Summary
When Satyrane was distracted, the beast he had tied up
with Florimell's girdle was able to free itself and
returned to its owner, the old witch. Her son assumed that
Florimell was dead, and he fell even deeper into despair. To
try to cure this, the witch now creates a false Florimell
from a spirit, which looks exactly like her. This finally
satisfies her son. But one day, as he is walking in the
woods with the disguised spirit, the boasting knight
Braggadocchio sees them. He is immediately jealous, and
with brandished spear takes the false Florimell for his
own. He has not gotten far, though, when another knight
comes by and challenges him for the maid; Braggadocchio
runs off
in fear.
Meanwhile, the real Florimell is floating out to sea on the
fisherman's boat. When the boat's owner finally wakes up,
his shock at seeing himself adrift is quickly replaced by
lust for the lovely woman he sees on deck. When she
refuses his advances, he tries to rape her. Florimell's
scream attracts the attention of Proteus, the "Shepheard of
the seas of your," a shape shifter who lives beneath the
water. Proteus comes and rescues her, throws the fisherman
to the shore, and takes Florimell to his underwater abode.
There, he himself tries to woo her, changing into many
shapes to try and please her--a knight, a king, even a
giant. When she insists upon keeping her virginity, he
throws her into his dungeon in anger.
Meanwhile, Satyrane is journeying with the squire he
rescued from Argante. They meet a knight named Paridell,
who is looking for news of Florimell, and inform him that
she is probably dead; at any rate, they have only seen her
mangled horse. They still have hope, though, and they pledge to
search for her together; but at the moment night is
falling and they are in need of shelter. They go to a
nearby castle but are refused entrance; as a storm breaks,
they have to run into a shed to protect themselves. The
squire explains why they were not let into the castle: It
is the house of Malbecco, a grumpy old miser who has a
young, attractive wife named Hellenore.
To safeguard her
and his money, Malbecco admits no guests. Just as they are
plotting how to gain entrance, another knight arrives at
the castle. He is similarly rejected at the gate, and when
he sees the shed full, he raises his spear to demand
entrance. Paridell charges him but is knocked down.
Satyrane steps in and stops the fight, suggesting that they
concentrate their efforts on getting into the castle. All
agree, and they gather firebrands to burn down the gate.
Malbecco sees them coming and finally relents, admitting
them in. When they remove their armor, they are shocked to
see long hair and a woman's figure on the strange knight--it
is Britomart.
Pleased to have such beautiful company, they all sit down
to dinner and persuade their host to have his wife,
Hellenore, join them. Malbecco, suspicious though he may
be, does not notice Paridell and his wife exchange lusty
glances. As dinner conversation, each of the guests is
asked to tell of his or her ancestry. Paridell, his mind
still full of Hellenore, claims to be descended from Paris
the Trojan, who stole Helen from her husband. At
Britomart's request, he then tells them how Aeneas escaped
from Troy's ashes and went to Italy where his descendants
founded Rome. This was the "second Troy," but Britomart
also predicts a third Troy yet to come, which will grow
from the city founded by the Trojan Brute. Paridell admits
having heard such a prophecy of great kings and long wars
to come, and such is their talk long into the night.
Commentary
Florimell's woes continue in canto viii, which is almost
entirely concerned with men who lust after and abuse her or
her false counterpart, the creation of the old hag. The
false Florimell does not seem to mind it much when she is
taken by Braggadocchio--who, as his name suggests, is a
braggart, long on words but short on actions--and then by a
stronger knight. But the real Florimell is in misery as
men continue trying to violate her, the fisherman with
force and Proteus with persuasion, and turn violent when
she refuses. While Spenser is certainly not giving her the
best treatment, he is in a way sympathetic to her. She
could have avoided all of this trouble by giving herself up
to lust early on, but she persists for the sake of her
virtue. She takes the high ground, which is why she is not
persuaded by Proteus' shape shifting. The many forms he
can assume represent changeable, impermanent physical life.
Her Beauty, though physical, is made higher than earthly
things because of her chastity and her love, and so it has
nothing to do with a being as fickle as Proteus.
