elsewhere known as Gawain). Guyon, hearing the
plaintive tale of Redcrosse’s alleged sexual assault on
the “virgin” Duessa, hastily runs off to avenge her. In
his rashness, he charges into the fray, leaving behind
his traveling companion and mentor, the Palmer. Thus
begins the tale of a knight who needs to be schooled in
the chivalric virtue of temperance.
Unlike Redcrosse and Prince Arthur, Guyon is not a
historical or legendary fi gure; however, he is not sim-
ply an abstract virtue, either. Guyon is a character
whose temptations and adventures demonstrate the
nature and practice of his virtue. Like Redcrosse and
the other knights of the epic, Guyon is an incomplete
representation of his virtue and thus needs to be tested
and reschooled at some point in the book. Because he
is untested and imperfect, he relies on his compan-
ions—specifi cally the Palmer who represents human
reason—to guide him. Parted from the Palmer, Guyon
lacks the intuitive recognition of good and evil that
reason provides, and he is susceptible to error, mis-
judgments, and rash behavior. This is what happens to
Guyon throughout the book. Aside from his personal
failings, we are also presented with varying forms and
degrees of extreme behavior from the minor characters
in the book. The tableau of human passions range from
passion and concupiscence (Mordant, Amavia, and
Ruddymane) to rage (Pyrochles), sexual jealousy (Phe-
don), sloth (Phaedria), and greed (Mammon). These
excesses culminate in the presentation of the Bower of
Bliss (canto 12)—a place of false beauty that is the
domain of the enchantress Acrasia (the archenemy of
Guyon). In penetrating to the heart of the Bower of
Bliss and destroying it, Guyon frees human nature and
the senses from the excesses of lust and indolence.
Allegorically, Book 2 is the portrait of a young man
learning to master the disorder of his nature—to bal-
ance his emotions. However, to possess the virtue of
temperance, he needs to practice it until it becomes
second nature. After a number of experiences, Guyon
changes from an untried beginner to someone alert in
self-discipline. With the Bower of Bliss, he reaches
maturity both as a character and as a representation of
his virtue.
Book 3 presents the virtue of chastity, which transi-
tions nicely from the second book since in the CLASSI-
CAL TRADITION, chastity was a branch of temperance.
However, Book 3 differs from the other fi ve books in
two ways. First, it features a female knight, Britomart,
whose name combines Briton with martial (appropri-
ately, Merlin’s prophecy links her progeny to Elizabeth
I). Second, the book deviates from Spenser’s narrative
plan (as outlined in his Letter to Raleigh) to depict each
quest as bestowed upon a knight by the Faerie Queen,
the completion of which would demonstrate the ideal
nature of the virtue. This is not the way the narrative
unfolds in Book 3. When we are introduced to Brit-
omart, she has not even seen the Faerie Queen. She is
in search of Artegall (the hero of Book 5) and has acci-
dentally met with Guyon, Arthur, and his squire
Timias. She has also come across another knight, Red-
crosse, whom she saves from battle with six other
knights. In Canto 2, via her conversation with Red-
crosse, we learn that she is seeking “revenge” against
Artegall, who has done her “foule dishonour”—that is,
he has smitten her heart. At the end of canto 3, Red-
crosse departs, never to be heard from again in the
poem.
When reading Book 3, one must always remember
that Spenser is writing his work primarily for Queen
Elizabeth. Frequently, the speaker interjects comments
on how men have ignored the feats of women in mar-
tial affairs and how there have been many examples of
great female warriors and counselors (canto 2); natu-
rally, these comments would appeal to and please an
independent, politically minded queen. However, such
a consideration raises a number of issues since through-
out the book, Britomart is mistaken for a man (which,
according to the so-called sumptuary laws of Elizabe-
than society, would be considered an aberration).
Moreover, throughout the book, love and marriage are
revered and praised as forces that motivate men and
women to be great and brave—yet Elizabeth never
married. Typical to our experiences with the rest of the
epic, we constantly fi nd ourselves asking whether
Spenser is criticizing the queen at the same moments
in which he seems to praise her.
Another interesting feature of Book 3 is that it has
two endings. In the end, Britomart must reclaim one of
the four heroines of the book from the element of fi re,
and cantos 11–12 comprise the story of Britomart’s176 FAER IE QUEENE, THE