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Sites about The Faerie Queene

by Edmund Spenser

Spenser's epic poem, originally planned as twelve books, of which only six were published. The main character in each book is the knight, Prince Arthur, who represents one of the twelve private moral virtues in each book as he sets out on his adventures.

Characters: Gloriana, Prince Arthur
Keywords: allegory, epic

Critical sites about The Faerie Queene

"Corrupt with goodly meede": Munera and Medusa in Book 5 of Spenser's The Faerie Queene

http://extra.shu.ac.uk/emls/04-1/fitzspen.html

"In Book 5 canto 2 of Spenser's The Faerie Queene lawless corruption is gendered and sexualized in the figure of Munera. She is the daughter of the villain Pollente who, with his groom Guizor, robs and kills anyone who wishes to pass over his bridge. Munera receives the stolen goods from her father and this corruption is symbolized by her golden hands and silver feet which 'sought vnrighteousnesse, and iustice sold' (5.2.26.8). When she realises that she is to be punished for her actions Munera attempts to bribe Talus, the iron man who serves Artegall, with gold. Before killing her, Talus cuts off Munera's hands and feet, destroys the stolen gold she has received from her father and sets fire to their castle. Considering Spenser's interest in classical mythology, outlined in Henry Gibbons Lotspeich's Classical Mythology in the Poetry of Edmund Spenser, it is probable that Munera has a classical antecedent: Medusa, the once beautiful woman turned monster of Greek mythology who suffered decapitation at the hands of Perseus."

Contains: Content Analysis

Author: Joan Fitzpatrick

From: Early Modern Literary Studies 4.1 (May, 1998): 3.1-7

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Manly and Unmanly Masks: The Ironies of BritomartÕs Quest In Book V of The Faerie Queene

http://www.marshall.edu/english/OVSC/SR1996.html#Manly

The author concludes that Britomart remains "paradoxical, perhaps unreadable; we cannot determine whether she is a mirror or a non-mirror of Elizabeth."

Contains: Character Analysis,

Author: Michael Bohnert

From: Selected Papers of the West Virginia Shakespeare and Renaissance Association Volume 19,1996

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Women's Friendship and the Refusal of Lesbian Desire in The Faerie Queene

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2220/is_1_42/ai_63819092

"RECENT FEMINIST CRITICISM OF Spenser's Faerie Queene has increasingly focused attention on the construction of gendered subjectivities."

Contains: Content Analysis

Author: Tracey Sedinger

From: Criticism Winter 2000

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Other (non-critical) sites about The Faerie Queene

The Classic Text: Traditions and Interpretations: Edmund Spenser: The Faerie Queene

http://www.uwm.edu/Library/special/exhibits/clastext/clspg086.htm

Part of "The Classic Text: Traditions and Interpretations", an online exhibit which "examines some of the high spots of the western literary canon. It explores the foundations of their iconographic standing, demonstrating how they arrive at this status through a variety of means, and not always on the basis of their literary worth. The exhibition gives special focus to how printers, publishers, editors, illustrators, and translators have used the icon of the classic text as a venue for their own agendas."

Author: Christopher Barth, Virginia Haas, Sarah McDanie

From: University of Wisconsin Milwaukee - Special Collections Library

Author: Christopher Barth, Virginia Haas, Sarah McDanie

From: University of Wisconsin Milwaukee - Special Collections Library

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