During Guyon's adventure at the Castle of Medina, Spencer employs a highly sophisticated style of allegory. When Guyon and his traveling companion the Palmer reach the castle, they encounter three radically different sisters:
Therein three sisters dwelt of sundry sort
The children of one sire by mothers three;
Who dying whylome did diuide this fort
To them by equal shares in equal fee:
But stirfull minde, and diuerse qualitee
The eldest did against the youngest goe,
And both against the middest meant to worken woe.
(The Faerie Queene, Bk II, Canto II, 13)
The three sisters represent the three stages of being, according to Aristotle: Elissa, the oldest, is an emblem of excess; Perissa, the youngest symbolizes deficiency; Medina, the middle sister is an emblem of the mean. (Meyer, 53) During Guyon's visit to the castle, a fight begins between Sir Hudebras and Sansloy, Perissa and Elissa's lovers, who are visiting the castle. Guyon attempts to break up the fight but is only attacked by the two men. Order is finally restored when Medinna, an emblem of the virtuous golden mean, temperance, intervenes and breaks up the fight. Afterwards, Perissa is aloof and refuses to fellowship with the rest of the group. Conversely, Elissa's display of joy is excessive. Spenser's use of allegory in this scene beautifully illustrates Sidney's belief in the power of poetry to translate profound philosophical concepts into effective and memorable poetic images.
Guyon and King Arthur's visit to the House of Temperance also beautifully exemplifies Spenser's use of allegory for didactic purposes. In this highly sophisticated style of allegory, Spenser expresses the responsibility of the nobleman to govern all aspects of his mind, body, and soul. Spenser presents the House as a provocative symbol of the human body:
Of all Gods workes, which do this world adorne,
There is no one more faire and excellent,
Then is mans body for powre and forme,
While it is kept in sober gouernment;
But none then it, more fowle and indecent,
Distempered through misrue and passion bace:
It growes a Monster, and incontinent
Doth loose his dignitie and natiue grace.
Behold, who list, both one and other in this place.
(The Faerie Queene, Bk II, Canto IX, I)
Spenser's objective of this allegorical model is two fold: First, it is a recognition of God's excellent "work". In this acknowledgment of the divine in the creation of the human body, the gentleman is directed to consider his accountability to a higher force in the cosmos. Futhermore, the perfect structure and arrangement of the castle, as described in following stanzas, symbolizes the well- ordered and moderate life of the gentleman. The human body, like the soul must be ruled by the virtue of temperance. When this rule is forsaken, the body becomes a grotesque monster, incontinent and uncontrollable. Although Spenser's sophisticated use of allegory is intellectually challenging for the reader, the results such are immeasurably rewarding. Spencer engages his reader in a challenging exploration of interpretation to achieve the ultimate goal: the fashioning of a gentleman into virtuous and gentle discipline.
When Guyon and the Palmer arrive at the Bower, they encounter the greatest test of their journey: the temptation of false and seductive images. The Bower is replete with extremely beautiful but suspect images that represent an artificial world of the hyper- real:
There the most dainte Paradise on the ground,
It selfe doth offer to the sober eye,
In which all pleasures plenteously abound,
And none does others happinesse enuye:
The painted flowres, the trees vpshooting hye,
The dales for shade, the hills for breathing space,
The trembling grous, the Christall running by;
And that which all faire workes doth aggrace,
The art, which all that wrought, appeared in no place.
(The Faerie Queene, Bk II, Canto XII, 58)
In the Bower of Bliss, Guyon and the Palmer encounter the powerful force of dangerous images designed to entice them into the control of the evil temptress Acracia. The images are too beautiful. The flowers are even painted, further illustrating the deceptive nature of false images. Reminiscent of the Socratic suspicion of art, Spencer examines the potential dangers of art on human thought and behavior. Guyon's final victory in the binding of Arcracia and her lover, and the destruction of her alluring Bower, represents the ultimate victory and beauty of temperance.
Although the concept of poetry's ability to profoundly influence human thought and behavior was popular and among the intelligentsia in Renaissance England, it did not originate during this flowering age of creativity. Rather, it has evolved slowly over time: In the Hellenistic world Socrates expressed suspicion of poetic imitation to corrupt individuals; Aristotle identified the positive dynamics of katharsis in imitative drama; In the first century Horace established the provocative theory of poetry to instruct while simultaneously delighting; During the Renaissance Sidney proclaimed the ability of poetry to "draw to high perfection... degenerate souls"; Renaissance poet Spencer illustrated through ingenious allegorical constructions the ability of poetry to fashion gentle into "virtuous and gentle discipline". Throughout the ages this concept has experiences metamorphic changes-the poets and sages of each age contribing their own unique insights to its development. Presently, the ability of poetry to teach while it delights continues to offer the modern world the wonderful opportunity to experience what Socrates describes as "the Beautiful".
Bibliography
Bloom, A. The Republic of Plato
New York: Basic Books, 1968
Dillon, D. Horace's Art of Poetry
Menston: Scholar Press, 1971
Heale, E. The Faerie Queene: A Reader's Guide
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987
Heath, M. Aristotle; Poetics
London: Penguin Books, 1966,
Meyer, R. The Faerie Queene: Educating the Reader
Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991
Sidney, P. A Defence of Poetry
Oxford: Oxfords University Press, 1996
Spenser, E. The Faerie Queene
London: Penguin Books, 1978