(good memory). Eumnestes dwells in a library. Arthur
enters and fi nds a CHRONICLE of Britain’s history. It lists
all the kings, but when it reaches Uther Pendragon, the
book ends abruptly. Guyon fi nds a chronicle history of
the Faerie, and reads avidly because he is part Faerie.
Once they fi nish reading, Alma invites them to dine.
The next morning, a band of men attack the castle
once again, led by Maleger (“wretchedly thin”). Arthur
eventually comes to the rescue and fi ghts off the attack-
ers. When Arthur turns to fi ght Maleger, Maleger rides
off, but his two hags, Impotence and Impatience, hold
down Arthur. Arthur’s squire rescues him from the
hags, and in the chaos of the fi ght, Arthur wounds
Maleger. Maleger continues to attack Arthur, but even-
tually Arthur kills him and throws him into a lake.
After the fi ght with Maleger and his men, Guyon
and the Palmer take a three-day ferry ride to the island
domain of Acrasia. Guyon and the Palmer fi nd danger-
ous obstacles along the way, including fog, the Gulf of
Greediness, and sea monsters. The Palmer leads them
through these obstacles successfully. Once they reach
the island, the Palmer must fi ght off several wild beasts
with his magic staff. They eventually fi nd Acrasia’s lair,
the Bower of Bliss.
The ivory gate of the Bower tells the story of Jason
and Medea as Genius stands guard. Guyon insults
Genius and breaks his staff. Guyon and the Palmer
travel through a meadow and meet a dame named
Excess. Guyon refuses to drink the wine she makes
and crushes her cup. The two continue on their way
and fi nd a fountain in a lake where two naked women
play. Guyon becomes interested in watching them, but
the Palmer reminds him of his mission. Upon reaching
Acrasia’s lair, they hear people singing and fi nd Acrasia
lounging with her barely dressed lover, Verdant (lush).
Guyon and the Palmer catch the two in a net and bind
Acrasia in chains before Guyon destroys the Bower.
When the Palmer and Guyon return to their ferry, the
beasts they met upon their arrival menace them once
again. They learn that Acrasia had turned these men
into beasts, so Guyon orders the Palmer to turn them
back to men, and the book ends.
Two main critical debates surround Book 2 of The
Faerie Queene: whether Guyon remains temperate or
chaste, and whether the book as a whole supports the
order of nature or supports the order of grace. Guyon
appears to resist temptation numerous times through-
out Book 2, but when he reaches the ultimate realm of
temptation, he fails to control himself: He looks long-
ingly on the nymphs bathing in the fountain as he
approaches Acrasia’s lair, and he clearly fails to hold
himself together when he decides to utterly destroy the
Bower itself. This may lead the reader to believe that
Guyon’s assigned virtue is not possible in a pragmatic
sense, and that only wanton violence and lack of tem-
perance defeats lascivious practices. It seems as if
Guyon merely keeps himself in line with his assigned
virtue until he reaches the realm where he discovers
what he truly misses, and he cannot further deny him-
self emotional release.
The scholar Stephen Greenblatt devotes a chapter of
his highly infl uential Renaissance Self-Fashioning to
Book 2 of The Faerie Queene. In this chapter, Greenb-
latt argues that in Spenser’s world, temperance must
be, paradoxically, produced by wanton excess and that
the knights in The Faerie Queene seek release vehe-
mently while fearing it at the same time. Greenblatt
titles his chapter after the phrase in the “Letter to
Raleigh” that reads, “to fashion a gentleman.” Guyon,
more than any other knight in The Faerie Queene, rep-
resents a knight who has attempted to “self-fashion”
himself in his continual denial of pleasure.
In this denial of pleasure, Guyon initially appears to
privilege grace over nature; human nature, after all,
wishes to seek pleasure, and only through grace can
humanity become Christ-like, overcoming temptation
and sin. When Guyon destroys the Bower, however, he
favors nature, as he violently attacks that which repre-
sents everything that stands against his assigned virtue.
This constitutes the paradoxical nature of Book 2’s
conclusion: Guyon must behave in a way that counter-
acts his assigned virtue to destroy the possibility of
others living in opposition to his assigned virtue.
Other critics contend that Guyon remains a man
and is reliant on God’s grace to get through his jour-
ney. Indeed, God’s grace is what allows Guyon to even
reach the Bower of Bliss, completing numerous trials
and surviving several near-death experiences along his
journey to the witch Acrasia’s lair. Faced with the
human excesses of the Bower, Guyon shows his trueTHE FAERIE QUEENE: BOOK 2 183