Role of Women in Edmund Spensers The Faerie Queene Essay -- Faerie Qu

Role of Women in Edmund Spensers The Faerie Queene Edmund Spenser in his epic romance, The Faerie Queene, invents and depicts a wide array of egg-producing(prenominal) figures. Some of these women, such as Una and Caelia, are generally shown as faithful, virtuous and overall lovely creatures. Other feminine characters, such as Errour, Pride, and Duessa are false, sexy and evil. This might seem to be the end of Spensers categorization of women that they are either good or bad. Yet upon closer examination one finds that Spenser seems to be try to portray women more honestly, to depict the complex reality of woman (Berger, 92). Spenser does not simply idealize women or the feminine viewpoint as he could considerably do via characters like Una, but instead attempts to revise and complicate the traditional male view of women (Berger, 92, 111). Spenser endeavors to show various female characters, in both sinewy and infirm roles, and also to emphasize the importance of women in his society. Despite his intentions to give a fair representation, however, it is still obvious that Spenser was influenced by a society with a culture whose images of woman and love, and whose institutions affecting women and love, were products of the male imagination (Berger, 91). Throughout The Faerie Queene, Spenser reveals his anxiety about women and their power. Una, one of the most crucial figures of the first book, is a better expression of Spensers hesitance towards depicting women in a single confining manner. At times Una seems strong and confident, at other times she is shown as weak and helpless. Before their separation, and after their rapprochement, Una is the one who often rescues Redcr... ...cator 551 (1996) 6-9. Berger, Harry Jr. Revisionary Play Studies in the Spenserian Dynamics. Los Angeles University of California Press, 1998. Broaddus, James W. Spensers Allegory of Love. capital of the United Kingdom Associated University Press, 1 995. Craig, Joanne. All flesh doth frailtie breed Mothers and children in The Faerie Queene. Texas Studies in Literature and Language 421 (2000) 16-33. Spiller, Elizabeth A. Poetic Parthenogenesis and Spensers Idea of beingness in The Faerie Queene. Studies in English Literature 401 (2000) 63-90. Stapleton, M. L. Loue my lewd Pilot The Ars Amatoria in The Faerie Queene. Texas Studies in Literature and Language 403 (1998) 328-341. Villeponteaux, Mary. Displacing Feminine Authority in The Faerie Queene. Studies in English Literature 351 (1995) Winter 1995 53-68.