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Thematic Introduction to Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene

Thematic Introduction to Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene. Book I The Legend of Holiness.

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Thematic Introduction to Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene

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  1. Thematic Introduction to Edmund Spenser’s 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 one’s 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 • RCK’s 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 RCK’s 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.

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