numerous divergences from that scheme emerged as early as 1590 in the first Faerie Queenepublication.
In addition to the six virtues Holiness, Temperance, Chastity, Friendship, Justice, and Courtesy, the Letter to Raleigh suggests that Arthur represents the virtue of Magnificence, which ("according to Aristotle and the rest") is "the perfection of all the rest, and containeth in it them all"; and that the Faerie Queene herself represents Glory (hence her name, Gloriana). The unfinished seventh book (the Cantos of Mutability) appears to have represented the virtue of "constancy."

Religion

The Faerie Queene was written during a time of religious and political controversy – the Reformation. After taking the throne following the death of her half-sister Mary, Elizabeth changed the official religion of the nation to Protestantism.[5] The plot of book one is similar to John Foxe’s Acts and Monuments, which was about the persecution of the Protestants and how Catholic rule was unjust.[6] Spenser includes the controversy of Elizabethan church reform within the epic. Gloriana has godly English knights destroy Catholic continental power in Books I and V.[7] Spenser also embodies many of his villains with “the worst of what Protestants considered a superstitious Catholic reliance on deceptive images”.[8]

Politics and the poem


Ttitle-page of The Faerie Queene, printed for William Ponsonby in 1590
The poem celebrates, memorializes, and critiques the Tudor dynasty (of which Elizabeth was a part), much in the tradition of Virgil's Aeneid's celebration of Augustus Caesar's Rome. Like the Aeneid, which states that Augustus descended from the noble sons of Troy, The Faerie Queene suggests that the Tudor linage can be connected to King Arthur. The poem is deeply allegorical and allusive: many prominent Elizabethans could have found themselves—or one another—partially represented by one or more of Spenser's figures. Elizabeth herself is the most prominent example: she appears most prominently in her guise as Gloriana, the Faerie Queene herself; but also in Books III and IV as the virgin Belphoebe, daughter of Chrysogonee and twin to Amoret, the embodiment of womanly married love; and perhaps also, more critically, in Book I as Lucifera, the "maiden queen" whose brightly lightly Court of Pride masks a dungeon full of prisoners.
The poem also displays Spenser's thorough familiarity with literary history. Though the world of The Faerie Queene is based on English Arthurian legend, much of the language, spirit, and style of the piece draw more on Italian epic, particularly Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso and Torquato Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered.[9] Book V of The Faerie Queene, the Book of Justice, is Spenser's most direct discussion of political theory. In it, Spenser both attempts to tackle the problem of policy toward Ireland and recreates the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Spenser's intentions while writing The Faerie Queene

While writing his poem, Spenser strove to “avoid jealous opinions and misconstructions” because he thought it would place his story “in a better light” for his readers.[10] In his letter to Raleigh, published with the first three books.[11] Spenser states that “the general end of the book is to fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline”.[10] Spenser considered his work “a historical fiction” which men should read for “delight” rather than “the profit of the ensample”.[10] The Faerie Queene was written for Elizabeth to read and was dedicated to her. However, there are dedicatory sonnets in the first edition to many powerful Elizabethan figures.[12]
In Amoretti 33, when talking about The Faerie Queene still being incomplete, Spenser addresses “lodwick”. This could be either his friend Lodowick Bryskett or his long deceased Italian model, Ludovico Ariosto, whom he praises in “Letter to Raleigh”.[13]

Structure and language

The Faerie Queene was written in Spenserian stanza, which was created specifically for The Faerie Queene. In this style, there are nine iambic lines – the first eight of them five footed and the ninth a hexameter – which form “interlocking quatrains and a final couplet”.[14] The rhyme pattern is ABABBCBCC. Over two thousand stanzas were written for the 1590 Faerie Queene.[14]

Theological structure

In Elizabethan England, no subject was more familiar to writers than theology. Elizabethans learned to embrace religious studies in petty school, where they “read from selections from the Book of Common Prayer and memorized Catechisms from the Scriptures”.[15] This influence is evident in Spenser’s text, as demonstrated in the moral allegory of Book I. Here, allegory is organized in the traditional arrangement of Renaissance theological treatises and confessionals. While reading Book I, audiences first encounter original sin, justification and the nature of sin before analysing the church and the sacraments.[16] Despite this pattern, Book I is not a theological treatise; within the text, “moral and historical allegories intermingle” and the reader encounters elements of romance.[17] However, Spenser’s method is not “a rigorous and unyielding allegory,” but “a compromise among conflicting elements”.[17] Book I ofThe Faerie Queene’s discussion of the path to salvation begins with original sin and justification, skipping past initial matters of God, the Creeds, and Adam’s fall from grace.[17] This literary decision is pivotal because these doctrines “center the fundamental theological controversies of the Reformation”.[17]

Language

Spenser's language in The Faerie Queene, as in The Shepheardes Calender, is deliberately archaic, though the extent of this has been exaggerated by critics who follow Ben Jonson's dictum, that "in affecting the ancients Spenser writ no language."[18] Allowing that Jonson's remark may only apply to the Calendar, Bruce Robert McElderry, Jr., states, after a detailed investigation of the FQ's diction, that Jonson's statement "is a skillful epigram; but it seriously misrepresents the truth if taken at anything like its face value."[19] The number of archaisms used in the poem are not overwhelming—one source reports thirty-four in Canto I of Book I, that is, thirty-four words out of a total forty-two hundred words, less than one percent.[20] According to McElderry, language does not account for the poem's archaic tone: "The subject-matter of The Faerie Queene is itself the most powerful factor in creating the impression of archaism."[21]
Examples of medieval archaisms (in morphology and diction) include:
  • Infinitive in –en: "Vewen," 1. 201, 'to view.'
  • Prefix y- retained in participle: "Yclad," 1. 58, 254, 'clad,' 'clothed.'
  • Adjective: "Combrous," 1. 203, 'harassing,' 'troublesome.'
  • Verb: "Keepe," 1. 360, 'heed,' 'give attention to.'[20]

Criticism of the diction of The Faerie Queene

Since its inception four centuries ago, Spenser’s diction has been scrutinized by scholars. Despite the enthusiasm the poet and his work received, Spenser’s experimental diction was “largely condemned” before it received the acclaim it has today.[22] Seventeenth century philologists such as Davenant considered Spenser’s use of “obsolete language” “the most vulgar accusation that is laid to his charge”.[23] Scholars have recently observed that the classical tradition tucked within The Faerie Queene is related to the problem of his diction because it “involves the principles of imitation and decorum”.[24] Despite these initial criticisms, Spenser is “now recognized as a conscious literary artist” and his language is deemed “the only fitting vehicle for his tone of thought and feelings”.[24] Spenser’s use of language was widely contrasted to that of “free and unregulated” sixteenth century Shakespearian grammar.[25] Spenser’s style is standardized, lyrically sophisticated, and full of archaisms that give the poem an original taste. Cumming argues in his review of The Faerie Queene that the archaisms reside in the vocabulary, high degree of spelling, the flexions, and slightly in the syntax.[25]
Samuel Johnson also commented critically on Spenser's diction, with which he became intimately acquainted during his work on A Dictionary of the English Language, and "found it a useful source for obsolete and archaic words"; Johnson, however, mainly considered Spenser's (early) pastoral poems, a genre of which he was not particularly fond.[26]
The diction and atmosphere of The Faerie Queene relied on much more than just Middle English; for instance, classical allusions and classical proper names abound—especially in the later books—and he coined some names based on Greek, such as "Poris" and "Phao lilly white."[27] Classical material is also alluded to or reworked by Spenser, such as the rape of Lucretia, which was reworked into the story of the character Amavia in Book Two.[28]

Archetypal criticism

While some literary works sacrifice historical context to archetypal myth, reducing poetry to Biblical quests, Spenser reinforces the actuality of his story by adhering to archetypal patterns.[29] Throughout The Faerie Queene, Spenser does not concentrate on a pattern “which transcends time” but “uses such a pattern to focus the meaning of the past on the present”.[29] By reflecting on the past, Spenser achieves ways of stressing the importance of Elizabeth’s reign. In turn, he does not “convert event into myth” but “myth into event”.[29] Within The Faerie Queene, Spenser blurs the distinction between archetypal and historical elements deliberately. For example, Spenser probably does not believe in the complete truth of the British Chronicle, which Arthur reads in the House of Alma.[29] In this instance, the Chronicle serves as a poetical equivalent for factual history. Even so, poetical history of this kind is not myth; rather, it “consists of unique, if partially imaginary, events recorded in chronological order”.[29] The same distinction resurfaces in the political allegory of Books I and V. However, the reality to interpreted events becomes more apparent when the events occurred nearer to the time the poem was written.[29]

Symbolism and allusion

Throughout The Faerie Queene, Spenser creates “a network of allusions to events, issues, and particular persons in England and Ireland” including Mary, Queen of Scots, the Spanish Armada, the English Reformation, and even the Queen herself.[30] It is also known that James VI of Scotland read the poem, and was very insulted by Duessa – a very negative depiction of his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots.[31] The Faerie Queene was then banned in Scotland. This led to a significant decrease in Elizabeth’s support for the poem.[31] Within the text, both the Faerie Queene and Belphoebe serve as two of the many personifications of Queen Elizabeth, some of which are “far from complimentary”.[30]
Though it praises her in some ways, The Faerie Queene questions Elizabeth’s ability to rule so effectively because of her gender, and also inscribes the “shortcomings” of her rule.[11] There is a character named Britomart who represents married chastity. This character is told that her destiny is to be an “immortal womb” – to have children.[11] Here, Spenser is referring to Elizabeth’s unmarried state and is touching on anxieties of the 1590s about what would happen after her death since the kingdom had no heir.[11]
The Faerie Queene’s original audience would have been able to identify many of the poem’s characters by analyzing the symbols and attributes that spot Spenser’s text. For example, readers would immediately know that “a woman who wears scarlet clothes and resides along the Tiber River represents the Roman Catholic Church”.[30] However, marginal notes jotted in early copies of The Faerie Queene suggest that Spenser’s contemporaries were unable to come to a consensus about the precise historical referents of the poem’s “myriad figures”.[30] In fact, Sir Walter Raleigh’s wife identified many of the poem’s female characters as “allegorical representations of herself”.[30] Other symbols prevalent in The Faerie Queene are the numerous animal characters present in the novel. They take the role of “visual figures in the allegory and in illustrative similes and metaphors”.[32] Specific examples include the swine present in Lucifera’s castle who embodied gluttony, and Duessa, the deceitful crocodile who may represent Mary, Queen of Scots, in a negative light.

Myth and history[edit]

During The Faerie Queene's inception, Spenser worked as a civil servant, in “relative seclusion from the political and literary events of his day”.[33] As Spenser laboured in solitude, The Faerie Queene manifested within his mind, blending his experiences into the content of his craft. Within his poem, Spenser explores human consciousness and conflict, relating to a variety of genres including sixteenth century Arthurian literature.[34] The Faerie Queene was influenced strongly by Italian works, as were many other works in England at that time. The Faerie Queene draws heavily on Ariosto and Tasso.[35]
The first three books of The Faerie Queene operate as a unit, representing the entire cycle from the fall of Troy to the reign of Elizabeth.[34] Using in medias res, Spenser introduces his historical narrative at three different intervals, using chronicle, civil conversation, and prophecy as its occasions.[34]
Despite the historical elements of his text, Spenser is careful to label himself a historical poet as opposed to a historiographer. Spenser notes this differentiation in his letter to Raleigh, noting “a Historiographer discourseth of affairs orderly as they were done…but a Poet thrusteth into the midst…and maketh a pleasing Analysis of all”.[36]
Spenser’s characters embody Elizabethan values, highlighting political and aesthetic associations of Tudor Arthurian tradition in order to bring his work to life. While Spenser respected British history and “contemporary culture confirmed his attitude”.[36] his literary freedom demonstrates that he was “working in the realm of mythopoeic imagination rather than that of historical fact”.[36] In fact, Spenser’s Arthurian material serves as a subject of debate, intermediate between “legendary history and historical myth” offering him a range of “evocative tradition and freedom that historian’s responsibilities preclude”.[37] Concurrently, Spenser adopts the role of a sceptic, reflected in the method he handles the British history, which “extends to the verge of self-satire”.[38]

Medieval subject matter

The Faerie Queene owes, in part, its central figure, Arthur, to a medieval writer, Geoffrey of Monmouth. In his Prophetiae Merlini ("Prophecies of Merlin"), Geoffrey's Merlin proclaims that the Saxons will rule over the Britons until the “Boar of Cornwall” (Arthur) again restores them to their rightful place as rulers.[39] The prophecy was adopted by the Welsh and eventually used by the Tudors. Through their ancestor, Owen Tudor, the Tudors had Welsh blood, through which they claimed to be descendants of Arthur and rightful rulers of Britain.[40] The tradition begun by Geoffrey of Monmouth set the perfect atmosphere for Spenser’s choice of Arthur as the central figure and natural bridegroom of Gloriana.

Social commentary

In October 1589, Spenser voyaged to England and saw the Queen. It is possible that he read to her from his manuscript at this time. On 25 February 1591, the Queen gave him a pension of fifty pounds per year.[41] He was paid in four instalments on 25 March, 24 June, 29 September, and 25 December.[42] After the first three books of The Faerie Queene were published in 1590, Spenser found himself disappointed in the monarchy; among other things, “his annual pension from the Queen was smaller than he would have liked” and his humanist perception of Elizabeth’s court “was shattered by what he saw there”.[43] Despite these frustrations, however, Spenser “kept his aristocratic prejudices and predispositions”.[43] Book VI stresses that there is “almost no correlation between noble deeds and low birth” and reveals that to be a “noble person,” one must be a “gentleman of choice stock”.[43]
Throughout The Faerie Queene, virtue is seen as “a feature for the nobly born” and within Book VI, readers encounter worthy deeds that indicate aristocratic linage.[43] An example of this is the hermit to whom Arthur brings Timias and Serena. Initially, the man is considered a “goodly knight of a gentle race” who “withdrew from public service to religious life when he grew too old to fight”.[43] Here, we note the hermit’s noble blood seems to have influenced his gentle, selfless behaviour. Likewise, audiences acknowledge that young Tristram “speaks so well and acts so heroically” that Calidore “frequently contributes him with noble birth” even before learning his background; in fact, it is no surprise that Tristram turns out to be the son of a king, explaining his profound intellect.[44] However, Spenser’s most peculiar example of noble birth is demonstrated through the characterization of the Salvage Man. Using the Salvage Man as an example, Spenser demonstrated that “ungainly appearances do not disqualify one from noble birth”.[44] By giving the Salvage Man a “frightening exterior,” Spenser stresses that “virtuous deeds are a more accurate indication of gentle blood than physical appearance.[44]
On the opposite side of the spectrum, The Faerie Queene indicates qualities such as cowardice and discourtesy that signify low birth. During his initial encounter with Arthur, Turpine “hides behind his retainers, chooses ambush from behind instead of direct combat, and cowers to his wife, who covers him with her voluminous skirt”.[45] These actions demonstrate that Turpine is “morally emasculated by fear” and furthermore, “the usual social roles are reversed as the lady protects the knight from danger.[45] Scholars believe that this characterization serves as “a negative example of knighthood” and strives to teach Elizabethan aristocrats how to “identify a commoner with political ambitions inappropriate to his rank”.[45]

List of major characters

  • Abessa, the dumb daughter of Corcera and lover of Kirkrapine, her name suggests both "abbess" and "absence" (Lat., abesse). In Book I, Canto 3, Una and the Lion enter her house.
  • Acrasia, seductress of knights. Guyon destroys her Bower of Bliss at the end of Book 2. Similar characters in other epics: Circe (Homer's Odyssey), Alcina (Ariosto), Armida (Tasso), or the fairy woman from Keats's poem "La Belle Dame sans Merci".
  • Alma; her name means "soul." She is the head of the House of Temperance in Book II.
  • Amoretta, the betrothed of Scudamour, kidnapped by Busirane on her wedding night, saved by Britomart. She represents the virtue of married love, and her marriage to Scudamour serves as the example that Britomart and Artegal seek to copy. Amoret and Scudamor are separated for a time by circumstances, but remain loyal to each other until they (presumably) are reunited.
  • Archimago, an evil sorcerer who is sent to stop the knights in the service of the Faerie Queene. Of the knights, Archimago hates Redcross most of all, hence he is symbolically the nemesis of England.
  • Artegal (or Arthegall), a knight who is the personification and champion of Justice. He meets Britomart after defeating her in a swordfight (she had been dressed as a knight) and removing her helmet, revealing her beauty. Artegal quickly falls in love with Britomart. Artegal has a companion in Talus, a metal man who wields a flail and never sleeps or tires but will mercilessly pursue and kill any number of villains. Talus obeys Artegal's command, and serves to represent justice without mercy (hence, Artegal is the more human face of justice). Later, Talus does not rescue Artegal from enslavement by the wicked Radigund, because Artegal is bound by a legal contract to serve her. Only her death, at Britomart's hands, liberates him.
  • Arthur of the Round Table, but playing a different role here. He is madly in love with the Faerie Queene and spends his time in pursuit of her when not helping the other knights out of their sundry predicaments. Prince Arthur is the Knight of Magnificence, the perfection of all virtues.
  • Ate, a fiend from Hell disguised as a beautiful maiden, Ate opposes Book IV's virtue of friendship through spreading discord. She is aided in her task by Duessa, the female deceiver of Book I, whom Ate summoned from Hell. Ate and Duessa have fooled the false knights Blandamour and Paridell into taking them as lovers. Her name is possibly inspired by the Classical Goddess of Misfortune Atë, said to have been thrown from Heaven by Zeus, similar to the fallen angels.
  • Belphoebe, the beautiful sister of Amoret who spends her time in the woods hunting and avoiding the numerous amorous men who chase her. Timias, the squire of Arthur, eventually wins her love after she tends to the injuries he sustained in battle; however, Timias must endure much suffering to prove his love when Belphoebe sees him tending to a wounded woman and, misinterpreting his actions, flies off hastily. She is only drawn back to him after seeing how he has wasted away without her.
  • Blatant Beast comes from hell, signifies the spite and wickedness that causes a loss of honour.[46]
  • Braggadocchio, a comic knight with no sense of honour. He steals Guyon's horse. He is not evil, just a dishonourable braggart.
  • Britomart, a female knight, the personification and champion of Chastity. She is young and beautiful, and falls in love with Artegal upon first seeing his face in her father's magic mirror. Though there is no interaction between them, she falls in love with him, and travels, dressed as a knight and accompanied by her nurse, Glauce, in order to find Artegal again. Britomart carries an enchanted spear that allows her to defeat every knight she encounters, until she loses to a knight who turns out to be her beloved Artegal. Parallel figure in Ariosto: Bradamante. Britomart is one of the most important knights in the story. She searches the world, including a pilgrimage to the shrine of Isis, and a visit with Merlin the magician. She rescues Artegal, and several other knights, from the evil slave-mistress Radigund. Furthermore, Britomart accepts Amoret at a tournament, refusing the false Florimell.
  • Busirane, the evil sorcerer who captures Amoret on her wedding night. When Britomart enters his castle to defeat him, she finds him holding Amoret captive. She is bound to a pillar and Busirane is torturing her. The clever Britomart handily defeats him and returns Amoret to her husband.
  • Calepine, a knight who acts as Calidore's surrogate throughout much of Book VI.
  • Calidore, the Knight of Courtesy, hero of Book VI. He is on a quest from the Faerie Queene to slay the Blatant Beast.
  • Cambell, one of the Knights of Friendship, hero of Book IV. Brother of Canacee and friend of Triamond.
  • Cambina, daughter of Agape and sister to Priamond, Diamond, and Triamond. Cambina is depicted holding a caduceus and a cup of nepenthe, signifying her role as a figure of concord. She marries Cambell after bringing an end to his fight with Triamond.
  • Canacee, Cambell's sister, whose magic ring renders the wearer invulnerable. After Cambell and Triamond's combat, Canacee marries Triamond and befriends his sister Cambina.
  • Colin Clout, a shepherd, noted for his songs and bagpipe playing, briefly appearing in Book VI, being the same Colin Clout from Spenser's pastoral poetry, which is fitting because Calidore is taking a sojourn into a world of pastoral delight, ignoring his duty to hunt the Blatant Beast, which is why he set out to Ireland to begin with. Colin Clout may also be said to be Spenser himself.
  • Cymochles, a knight in Book II who is defined by indecision and fluctuations of the will. He and his fiery brother Pyrochles represent emotional maladies that threaten temperance. The two brothers are both slain by Prince Arthur in Canto VIII.
  • Chrysogonee, mother of Belphoebe and her twin Amoretta, she was impregnated by sunbeams when she slept on a bank. Chrysogonee hid in the forest and becoming tired she fell asleep and gave birth to twins. Found by Venus and Diana, the newly born twins were taken: Venus takes Amoretta and raises her in the Garden of Adonis; and Diana takes Belphoebe.
  • Duessa, a lady who personifies Falsehood in Book I, known to Redcross as "Fidessa". As the opposite of Una, she represents the "false" religion of the Roman Catholic Church. She is also initially an assistant, or at least a servant, to Archimago.

Florimell's Flight by Washington Allston
  • Florimell, a lady in love with the knight Marinell, who initially rejects her. Hearing he was wounded, she set out in search and faced various perils, culminating in her being captured by Proteus. She is reunited with Marinell at the end of Book IV, and is married to him in Book V.
  • Glauce, an elderly woman who serves as Britomart's squire.
  • Gloriana, the "Faerie Queene" herself, she is also sometimes called Tanaquill, which was her name before she became queen.
  • Guyon, the Knight of Temperance, the hero of Book II. He is the leader of the Knights of Maidenhead and carries the image of Gloriana on his shield. According to the Golden Legend, St. George's name shares etymology with Guyon, which specifically means "the holy wrestler."
  • Malbecco, protective husband of the lascivious Hellenore. When she is seduced by Paridell, he metamorphoses into a hideous creature, representing jealousy itself.
  • Malecasta, a decadent, jaded sophisticate who invites the weary knights to dinner. She studies Britomart at the feast, and tries to seduce her, unaware Britomart is a lady until Malecasta feels the sting of Britomart's magic sword.
  • Marinell, "the knight of the sea"; son of a water nymph, he avoided all love because his mother had learnt that a woman would do him harm; he was stricken down in battle by Britomart, though not mortally wounded.
  • Merlin, who is much the same as in Arthurian legend. A young Britomart goes to see Merlin after falling in love with Artegal, and he instructs her on how to proceed.
  • Mirabella, in Book VI; a woman who allows herself to be punished for her sins against the two men between whom she could not choose.
  • Orgoglio, a giant who attacks the Redcross Knight.
  • Paridell, a false knight and a seducer of women. His name derives from that of the Trojan prince Paris. In Book III, he runs off with Malbecco's wife, Hellenore.
  • Pastorella, a woman raised by shepherds but revealed in the last Canto of Book VI to be the daughter of Sir Bellamoure and Lady Claribell.
  • Phaon, a squire who is deceived by Philemon and, under the influence of Furor (frenzied rage), kills Claribel with his sword and Philemon with poison.
  • Pyrochles, a hot-tempered knight in Book II, he and his impressionable brother Cymochles serve as examples of two emotional maladies that threaten temperance. Pyrochles is eventually beheaded by Prince Arthur in Canto VIII.

Prince Arthur, the Redcross Knights, and Una, illustrated by William Kent, 1751
  • The Redcross Knight, hero of Book I. Introduced in the first canto of the poem, he bears the emblem of Saint George, patron saint of England; a red cross on a white background is still the flag of England. The Redcross Knight is declared the real Saint George in Canto X. He also learns that he is of English ancestry, having been stolen by a Fay and raised in Faerieland. In the climactic battle of Book I, Redcross slays the dragon that has laid waste to Eden. He marries Una at the end of Book I, but brief appearances in Books II and III show Redcross still questing through the world.
  • Sansfoy, Sansjoy and Sansloy (names from Old French meaning "Faithless", "Joyless" and "Lawless"), three Saracen knights who fight Redcross in Book I.
  • Satyrane, a wild half-satyr man raised in the wild and the epitome of natural human potential. Tamed by Una, he protects her, but ends up locked in a battle against the chaotic Sansloy, which remains unconcluded. Satyrane finds Florimell's girdle, which she drops while flying from a beast. He holds a three-day tournament for the right to possess the girdle. His Knights of Maidenhead win the day with Britomart's help.
  • Scudamour, the lover of Amoret. His name means "shield of love". This character is based on Sir James Scudamore, a jousting champion and courtier to Queen Elizabeth I. Scudamour loses his love Amoret to the sorcerer Busirane. Though the 1590 edition of The Faerie Queene has Scudamour united with Amoret through Britomart's assistance, the continuation in Book IV has them separated, never to be reunited.
  • Talus, an "iron man" who helps Arthegall to dispense justice in Book V. The name is likely from Latin "talus" (ankle) with reference to the that which success "stands on," and perhaps also to the ankle of Achilles, who was otherwise invincible.
  • Timias, Prince Arthur's squire and lover of Belphoebe. His relationship with Belphoebe is generally thought to represent that of Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth I.
  • Triamond, one of the Knights of Friendship, a hero of Book IV. Friend of Cambell. One of three brothers; when Priamond and Diamond died, their souls joined with his body. After battling Cambell, Triamond marries Cambell's sister, Canacee.
  • Trompart, Braggadocchio's cunning squire. His name derives from the French tromper, "to deceive".
  • Una, the personification of the "True Church". She travels with the Redcross Knight (who represents England), whom she has recruited to save her parents' castle from a dragon. She also defeats Duessa, who represents the "false" (Catholic) church and the person of Mary, Queen of Scots, in a trial reminiscent of that which ended in Mary's beheading. Una is also representative of Truth.

References

  1. Jump up^ Loewenstein & Mueller 2003, p. 369.
  2. Jump up^ Spenser, Edmund (1984). Thomas P. Roche, Jr., with the assistance of C. Patrick O'Donnell Jr, ed. The Faerie Queene. Penguin Books. p. 11 (Further Reading). ISBN 0-14-042207-2.
  3. Jump up^ "The date of the letter—23 January 1589—is actually 1590, since England did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752 and the dating of the new year began on 25 March, Lady Day" (Roche, Notes to The Faerie Queene, 1070).
  4. Jump up^ Tuve, Rosemond (1966). Allegorical Imagery: Some Medieval Books and Their Posterity. Princeton: Princeton UP.
  5. Jump up^ Greenblatt 2006, p. 687.
  6. Jump up^ McCabe 2010, p. 41.
  7. Jump up^ Heale 1999, p. 8.
  8. Jump up^ McCabe 2010, p. 39.
  9. Jump up^ Abrams 2000, p. 623.
  10. ^ Jump up to:a b c Spenser 2012, p. 777.
  11. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Heale 1999, p. 11.
  12. Jump up^ McCabe 2010, p. 50.
  13. Jump up^ McCabe 2010, p. 273.
  14. ^ Jump up to:a b McCabe 2010, p. 213.
  15. Jump up^ Whitaker 1952, p. 151.
  16. Jump up^ Whitaker 1952, p. 153.
  17. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Whitaker 1952, p. 154.
  18. Jump up^ McElderry 1932, p. 144.
  19. Jump up^ McElderry 1932, p. 170.
  20. ^ Jump up to:a b Parker 1925, p. 85.
  21. Jump up^ McElderry 1932, p. 159.
  22. Jump up^ Pope 1926, p. 575.
  23. Jump up^ Pope 1926, p. 576.
  24. ^ Jump up to:a b Pope 1926, p. 580.
  25. ^ Jump up to:a b Cumming 1937, p. 6.
  26. Jump up^ Turnage, Maxine (1970). "Samuel Johnson's Criticism of the Works of Edmund Spenser". SEL: Studies in English Literature (Linguistic Society of America) 10 (3): 557–67. ISSN 0039-3657. p. 567
  27. Jump up^ Draper, John W. (March 1932). "Classical Coinage in the Faerie Queene". PMLA 47 (1): 97–108.doi:10.2307/458021. p. 97.
  28. Jump up^ Cañadas, Ivan (2007). "The Faerie Queene, II.i-ii: Amavia, Medina, and the Myth of Lucretia" (PDF). Medieval and Early Modern English Studies 15 (2): 383–94. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
  29. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Gottfried 1968, p. 1363.
  30. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Greenblatt 2012, p. 775.
  31. ^ Jump up to:a b McCabe 2010, p. 48.
  32. Jump up^ Marotti 1965, p. 69.
  33. Jump up^ Craig 1972, p. 520.
  34. ^ Jump up to:a b c Craig 1972, p. 522.
  35. Jump up^ Healy 1999, p. 95.
  36. ^ Jump up to:a b c Craig 1972, p. 523.
  37. Jump up^ Craig 1972, p. 524.
  38. Jump up^ Craig 1972, p. 555.
  39. Jump up^ Geoffrey of Monmouth, The Prophecies of Merlin, Cærleon
  40. Jump up^ Millican, Charles Bowie (1932), Spenser and the Table Round, New York: Octagon
  41. Jump up^ McCabe 2010, p. 112.
  42. Jump up^ McCabe 2010, p. 24.
  43. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Green 1974, p. 389.
  44. ^ Jump up to:a b c Green 1974, p. 390.
  45. ^ Jump up to:a b c Green 1974, p. 392.
  46. Jump up^ Heale 1999, p. 161.

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