False charms and idle shows : a reading of Spenser's Faerie Queene, III.xi-xii
Date
1977
Authors
Breidenthal, Thomas Edward
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Abstract
Spenser's portrayal of Amoret in the final episode of Book III of~ Faerie Queene has long troubled critics of the scene. Spenser repeatedly praises Amoret for her fidelity, and she is described in canto vi as "th'ensample of true love alone." Yet her enchantment in the House of Busyrane, her placement in the Mask of Cupid, and her need of "redemption" by Britomart suggest that Amoret is the victim of her own unchastity. This contradiction has made it difficult to define the scene's significance and its relation to Book III as a whole, and has cast doubt on Spenser's control over his material.
Amoret's pierced and exposed heart is an image of the wound of love, and her portrayal must be considered in light of Spenser's teaching on the subject of that wound, as he develops it in the course of Book III. In this thesis his view of Suffering in love is taken to be as follows: pain afflicts the chaste and unchaste alike, but for the latter it is both the test of virtue and the means of attaining it. Viewed thus, thus the contradiction outlined above emerges as the key to Busyrane's challenge and Britomart's victory in canto xii. Because all lovers suffer, Busyrane is able to literalize Amoret's real though metaphoric wound, and by placing her in the misleading context of the mask, to make her love seem false. His intent is to convince Britomart, who herself feels Cupid's wound, that true love, since it suffers, is not true, and so to lead her to deny her own destiny as wife and mother. Britomart discovers his ruse and rescues Amoret because she knows the true significance of suffering in love.
In support of such a reading, several avenues of enquiry hitherto unexplored in earlier criticism of the final episode are pursued, and others suggested but not fully exploited in the work of previous commentators are followed up more extensively. The significance of Spenser's allusions in the canto xii to Petrarch's Triumphs is reconsidered, and a new explanation is provided for the number scheme in cantos xi and xii discovered by Alastair Fowler. Again, the Ovidian tapestries of the castle's first room are reinterpreted in light of the tradition of the Ovide moralisé.
Finally, and most importantly, a close study is made of Scudamour's dialogue with Britomart in canto xi--a passage which has never received adequate attention. For Scudamour, the cief problem raise by Amoret's dilemma is--aside from his own helplessness--the contrast of her innocence with her suffering. His opening speech (xi.9-11) paraphrases Psalm 94:1-7. This psalm begins by decrying the persecution of the righteous and by questioning God's justice; it goes on, however, to reaffirm both the value of hardship and the trustworthiness of God. Scudamour fails to take the final message of the psalm into account and, in all his words and actions, betrays an inappropriate response to suffering in love and human pain in general. It is this attitude which prevents him from delivering his bride and attaining heroic stature as a lover. For Spenser, Holy Matrimony symbolizes the relationship between Christ and Hist Church; Scudamour cannot assume the husband's Christlike role because he has not learned, like Redcrosse in Book I, to suffer as a saint. Likewise, Britomart, in rescuing Amoret in his place, "redeems" her as a husband may be said to "redeeme" his wife. At the same time, Britomark emerges from her experience ready to exchange her masculine role for Amoret's, and so to fulfill her own destiny as a woman and as the ancestress of Queen Elizabeth.