IndexIntroductionDiscussionWorks CitedIntroductionFor a text of Elizabethan literature, Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene is unique in its portrayal of chastity, a virtue generally associated with the domestic sphere, in the figure of Britomart, the warrior woman . Likewise unique is the depiction of Britomart as an almost hermaphroditic figure: he wears full armor, fights as a male knight, and presents himself as a man in social contexts. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Discussion The idea that chastity could be embodied in an androgynous figure is baffling and counterintuitive to commonly accepted notions of female virtue, but Spenser has a purpose in using Britomart as his heroine. Britomart must simultaneously embody both feminine and masculine traits, because if she were exclusively feminine, like Florimell or Amoret, her chastity would have long been compromised by the time she finds Artegall. In short, Britomart must ignore his latent femininity in order to be completely chaste. "To uphold the version of chastity lauded in The Faerie Queene, Britomart cannot gain insight or understanding. The titular chastity requires a harsh, but beautiful naivety... Although male knights are sometimes equally blind, there is no other figure whose ignorance is equally central to his virtue" (Cavanagh, 141-142). Britomart embodies firm chastity because she ignores her feminine powers; his naivety requires his chastity. Britomart's ignorance reveals a hidden but underlying misogyny in Spenser's fiction. Although Britomart is depicted as a powerful figure with agency, her characterization similarly reveals a distrust of strong women because Britomart remains unaware of the precise magnitude of her strength. Male anxiety about female chastity can be attributed to the very public façade of chastity. Because men are so rarely privy to women's private, inner world, they can never truly know whether a woman is, in fact, chaste. Likewise, most people take Britomart for what he is and think he is male because he dresses the part of a man, because his public facade signifies masculinity, without ever realizing what his facade hides: his femininity. Britomart does it too. not having access to their private femininity, because they are unaware of its existence. Sheila Cavanagh writes: "Although he fills the role of the titular knight of the virtue of 'feminine' chastity, Britomart can only perform this role from a position of 'manhood'. For much of the epic he dresses as a man, interacts with women as if he were male and only rarely recognizes his 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 from her own femininity and the importance of outward signs—that which is publicly visible—to Spenser's narrative. As Spenser shows, Britomart is seeking the material embodiment of an image; the sign comes first, the emotion follows. In the infamous mirror scene, Spenser writes: Where, when she had espyde that fayre of the mirror, she herself for a while stared therein in vain; belongs to itself. (III.ii.22.6-10) Seeing herself in the mirror, the image of Britomart precipitates her love. Eftsoones there was presented to his eyeA comely knight, all armed in complete wisdom, through whose bright ventayle he raised vp upon hyeHis manly face, who made his va agrize (III.ii.24.1-4)When she first look at themirror, Britomart sees herself. Then, suddenly, her reflection transforms into a handsome knight, who she recognizes as her future husband. This moment of narcissism leads Britomart to identify himself as a masculinized figure, and in doing so, he removes himself from the male gaze. At the moment of rupture, Britomart transfers his person to the examination of his own gaze and obtains action from his liberation. Furthermore, Britomart's weapon, the spear, also signifies masculinity. “We are told at this point that Britomart is literally invincible because he wields a powerful magical spear, a powerful phallic symbol that at the same time connotes the chastity of his woman” (Villeponteaux, 54). When Britomart looks in the mirror "in vain," Spenser protects his heroine from entering the private female world by turning her into a man. Spenser describes female chastity as an entity constantly under attack by men. Presented as a man, whenever Britomart is attacked, it is as a knight similar to Redcrosse or Guyon and not, like Florimell or Amoret, as a mere woman. In Fairyland, violence against women is almost always a type of sexual violence, and because the Britomart woman is hidden under armor, she is protected from sexual assault. In Spenser's world, a chaste woman is always pursued; it is never safe. The Faerie Queene's knights constantly encounter damsels in distress, as women, it seems, need protectors. “Spenser insists on redefining chastity through threat, rape, and imprisonment, even as such insistence generates instabilities that deny any absolute definition of gender roles” (Frye, 73). Women like Florimell, who are constantly subjected to the male gaze, are the constant victims of unwanted male advancement. 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 represents beauty: since she is the outward appearance of chastity, she is constantly harassed by men. This, it seems, is the fate of all conspicuously beautiful women in Fairyland. Britomart is beautiful, but hides her beauty and escapes progress: in a certain sense she is the opposite of Flormell because her chastity is hidden; it is the internal, rather than public, component of chastity. The only time Britomart is hurt in Book III is at Castle Joyous when she removes her male disguise. As a woman, the seemingly invincible Britomart suffers her only wound. James Broaddus writes: "When Britomart discovers Malecasta in his bed, he takes up his sword, thinking to 'shout' a 'hated lemonade.' feminine and vulnerable, but 'Threatening the tip of her sharp blade' that is, masculine and aggressive, she is wounded by an arrow shot by Gardante" (Broaddus, 33). The arrow shot by Gardante can be seen as a metaphor for sexual invasion, as Spenser describes: Gardante "drawn a deadly bow and a sharp arrow, / Which he shot with criminal contempt, / And fell intent upon the virgin sheene" (III. I.65.2-5) and that the wound "lightly raised her soft silken skin, / That drops of purple blood out there wept, / That colored her lily apron with stains of vermeil" (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 skin. As a man, Britomart wins jousts against Guyon, Marinell, and Busyrane, but as a woman she is wounded by the little-known Gardante. Modern readers may wonder, why do women deserve such treatmentatrocious on the part of men? In a way, Spenser almost blames women for their own victimization. Spenser describes rape as rape, but in early modern England rape had two definitions. "The Faerie Queene revisits sixteenth-century rape by introducing a third definition of the term, one that exists somewhere between the primary one of the abduction and rape of female bodies, and the secondary one, more familiar to the modern reader, of excessive ecstasy and disconcerting. which distances a person from himself. This third term, the rapture is physical, felt, localized in and on the body, as it is for the unfortunate victim of the crime. But it is also pleasant in its sensuality, ecstasy without ekstasy." Eggert, 7-8). In creating this third definition of kidnapping, Spenser reveals his belief that chastity is a woman's duty and that when women are raped or victims of violence, they somehow bring it upon themselves. When Florimell is constantly persecuted, no matter how cruelly, Spenser makes sure that his readers understand why she is not senselessly persecuted for no reason, but rather the way she portrays herself, due to her extreme physique; Similarly, Britmart is attacked because she chooses to remove her outer clothing, exposing herself "As a result of her voluntary disarmament, Britmart makes herself vulnerable. and is in fact wounded by Gardante, wound related to sexual or amorous attraction. This sequence of events suggests something more than just the fact that Britomart has been stricken by love. It also implies that her wound is partly self-inflicted: “she has self-despoiled.” In her partial defeat by love she is both victor and victim” (Leslie 41). The duty to preserve chastity, Spenser seems to argue, depends on the woman, as if, because men cannot help behaving crudely, women should take on the additional duty of deviating from them. Britomart's action largely comes from the fact that she is relieved of this duty in her male representation in Book III, Britomart is free and her freedom gives power. Belphoebe, another figure of chastity in Book III, is equally independent, but is confined rather than liberated by her independence. Like Florimell, Belphoebe is chaste without ever reaching the pinnacle 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 symbolizing an extreme version of chastity that borders on sterility. For thy faire selues a faire ensample frame, of this faire virgin, this Belphoebe faire, to whom in perfect love and immaculate fame of chastity, no living can compare: Ne poysnous Enuy iustly can empaireHer prayer Maidenhead fresh and flowery; to them she stands on the highest ladder of the honorable stage of woman's head, that all women may follow her dead example. (III.v.54) Spencer's description that no living woman can compare in chastity with Belphoebe, and that "Let all women follow her 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 Britain (as well as Spenser's Protestant ideals). As Merlin's prophecy foretells, Britomart's loss of virginity is a narrative inevitability, while as for Belphoebe, she will remain chaste until the day of her death. For Britomart, chastity has a greater social purpose: fundamentally, it is chaste because it is short Long-term losses reap long-term gainsterm and "saving them" for Artegall will guarantee the continuation of their line. Until she meets Artegall, Britomart will remain unaware of her emerging femininity, but as the story unfolds, Britomart slowly becomes more and more of a woman. "In the story of Britomart, Spenser delineates more fully the benign awkwardness of a nascent erotic awareness, the emergence of new impulses within the self that insist on making themselves known and welcomed. The structural importance of awkwardness to the book the hidden privacy of the self and its exposure to the larger world therefore depends on the question of embarrassment” (Trier, 134). Although she is a fierce warrior, Britomart often suffers from feminine bouts of self-consciousness and embarrassment. According to Katherine Trier, Britomart's embarrassment is the result of erotic awareness. “Erotic emotions bring into play vulnerability to others, uncertain identity, and intense self-awareness, 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 the threats of chastity. In framing the story so that Britomart eventually marries, Spenser offers her chastity the added protection of marriage. In Book III, Britomart is a chaste virgin, but will eventually become a chaste wife because nothing except death will prevent Britomart from blossoming into a full-fledged woman, Spenser makes sure not to stray from the path of righteousness by foreseeing her marriage to Artegall from the beginning of Book III. For Spenser, Britomart's version of chastity is superior to Belphoebe's because reproduction, regeneration, and motherhood are both natural and prescribed. by God. Venus is depicted as a maternal figure, searching for her lost son, Cupid. He adopts Amoret as a daughter and raises her in the sacred Garden. Britomarti's search in Book III ends, in fact, when he saves the daughter of Venus. by the evil Busyrane. Although he enters as a knight still in male guise, Britomart can only save Amoret when he removes his armor. The point is that Britomart must come out as a woman to save Love. She even discards her phallic spear: "Britomart's action of dismounting her horse before attempting to enter Busyrane's house dissociates her from her husband's power and authority; similarly, her abandonment of the spear removes the threat of a violent and excessive sexuality that this weapon has come to represent for Amoret. It is because he does not threaten Amoret in the way that Scudamour does that he can gain entry and the fact that he does not threaten her in this way is conveyed through his disassembly and abandonment of his signature weapon" (Leslie, 82). As a warrior, Britomart is the enemy of all those who seek to destroy love. Her final enemy in Book III is Busyrane, who holds Amoret prisoner in his castle and tortures her by attempting to steal her heart. Busyrane, the supreme enemy of love, is the archenemy 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 in great detail. In pausing the linear narrative of his poem to rest for a while in the Garden (so to speak), Spenser draws a distinct and opposite parallel between the Garden and the Search. "The Garden of Adonis, the main expression of the metaphor of generation in Book III...is indicative of the degree of opposition between research and garden...Britomarte expresses the paradox and conflict that the conjunction of the metaphors of generation and research implies " (Tonkin, 408). Britomart's pursuit of Artegall, in a sense, grants her chastity due to her asexual self-representation andhermaphrodite, but his search is temporary because one day he will end up in the figurative "garden" of reproduction. ,With which lady Nature makes her beauty, and adorns the girls with her paranours, are taken: there is the first seminarOf all things, which are born to live and die, according to their kinds. It has been a long labor, here to account for the infinite progeny of all the weeds, which there sprout and flower; but what is necessary, must be counted here. (III.iv.30) This garden is not only the perfectly natural culmination of Britomart's tale, as Spenser states, but commissioned by God:It needeth Gardiner to put there, either to sow, or to plant, or to prune: for by their own accordAll things, as they were created, grow,And yet remember well the mighty word,Which was first spoken by the Almighty Lord,Which prevented them from growing and multiplying" (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 inner growth and "Venus and Diana's hunt for Cupid is emblematic of Britomart's search for Artegall" (Tonkin, 413 ) Britomart is represented as a man, but willingly chooses this representation in order to best preserve his chastity for Artegall; he ensures that only Artegall will plant his "seeds" in his "garden". Britomart remains completely unaware 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 secrecy, the violent lust that men show towards women women, and as Iris Hill writes: "If love, as many recent critics of Book III have observed, is a necessarily destructive aspect, Britomarte's heroism involves overcoming that beginning so that he can experience its wholeness ". and generative powers" (Hill, 184). Yet, though Britomart changes his outward appearance like a resolute knight, he is not impervious to lovesickness. With such pleasant thoughts he has nourished his wound, and thus thought to deceive his sad intelligence; But so his intelligence was much more painful, and the deepest wound encumbered his heart, so that nothing but death took away his grain of pain (III.iv.6.1-5) nor the inner turmoil of the heart. Huge sea of ​​pain, and tempting pain, in which my weak bark is long agitated, far from the desired refuge of relief, because the cural waves beat so strong, and your softer mountains are crowd together, threatening to wallow in my fearful life? (III.iv. 8.1-6) Spenser again draws the distinction between external and internal, and links it specifically to Britomart Although it seems composed, the coast violent is a better approximation of her internal emotional state than her outward appearance. Throughout Spenser's tale, Britomart's pretense shows signs of wear, as when he vents his anguish on Marinell and attacks him with light provocation. Her inner and outer lives, though separate, are precariously divided, and Britomart sometimes betrays herself in the narrative when her burden becomes too much to bear (as when she is wounded by Gardante). The division between public and private is a cause of anxiety for Spenser and other men of early modern England. Theresa Krier argues that The Faerie Queene "offered [Spenser] a means to explore 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 are aspects of women that men will simply never be aware of, one of, 1995), 53-67.