Table of ContentsIntroductionDiscussionWorks CitedIntroductionFor a text in Elizabethan literature, Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene is unique in its depiction of chastity - a virtue generally associated with the domestic sphere - in the figure of Britomart, the warrior. . Equally unique is the depiction of Britomart as an almost hermaphrodite figure: she dresses in full armor, fights like a knight, and presents as a man in social settings. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayDiscussionThe idea that chastity can be embodied in an androgynous figure is confusing and counterintuitive to commonly accepted notions of feminine virtue, but Spenser has a purpose in using Britomart as a heroine. Britomart must embody both feminine and masculine traits, because if she were solely feminine, like Florimell or Amoret, her chastity would have long been compromised by the time she reunites with Artegall. In short, Britomart must ignore her latent femininity in order to be completely chaste. "In order to maintain the version of chastity vaunted in The Faerie Queene, Britomart cannot gain insight or understanding. The titular chastity demands a harsh, but beautiful, naivety... Although the male knights are sometimes just as blind, there is no other figure whose ignorance is so central to her virtue” (Cavanagh, 141-142). Britomart's ignorance reveals a hidden but underlying misogyny in Spenser's narrative Although Britomart is portrayed as a powerful figure with some agency, her characterization also reveals a distrust of strong women. , because Britomart is unaware of the precise extent of its force Male anxiety regarding female chastity can be attributed to the very public façade of chastity Because men are so rarely privy to the private, inner world of women. can never really know if a woman is truly chaste. Likewise, most people take Britomart literally and think she is a man because she dresses like a man - because her public façade signifies masculinity - without ever realizing what is hidden her facade: her femininity. Even Britomart does it. does not have access to her own private femininity, because she is unaware of its existence. Sheila Cavanagh writes: “Even though she is the titular knight of the “feminine” virtue of chastity, Britomart can only play this role from a position of “manliness.” For most of the epic, she dresses like a man, interacts with women as if she were a man, and only rarely acknowledges her sex or gender” (Cavanagh, 139). Britomart falls in love with Artegall when she sees herself in the mirror, and her association with a male figure reveals both Britomart's dissociation with her own femininity, as well as the importance of external signs - what is publicly visible - in Spenser's story. As Spenser shows, Britomart is in search of the material embodiment of an image; the sign comes first, the emotion follows. In the infamous mirror scene, Spenser writes: Where, when she had observed this mirrhour fayre, herself for a time she saw in vain; to itself belong. (III.ii.22.6-10) Seeing himself in the mirror, Britomart's own image precipitates his love. raised vp on hyeHer virile face, which made her agrize(III.ii.24.1-4)When she looks at herself for the first time in the mirror, Britomart sees herself. Then, everythingsuddenly, her reflection transforms into a handsome knight, whom she recognizes as her future husband. This moment of narcissism causes Britomart to identify herself as a masculinized figure, and thus in doing so, she removes herself from the male gaze. At the moment of rupture, Britomart transfers his person to the scrutiny of his own gaze and gains action through his liberation. Additionally, Britomart's weapon - the spear - also signifies masculinity. “We are told at this point that Britomart is literally invincible because she wields a powerful magical spear – a powerful phallic symbol which at the same time evokes her wife's chastity” (Villeponteaux, 54). When Britomart looks “in vain” at herself in the mirror, Spenser protects his heroine from entering the private female world by transforming her into a man. Spenser depicts female chastity as an entity that is constantly under attack by men. Presented as a man, each time Britomart is attacked, it is as a knight, as Red Cross or Guyon, and not as Florimell or Amoret, as a simple woman. In Faeryland, violence against women is almost always considered a type of sexual violence, and because the female Britomart is hidden under armor, she is protected from sexual assault. In Spenser's world, a chaste woman is always hunted; she is never safe. The knights of The Faerie Queene constantly encounter damsels in distress, because women, it seems, need protectors. “Spenser insists on the redefinition of chastity through threat, rape, and captivity, even though this insistence generates instabilities that nullify any absolute definition of gender roles” (Frye, 73). Women like Florimell, who are constantly subjected to the male gaze, are constant victims of unwanted male advances. Florimell is represented in Book III as another chaste figure, but she is not the ideal of chastity that Britomart embodies. Florimell is chaste, but she represents beauty - because she is the outward appearance of chastity, she is constantly harassed by men. Such, it seems, is the fate of all the remarkably beautiful women of Fairyland. Britomart is beautiful, but she hides her beauty and escapes progress – in a sense she is the opposite of Flormell because her chastity is hidden; it is the interior, rather than public, component of chastity. The only time Britomart is harmed in Book III is at Castle Joyous when she removes her male disguise. As a woman, the seemingly invincible Britomart suffers her only injury. James Broaddus writes: "When Britomart discovers Malecasta in her bed, she goes for his sword, thinking of 'riding' a 'hated leach'. And as she stands before the bed in her "snow-white blouse, with vnbownd locks", that is, feminine and vulnerable, but "menacing the point of her auenging blade", it is- that is, masculine and aggressive, she is wounded by an arrow shot by Gardante” (Broaddus, 33). The arrow fired by Gardante can be seen as a metaphor for sexuality. invasion, as Spenser describes it: Gardente "brought forth a deadly bow and arrow,/ Which he sent with criminal despair,/ And darted with intent against the virgin sheene" (III.I.65.2 -5) and that the wound “slightly lifted her soft silky skin,/that drops of purple blood wept from it,/which made her lilly blouse with spots of vermilion abrupt” (III.I.65.7-10). Her white dress (a color associated with chastity) is stained red (a color associated with sexuality) after Gardante's arrow invades her virgin's skin. As a man, Britomart wins jousts against Guyon, Marinell and Busyrane, but as a woman, she is injured by the little knownGuard. Modern readers may ask, why do women deserve such atrocious treatment from men? In a sense, Spenser almost blames women for their own victimization. Spenser describes rape as rapture, but in modern England, rapture had two definitions. "The Faerie Queene revises 16th-century rapture by introducing a third definition of the term, one that exists somewhere between the first definition of the kidnapping and rape of female bodies, and the second - more familiar to the modern reader - of excessive and disconcerting rapture that alienates a person from himself In this third term, the rapture is physically felt, located within and on the body, as is the case for the unfortunate victim of the crime. is also pleasant in its sensuality, ecstasy without ekstasis” (Eggert, 7-8) In creating this third definition of rapture, Spenser reveals his belief that chastity is a woman's duty and that when women are raped or victimized, they take care of it one way or another When Florimell is constantly pursued, no matter how cruel, Spenser makes sure that her readers understand why. Likewise, Britomart is attacked because she chooses; to remove his outer clothing, exposing himself thus: “By reason of its voluntary disarmament, Britmart makes itself vulnerable; and she is indeed injured by Gardante, an injury associated with sexual or romantic attraction. This sequence of events suggests more than just that Britomart was struck by love. This also implies that her wound is partly self-inflicted: "she stripped herself." In her partial defeat by love, she is both victorious and victim” (Leslie 41). The duty to preserve chastity, Spenser seems to argue, depends on the woman - as if, because men cannot help but act rudely, women must take on the added responsibility of turning them away. in Book III, Britomart is free and his freedom gives power. Belphoebe, another figure of chastity in Book III, is also independent, but she is confined rather than liberated by her independence. Like Florimell, Belphoebe is chaste without ever reaching the top. of “perfect” or “ideal” chastity. Discovered at birth by Diana and Venus, Belphoebe is claimed by Diana and raised as a huntress while her twin sister Amoret is claimed by Venus and raised in the Garden of Adonis symbolizes an extreme version of this. of chastity which borders on sterility. To your choice a fair sample frame, Of this fair virgin, this Belphoebe do, To whom in perfect love and unsullied fame Of chastity no living can compare: Can we not Enuy justly impair The prayer of her Maidenhead fresh and flowery; for she stands on the highest stair of the honorable womanhead step, that the ladies may all follow her dead example. (III.v.54) Spenser's description that no living woman can compare in chastity to Belphoebe, and that "that ladies may all follow his dead example" signifies the deadly potential of such strict chastity. Such monastic chastity directly conflicts with Britomart's quest to find his destined mate so that his offspring will one day inherit the Great Briton (as well as Spenser's Protestant ideals). As Merlin's prophecy predicts, the loss of Britomart's virginity is a narrative inevitability, while as far as Belphoebe is concerned, she will remain chaste until the day she dies. For Britomart, chastity serves a greater social purpose: fundamentally, it is chaste because small long-term losses yield long-term gains, and "saving it" forArtegall will guarantee the continuity of its line. Until she meets Artegall, Britomart will remain unaware of her emerging femininity, but as the story unfolds, Britomart becomes more and more of a woman. "In the story of Britomart, Spenser most fully sketches the benign discomfort of a nascent erotic consciousness, the emergence of new impulses within the self that insist on making themselves known and accommodated. The structural importance of "Embarrassment for the book therefore depends on the question of the hidden intimacy of the self and its exposure to the larger world" (Trier, 134). According to Katherine Trier, Britomart's embarrassment is the result of erotic awareness "Erotic emotions involve vulnerability to others, uncertain identity, and intense self-consciousness, all of which contribute to embarrassment and distress. " (Trier, 137). Even though Britomart is the representation of perfect chastity, she is still human and therefore not immune to chastity threats. By framing the story in such a way that Britomart ultimately , Spenser offers his chastity the additional protection of marriage. In Book III, Britomart is a chaste virgin, but eventually, she will become a chaste wife because nothing but death will stop Britomart from becoming a full woman. , Spenser ensures that she does not stray from the path of righteousness by planning her marriage to Artegall early in Book III. For Spenser, Britomart's version of chastity is superior to Belphoebe's because reproduction, regeneration, and motherhood are both natural and ordered. by God. Venus is depicted as a mother figure, searching for her lost child, Cupid. She adopts Amoret as her daughter and raises her in the Sacred Garden. Britomart's quest in Book III ends, in fact, when she rescues Venus's daughter. of the evil Busyrane. Although she enters as a knight still in male guise, Britomart is only able to save Amoret when she removes her armor. The point is that Britomart must reveal herself as a woman to save Love. She even gets rid of her phallic spear: “Britomart’s action of dismounting before attempting to enter Busyrane’s house dissociates her from the power and authority of her husband; likewise, his abandonment of the spear removes the threat of violent and excessive sexuality that this weapon has become for Amoret. “It is because she does not threaten Amoret in the same way that Scudamour does that she can enter; and the fact that she does not threaten her in this way results in her dismounting and abandoning her characteristic weapon” (Leslie, 82). As a warrior, Britomart is the enemy of all who try to destroy love. Her final enemy in Book III is Busyrane, who holds Amoret captive in his castle and tortures her while trying to steal her heart. Busyrane, the ultimate enemy of love, is the sworn enemy of Britomart. Belphoebe may be sterilely chaste, but Britomart is destined for love. In Canto VI, Spenser discusses the garden of Adonis at length and detail. By interrupting the linear narrative of his poem to rest for a moment in the garden (so to speak), Spenser draws a distinct and opposing parallel between the garden and the quest. "The Garden of Adonis, the main expression of the generation metaphor in Book III... is revealing of the degree of opposition between quest and garden... Britomart expresses the paradox and conflict that the conjunction of generation metaphors and the quest implies” (Tonkin, 408) Britomart’s quest for Artegall, in a sense, guarantees his chastity because of his asexual and hermaphroditic representation, but his quest is temporary because a).day it will end in the figurative “garden” of reproduction. In this same Gardin, all the beautiful flowers, With which Mother Nature embellishes it, And adorns the girls with her paranoures, Are recovered: there is the first seminar Of all things which are inclined to live and die, According to their species. It lasted a long time, here to account for the endless progeny of all the weeds, which bud and flower there; but as much as he needs, it must be counted here. (III.iv.30) This garden is not only the perfectly natural climax of Britomart's tale, as Spenser declares, but mandated by God: Does not need Gardiner to plant there, or sow, To plant or prune: for by their own accord All things, as they were created, grow, And yet remember well the mighty word "That which was first spoken by the Lord Almighty, who hindered them from growing and to multiply” (III.iv.34.1-6). Venus, unlike Diana, has nature on her side. It is natural to reproduce, and all things have, according to the Creator, the seeds of growth within, and "Venus and Diana's hunt for Cupid is emblematic of Britomart's own quest for Artegall" (Tonkin, 413). Britomart is represented as a man, but willingly chooses such a representation in order to best preserve his chastity towards Artegall; she ensures that only Artegall will plant his “seeds” in his “garden”. throughout Book III, Britomart remains completely ignorant of her feminine and reproductive powers, Britomart's "garden" is left fallow and seedless; the regenerative power of Britomart's sexuality is preserved, protected by her own secret, by hiding her femininity, Britomart circumvents the destructive and the secret. men display violent desire towards women, and as Iris Hill writes: "If love, as many recent critics of Book III have observed, is a necessary destructive aspect, Britomart's heroism involves the beyond this beginning so that it can experience its totality. and generative powers” ​​(Hill, 184). Yet although Britomart fashions her outward appearance as an steadfast knight, she is not impervious to lovesickness. his intellect was of a much graver breed, and the deep wound engorged his heart more deeply, that nothing but death departed from his pain. (III.iv.6.1-5) nor the inner agitation of the heart. An immense sea of ​​sorrow, and A tempting sorrow, Into which my weak boat is long cast, Far from the hoped-for place of relief, Why do the curell waves beat so hard, And your wettest mountains press one upon another , Threatening to wallow in my scary life? (III.iv. 8.1-6) Spenser again draws the distinction between external and internal appearance and relates it specifically to Britomart. Even though she appears calm, the violent coastline is a better approximation of her inner emotional state than her own outward appearance. Throughout Spenser's narrative, Britomart's pretension shows signs of wear and tear, such as when she expresses her distress on Marinell and attacks her with mild provocation. Her inner and outer lives, while separate, are precariously divided, and Britomart sometimes betrays herself in the narrative when her burden becomes too much to bear (like the time she is injured by Gardante). The division between public and private is a cause of anxiety for Spenser and other men of modern England. Theresa Krier argues that The Faerie Queene “offered Spenser a means of exploring the relationship between the public and private worlds, the valuable moral capacity to form social bonds, and the nature of the isolated self” (134). Spenser was fully aware of the inaccessibility of the private female world. There's,, 1995), 53-67.