Spenser's The Faerie Queene Part 26

CANTO II

I. The Plot: Deceived by Archimago's phantoms, the Redcross Knight suspects the chast.i.ty of Una, and flies at early dawn with his dwarf. He chances to meet the Saracen Sansfoy in company with the false Duessa. They do battle and Sansfoy is slain. Duessa under the name of Fidessa attaches herself to the Knight, and they ride forward. They stop to rest under some shady trees, On breaking a bough, the Knight discovers that the trees are two lovers, Fradubio and Fraelissa, thus imprisoned by the cruel enchantment of Duessa.

II. The Allegory: 1. Hypocrisy under a pious disguise is attractive to Holiness. Truth is also deceived by it, and shamefully slandered. Holiness having abandoned Truth, takes up with Falsehood, who is attended by Infidelity. Unbelief when openly a.s.sailing Holiness is overthrown, but Falsehood under the guise of Faith remains undiscovered. The fate of the man (Fradubio) is set forth who halts between two opinions,-False Religion (Duessa) and Heathen Philosophy, or Natural Religion (Fraelissa).

2. The Reformed Church, no longer under the guidance of Truth, rushes headlong into Infidelity, and unwittingly became the defender of the Romish Faith under the name of the True Faith. There is a hint of the intrigues of Mary Queen of Scots and the libels of the Jesuits on Queen Elizabeth designed to bring back the English nation to Romish allegiance.

LINE 1. the Northerne wagoner, the constellation Bootes.

2. his sevenfold teme, the seven stars of Ursa Major, or Charles's Wain. the stedfast starre, the Pole-star, which never sets.

6. chearefull Chaunticlere, the name of the c.o.c.k in the fabliaux and beast epics, e.g. Roman de Renart and Reineke Fuchs.

7. Phbus fiery carre, the sun.

11. that faire-forged spright, fair but miscreated spirit (I, xiv). Spenser took suggestions for this stanza from Ariosto and Ta.s.so.

51. faire Hesperus, the evening star.

55. the rosy-fingred Morning. This beautiful epithet of Aurora, the G.o.ddess of the dawn, is borrowed from Homer, Hesiod, and other ancient poets.

56. aged t.i.thones, son of Laomedon, King of Troy. Aurora conferred upon him immortality without youth, hence the epithet "aged."

58. t.i.tan, the sun-G.o.d in the Roman myths.

85. Proteus, a sea-G.o.d who was endowed with the power of prophecy. He could change himself into any shape in order to avoid having to prophesy. See Homer, Odyssey, iv, 366 seq., and Vergil, Georgics, iv, 387.

90. herbes. In the sixteenth century the belief in potions, magic formulas, etc., was still strongly rooted in the popular mind. The Spanish court and the priests were supposed to employ supernatural agencies against the Protestants.

105. A faithless Sarazin. Spenser uses the word Saracen in the general sense of pagan. During the Middle Ages the Saracen power was a menace to Europe, and the stronghold of infidelity. The names of the three Paynim brethren, Sansfoy, Sansjoy, and Sansloy,-faithless, joyless, and lawless,-suggest the point of view of Spenser's age.

109. a faire companion, the enchantress Duessa, or Falsehood, who calls herself Fidessa. In the allegory Spenser intended her to represent the Romish church and Mary Queen of Scots. Her character and appearance were suggested by the woman of Babylon, in Revelation, viii, 4, Ariosto's Alcina, and Ta.s.so's Armida.

136. As when two rams. This figure is found in Vergil, Apollonius, Malory, Ta.s.so, Dante, and other poets and romancers.

141. the hanging victory, the victory which hung doubtful in the balance.

144. The broken reliques, the shattered lances.

148. Each others equall puissaunce envies, each envies the equal prowess of the other.

149. through their iron sides, etc., through their armored sides with cruel glances, etc.

155. the bitter fit, the bitterness of death.

158. a.s.sured sitt, etc., sit firm (in the saddle), and hide (cover) thy head (with thy shield).

160. With rigour so outrageous, with force so violent.

161. That a large share, etc., that a large piece it (the sword) hewed, etc.

162. from blame him fairly blest. 1, fairly preserved him from hurt; 2, fairly acquitted him of blame. Him in (1) refers to the knight, in (2) to the Saracen. (1) is the better interpretation.

169. grudging. Because reluctant to part from the flesh.

196. daughter of an Emperour. Duessa represents the Pope, who exercised imperial authority in Rome, though the seat of the empire had been transferred to Constantinople in 476.

200. the only haire. The dauphin of France, the first husband of Mary Queen of Scots, afterwards King Francis II, son of Henry II. Duessa's story is full of falsehoods.

243. so dainty they say maketh derth, coyness makes desire. The knight is allured on by Duessa's a.s.sumed shyness.

251. ne wont there sound, nor was accustomed to sound there.

254. cool shade. The Reformed Church, weakened by Falsehood, is enticed by doubt and skepticism.

262. faire seemly pleasaunce, pleasant courtesies.

263. With goodly purposes, with polite conversation. This whole stanza refers to Mary's candidacy for the English throne and its dangers to Protestantism.

269. He pluckt a bough. In this incident Spenser imitates Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, vi, 26, in which Ruggiero addresses a myrtle which bleeds and cries out with pain. The conception of men turned into trees occurs also in Ovid, Vergil, Ta.s.so, and Dante.

272. O spare with guilty hands, etc. Cf Vergil's account of Polydorus in Aeneid, iii, 41, in which a myrtle exclaims, Parce pias scelerare ma.n.u.s, etc.

284. from Limbo lake, here, the abode of the lost. With the Schoolmen, Limbo was a border region of h.e.l.l where dwelt the souls of Old Testament saints, pious heathen, lunatics, and unbaptized infants. Cf. Milton's Paradise of Fools, Paradise Lost, iii, 495.

291. Fradubio, as it were "Brother Doubtful," one who hesitates between false religion and pagan religion, Duessa and Fraelissa (Morley). Fraelissa is fair but frail, and will not do to lean upon.

342. faire in place, fair in that place.

351. to treen mould, to the form of a tree. Treen is an adj. like wooden.

354. the same. Supply "as she appeared to be," i.e. fair and true.

357. proper hew. Witches had to appear in their "proper hew" one day in spring and undergo a purifying bath. The old romances make frequent mention of the enchanted herb bath.

370. by chaunges of my cheare, by my changed countenance or expression.

371. drownd in sleepie night. The phrase modifies "body," or is equivalent to "while I was drowned in sleep."

382. in a living well, in a well of running water. This well signifies the healing power of Christianity. John, iv, 14. In Spenser's story this well is never found, and the wretched couple are never restored to human shape.

404. all pa.s.sed feare, all fear having pa.s.sed.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

(Canto II)

1. How does the knight feel and act while under Archimago's spell? 2. What becomes of Una? 3. How does Archimago plan to deceive her? 4. Tell the story of the lovers turned into trees. 5. Who was Sansfoy? 6. Describe the appearance and character of Duessa. 7. What did she have to do with Fradubio and Fraelissa? 8. What was the old belief about the penance of witches? 9. How only could the lovers be restored to their human shape? Was it done? 10. Who were St. George, Phoebus, t.i.tan, t.i.thonius? 11. Explain the reference to Chaunticlere in l. 6.