6 - The Faerie Queene, Books IV-VII

Summary

The second edition of The Faerie Queene was published in 1596. It contained three new books which dealt with the virtues of friendship, justice and courtesy. The ending of the 1590 first edition of the poem was altered so that Amoret and Scudamour were not reunited in a hermaphroditic embrace at the conclusion of Book III. Instead their story ceases to be a tale of private heterosexual bliss and becomes part of a wider focus on love as a social and public force. As in Book III, Scudamour suffers mixed fortunes in war and is afflicted by horrible jealousy, but he eventually manages to lead Amoret away from the Temple of Venus, albeit without the obvious triumph of the ending to the first edition. Amoret, who has been participating in a civilised and modest discussion of love's virtues (reminiscent of Castiglione's Book of the Courtier) is terrified at Scudamour's approach. He is criticised by the figure of Womanhood for 'being overbold' (IV, X, 54), words that explicitly recall the motto over the door of the inner chamber in the House of Busyrane that Britomart should 'Be not too bold' (III, xi, 54).1 Scudamour has taken on the role of the traditional Petrarchan lover. He displays his shield to Amoret 'On which when Cupid with his killing bow / And cruell shafts emblazond she beheld, / At sight thereof she was with terror queld, / And said no more.' In seizing her hand and forcibly removing her from the Temple of Venus he sees her as a 'warie Hynd within the weedie soyle', boasting that 'no intreatie would forgoe so glorious spoyle' (IV, X, 55).