Summary
Book III concerns the virtue of Chastity, embodied in the
knight Britomart. Canto i begins by praising Chastity,
"That fairest vertue, farre above the rest (III.i.4)." The
poem picks up where it left off at the end of Book II:
following Sir Guyon (the hero of Book II) and Arthur.
The two knights are searching for the Faerie Queene to
offer their services to her. Riding across an open plain,
they see another knight approaching, with his spear
advanced. Sir Guyon charges but is knocked off his horse
by the strange knight, who turns out to be the famous
Britomart, a warrior damsel. Arthur makes peace between
her and Guyon, and they ride on together. Suddenly, they see
a young lady run past them, pursued by a forester who
intends to rape her. Arthur and Guyon pursue them to save
the lady, but Britomart continues onward; she has another
quest in mind.
Approaching a castle, she sees in front a ring of six
knights who are attacking a single valiant warrior.
Britomart rushes to intervene, but the six knights say they
have no choice. They are the servants of the lady of the
castle, enforcing her decree: Whatever man passes by there,
if he does not have a lady, he must serve the lady of the
castle; if he does have a lady, he must admit that his love is less
fair than the lady. The knight they attack is
Redcrosse, who refused to profane the name of his love,
Una. Then, Britomart challenges the decree and brings
down four of the six knights before they accept defeat.
The eight then enter Castle Joyeous. It is sumptuously
decorated, with tapestries depicting the story of Venus
(the goddess of love) and Adonis. Britomart presents
herself before the lady of the cast, Malecasta, who does
not realize that the knight is a woman--for Britomart
refuses to take off her armor.
Malecasta, a lusty lady, is inflamed with passion for the
knight, but Britomart misinterprets her affection as
harmless friendship. When the castle is asleep, Malecasta
sneaks over to Britomart's bed and lies down beside her;
the warrior maiden wakes up in shock and, leaping form the
bed, draws her sword. Malecasta seeing that her love is a
woman, cries out and faints. Hearing her scream, the six
knights of the castle and Redcrosse rush to the room, but
Britomart fights them off again. She and Redcrosse feel
they have overstayed their welcome and leave.
As they journey on, Redcrosse asks Britomart about her
purpose in Faerie Land. She speaks in sorrow, saying that
she is looking for a knight called Arthegall who has
dishonored her. In fact, no dishonor has been done--she is
in love with Arthegall but tempts Redcrosse to praise him
by speaking ill of him. Britomart's father had a magic
mirror given to him by Merlin; it could show to the viewer
whatever he or she desired to see. By chance, Britomart had
come across the mirror and, not yet knowing love, had asked
to see the man she was destined to marry. She saw a
handsome knight and was struck with love; soon, she could
not sleep at night. She had never felt love before and
was amazed at the hold it had on her. Her nurse, Glauce,
finally learned from her what was the matter--she was
afraid that she was in love with a shadow. She had no way
of knowing if the mysterious knight even existed; if he
did, where did he live? What was his name? Glauce tried
to comfort her and used every kind of medicine and advice
she could think of, but Britomart could not be consoled
and began to waste away with the pangs of hopeless love.
Commentary
As with Book I, Spenser begins Book III with a classical-style invocation of his
Muse, Clio, and a humble criticism
of his own poetry. However, in this book we will see how
the poet is far more influenced by the Italian romantic
epic than the classical epic. Homer and Virgil were
extraordinary poets, but they were not most preoccupied with the
subject of love; for this, Spenser finds Ariosto and Tasso
much more useful. He imitates them in the character of
Britomart, the warrior maiden; in the theme of battle
fought to defend a maid's honor; and in the involvement of
magical characters (like Merlin, whom we will see in the
next Book). Of course, The Faerie Queene is also
very different from the Italian romances; Spenser treats
the trials of love with a high seriousness and makes it
part of his ever-present allegory of Christian right and
wrong. As a whole, the poem is more indebted to the
Italian genre than anything else, but in the end its mood
and the meaning under its surface are Spenser's own
original creations.
Just as Redcrosse was (or became) the ideal personification
of Holiness, Britomart is Chastity. She represents
this by the purity of her love for Arthegall--which admits
no lust--and by her resistance to those who would try to
corrupt or dishonor true love, like the six knights and
Malecasta. However, she also has other qualities, which
show Spenser's view of chastity as a central and many-sided
virtue. In modern times, we tend to see chastity simply as
the avoidance of lust, but for Spenser it is something more
positive. Britomart is strong in battle, which reflects
the strength of will that chastity gives a person; in fact,
her strength saves Redcrosse, which proves that chastity is
essential to holiness. Outside of battle, though, she is
weak and humble, showing the Christ-like sides of
chastity. Of course, Britomart also shows some weakness in
these first two cantos, when she is nearly ruined by the
love of the strange knight in Merlin's mirror. This is due
to her inexperience; just like Redcrosse, she is in some
need of maturing.
