Edmund Spenser: life, works, and literary influence

Faerie Queen: Arthur as a Satirical Character

Is Prince Arthur a satirical character? Certainly, Edmund Spenser allows the characters within his work to stake out territory in more than one genre, and Arthur is many things wearing many hats - and satire is certainly part of the presentation. And so is history in general, and so are the Israelites, and Aristotle, and Jesus Christ and the twelve apostles, and more. There are allegories in abundance, and analogies too, in this poem, but Arthur seems to be the lightening rod for much of the symbolism and irony.

The character of Arthur and the issues surrounding his virtues and activities

Meanwhile, Prince Arthur, according to thoughtful reading of Spenser's poem, is, in one very real sense, thought of and presented by the poet in a Christian allegory. That is, Arthur is presented as "a gentleman or noble person" in the true sense, since Spenser's Christianity has clearly come into play; here, he explains what his point was in writing the poem: "The generall end therefore of all the booke is to fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline..." (Wis. Xiii. 3).

And so, is the reader to believe that Spenser had a purely moral purpose in writing the poem? Is this satirical vis-a-vis true morality? Very possibly this is true. And does that "noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline" (Arthur) reach a level of righteousness and morality for other knights to look up to? Yes, he most assuredly does.

In his poem Spenser invokes the name of Aristotle - a philosopher whom Spenser clearly revered and admired - by saying, in defining his own idea of virtue, "I Labour, to pourtraict in Arthur before he was king, the image of a brave knight perfected in the twelve private morall virtues, as Aristotle hath devised; the which is the purpose of these first twelve books..." And given this reference to Aristotle, a reader might connect the figure of Arthur with the Aristotelian emphasis on ethics.

But wait - could it be that Spenser does not really intend for Aristotle's writings (six virtues on ethics) to apply to this? It is possible that the "tweleve private morall virtues" is a satirical engagement - or a parody - of the twelve apostles in the New Testament, and hence Christianity again comes in to play? The once and future king Arthur is the magnanimous Arthur, the very knight who is probably poetically related to Jesus Christ, perhaps, because the twelve knights - and the twelve tribes of Israel - are all linked in at least allegorical ways by Spenser.

Readers are aware that Arthur's consistent pattern of chivalry, and that there is a kind of unity in the Faerie Queene with Arthur as it's icon. For example, and this is not satire but rather the building of the strength of character: because Arthur is "greater than the other knights, his periodic intervention on their behalf carries a strong suggestion of a 'descent from heaven' (89) motif" (Nohrnberg, 1976). That motif is found in Book I as "the descent of grace and the condescension of the Word," Nohrnberg explains, and in Book II "the ministry of angels to fallen man" is also part of the building up of Arthur to not only be greater than the other knights, but, to be linked, probably, to the deity Christ.

Meanwhile, if one looks into those twelve tribes of Israel, the Hebrew tribes, they have within their structure a political and quasi-religious organization called amphictyon, which has twelve tenets. Is Spenser wrapping all these images of virtue and "twelve" into the character Arthur to satirize religion and history? Maybe.

In classic poetry, and with satirical poetry in particular, satire is used very often to ridicule and otherwise parody someone, something - possibly a belief, person, or philosophy. In this case, Arthur is the hero, and heroes always have their detractors no matter how virtuous they may wish to be or appear to be. And the historic facts of those tribes (the amphictyon, twelve clans that rotate the functions of the priest so that each clan has those duties for one month of the year) may have been used by Spenser to build his knight's story around in a sense.

Because meanwhile, the knights in Spenser's tale seem to "...rotate the service of virtue from legend to legend, which the stationless and free-lance Arthur functions once in each of their legends in their stead - like an itinerant Levite" (Nohrnberg, p. 39).

Meanwhile, Arthur is often the right man at the right time: "When the rightful exponent of any virtue in its normal functioning is helpless or elsewhere, it is the moment for Arthur, the helper from heaven" (Parker, 1960). When the Salvage Man has gone past the limits he can deal with, along comes Arthur along that forest path, to help.

And Spenser, in developing the character of Arthur with all his courage and steadfast loyalty to duty and to do what is right, and to protect others from harm, juxtaposes Arthur with the cowardly Shame, who is probably the only coward among the evil of the knights.

The poet depicts Shame fighting against others who are not armed, and who, though antagonists, don't put up much of a fight; and yet Shame runs away when the unarmed antagonists resist. Arthur, a bit later in the story, goes to Shame's rescue, which contrasts Shame's shameful lack of courage and valor with Arthur's full steam of courage and valor.

And still later readers receive a lesson in virtue (not a satirical one but allegorical in its message) and in morality (this may actually be a morality story, was the point posed at the outset of this paper) when two young knights, who have taken direct action (impetuously and foolishly) against Arthur after Turpine accused Arthur of "great discourtisie," get their due.

When one of the youth knights, Inexperience, lashes at Arthur with his sword, he "is killed by the blow Arthur returns" (Parker, 241). The lesson shared by Spenser here (and interpreted by Parker) is a lesson that rings "true to life. Youth may survive the encounter in which he has been deceived into taking the wrong side; inexperience cannot, it necessarily dies in the very act of experiencing." Youth too, on the second attack, is put down by Arthur, "but when he sees Arthur above him, sword in hand, he realizes in one flash that this man is true, and Turpine is the traitor."