(4) Triumph of love and beauty In Spenser's works we can dis

　In Spenser's works we can distinguish two kinds of love, the evil and destructive, and the good and productive. These two, sometimes called 'lust' and 'love', are carefully juxtaposed and make up intricate narrative threads in The Faerie Queene, esp. in Books III and IV. In the Castle Joyous episode (Book III, i), for instance, Britomart, a female knight who represents virtuous love, is tempted by the Lady of Delight through her 6 knights. This Lady, Malecasta, is a personification of sensuality, and those 6 knights represent 6 steps of love-making according to the medieval courtly love tradition.⁴⁴ In this episode Spenser makes the heroine resist the temptation, for what seems the 'romantic' approach of the knights is implied to be a disguised form of lust.

　A more dismal scene appears in the House of Busyrane episode (Book III, xi--xii). Here Amoret, an allegory of married love, is captivated and tortured by Busyrane. Interpretation varies as to the allegorical meaning of this sorcerer. Since Amoret was abducted by him on the very night of wedding, it would be reasonable to suppose that he signifies some type of bridal　frigidity.⁴⁵ Perhaps illusory fear toward her husband's physical approach may be the cause of the torture inflicted on Amoret. Busyrane, who is indeed one of the most vivid figures Spenser created, is an allegory of 'perverted chastity': ⁴⁶ that is, a type of false chastity based on the obsession of sexual guiltiness and fear of a masterful husband.

　 While Britomart is searching the House for Amoret, a masque appears before her eyes, with Cupid at its centre and Amoret as his spoil. He is attended by altogether 32 figures(Amoret included) symmetrically arranged before and after him. They all represent various dangers and perils that threaten and eventually destroy a happy marriage. We see here Spenser's picture of distorted love, an illustrative example of 'cruel' Cupid who proudly triumphs with his subtlety and cunning.

　Whose face did seem as clear as crystal stone,

　And eke through fear as white as whale's bone:

　　　　　　　　　　　　　 (Book III, i, 15)

She is always afraid, always running away: ⁴⁷ she is pursued by a dreadful monster, exposed to the lust of a savage fisherman and captivated by Proteus,the shepherd of the sea, to be imprisoned by him deep in a cave. Proteus is a somewhat ambiguous character. He might represent 'mutability', or, according to another interpretation,⁴⁸ Platonic 'matter' into which the human soul has fallen. Whatever he may be, beauty as an expression of 'chaste love' is what Florimell stands for.

　Against this Florimell Spenser has had a witch make up a false namesake. She is 'in shape and look / So lively and so like, that many it mistook,(Book IIII, viii, 5).　Her eyes are 'two burning lamps, and 'stir and roll'. Her glance seduces frivolous knights, and eventually rivalry and discord are brought among them. This false Florimell is of course a personified 'false beauty' and is a live expression of 'unchaste love'.

　In Amoretti and Epithalamion, however, 'love' and 'beauty' take a definitely positive course. But the course is not altogether simple. Already in the first few sonnets of Amoretti the lover's heart is tossed between the two feelings toward his lady: 'unquiet thought.../ Of th'inward bale of my love pined heart' (Sonnet iii, 1--2) and 'the sovereign beauty which I do admire' (Sonnet iii, 1). Sorrow for his lady's 'proud cruelty' and adoration of her beauty are the two motifs that run throughout. Step by step through his pursuit he is led from desire to a higher form of love. In describing this ascent of the lover's Spenser seems to be writing in the convention of Neoplatonic ennobling love. Yet love for physical beauty is not altogether excluded in these lines: ⁴⁹

if sapphires, lo he eyes be sapphires plain

　　if rubies, lo her lips be rubies sound.

　　　　　　　　　　　　(Sonnet xv, 7--8)

Amoretti is unique among other sonnet sequences in the sense that the lover attains at last union with his lady in marriage in Epithalamion. Its diction is figurative, yet it assimilates an autobiographical element; and the relation between the poet and Elizabeth Boyle is clearly reflected in the idealized courtship of the lover to the lady. The stanza structure suggests a very intricate calendar symbolism. The lover's alternate attitudes, complaining and encouraged, appear to correspond with the cycle of the Church Calendar.⁵⁰We find him renewing his hope for the　success in the Easter Sonnet (lxviii, 5--14):

　This joyous day, dear Lord, with joy begin,

　　and grant that we for whom thou diddest die

　　being with thy dear blood clean washed from sin,

　　maylive for ever in felicity.

................................................................

　So let us love, dear love, 1ike as we ought,

　　love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.

This is Christian, Christ's love supporting the lover's love for his lady. Here the religious joy in Christ's victory seems to be linked to the victory of the lover's courtship. Yet towards the end of the sequence Neoplatonic terms appear again:

　　　　th'only image of that heavenly ray,

　　whereof some glance doth in mine eye remain.

　Of which beholding the Idea plain,

　　through contemplation of my purest part,

　　　　　　　　　　(Sonnet lxxxvii,7-10)

But this 'image of that heavenly ray' does not seem to be developed as a full theory of Neoplatonism. The last 6 Sonnets including this belong to the lover's complaint of his lady's absence, and he is back in the sorrow of separation. He may indeed have some light with which he can contemplate 'the Idea'. But the lady's absence does not seem to lead him into fully developed abstraction of his love's beauty in Neoplatonic terms; instead, the 'bride' in Epithalamion appears before our eyes.

　 Throughout Amontti Spenser is rather reticent of his lady's name, Elizabeth. This is rather unusual compared with other sonnet sequences. The reticence may be partly due to his intention to create an allegorized figure backed up with a real personality. And it seems to be with the same kind of 'modesty' that he has very skilfully set in Epithalamion a structural pattern as we shall see.

　This pattern is formed with a series of mythological images and the same words symmetrically arranged throughout the daytime stanzas.⁵¹ The first daytime stanza (v), as we have seen, matches with the first night stanza (xvii); here the sunrise and sunset correspondence is noticed. Stanza vi has 'Hesperus' (95), that is, Venus. She is referred to as 'the Cyprian Queen' (103)and the Graces commanded to sing to the bride just as they do to their queen (108). The parallel image is found in Stanza xvi, where Venus appears as 'the bright evening star'. This 'glorious lamp of love' (288) protects the lovers from all the evils that night may bring. In Stanzas vii and xv we find 'this day' (125, 263, 265) is specially emphasized.

　　ii. Hymen is awake.

　viii. The boys shout 'Hymen, io Hymen'.

　xiv. Hymen is crowned.

　xxii. Hymen is called upon to give fruitful progeny.

The last interval (xiv-xxii) has 8 stanza-hours, which is 2 hours longer. The explanation to this irregularity is that there are 2 stanzas where Hymen is commanded to be 'silent'. In Stanza xviii the young men (who shouted　'Hymen' in Stanza viii)are told to 'cease to sing' (332); and in Stanza xx Silence is asked to reign (353-54). This, it is supposed, delayed the appearance of Hymen by 2 stanza-hours.

　Thus we find Stanzas v-viii and xiv-xvii making another series of pairs in mythological and astronomical imagery. Moreover, it seems to me, between Stanzas ix and xiii too, there is a parallel... 'her modest eyes' fixed upon the ground (159-61) and 'her sad eyes' fastened on the ground (234). Between Stanzas x and xii, 'ye virgins' who stand still in amazement (181) seem to parallel to 'ye virgins' who learn 'obedience' (212). At the summit of this symmetrically structured imagery, comes the bride's 'inward beauty' (186) praised and honoured in Stanza xi:　'There virtue reigns as queen in royal throne' (194).

　　The pattern is not very conspicuously presented. Nevertheless the poet's intention, implied in this structure, seems to be clear. The range of time from sunrise till sunset forms the basis of this symmetry. Venus, both the morning and the evening star, marks the turnings of the day and the night. She is also the patroness of love. Perhaps the two Venuses of Renaissance Neoplatonism, the one representing contemplative love toward the divine beauty and the other of generative love on the earth, are fused into this epithalamic Venus.⁵³'This day, when the sun is 'in his chiefest height' (265), is a 'holy' day to the poet. Hymen is, as we have seen, inseparably linked to the passage of time. He leads 'this day' together with the marriage ceremony he presides. The whole imagery is astronomical as well as mythological. It symbolizes both time and the love that time contains. However, love is not to be retained within time. In this structural context love seems to be directed to celestial beauty and to be meant to go up to such a height that love eventually transcends time itself. For at the next stage the images change from mythological and astronomical to philosophical and religious. We find 'her eyes', that is, the bride's eyes, fixed modestly on the ground. In Neoplatonism 'eyes' have a special role, since they have the function of perceiving the Ideas.

　The meaning of the bride's 'eyes' and her 'beauty' could be better understood by referring to the two 'Hymnes' Spenser composed: An Hymne of Heavenly Love and An Hymne of Heavenly Beautie. These are the two last poems of his Fowre Hymnes (1696). It is supposed Spenser　wrote the last two poems after Epithalamion. The ideas of 'love' and 'beauty' respectively developed in the two poems may not be altogether identical with those in Epithalamion, yet I　believe these 'Hymnes' seem to give us a clue to the proper interpretation of the poet's symmetrical structure here.

　Fair is the heaven, where happy souls have place,

　In full enjoyment of felicity,

　Whence they do still behold the glorious face

　Of the divine eternal Majesty;

This abode of‘happy souls' seems to have derived from Plato who thought the planets were the embodied souls and planetary spheres were the 'upper regions' of the cosmic universe.

　Now human eyes are too weak to see this 'glorious face'. 'How can we see with feeble eyne, / The glory of that Majesty divine･･･?' (H.H.B. 123-24). Therefore, man must learn to see God's　creation and discern the beauty that reveals God's goodness, 'For all that's good, is beautiful and fair' (H.H.B. 133).

　The means therefore which unto us is lent,

　Him to behold, is on his works to look,

　Which he hath made in beauty excellent

This is the first step in seeing the real beauty of God. From this stage man is exhorted to go on　further to 'mount up aloft through heavenly contemplation' by gathering plumes of perfect　speculation [power of eyesight]' (H.H.B. 134-36). It is this perceptive vision, as I understand it, that the bride's 'eyes' symbolize in our structural pattern. And it is this 'heavenly beauty' pursued　by the poet that is allegorized in our bride.

　So that next off-spring of the Maker's love,

　Next to himself in glorious degree,

　Degendering to hate, fell from above

　Through pride: (for pride and love may ill agree)

　And now of sin to all ensample be:

This of course signifies the fall of 'the brightest Angel' (H.H.L. 83) through pride. This kind of　pride is fatal to the bride because it destroys love; pride simply does not　'agree' with love. It is　against this Satanic power that the bride's eyes are firmly directed. A Biblical image used here　seems to indicate that Neoplatonism gives way to Christianity at this stage. This transition from　the philosophical to the religious is an important step in Spenser's ascent toward the highest, and the Biblical allusion implied in 'her eyes' seems to suggest the ultimate direction to which the　bride's eyes are penetrating through the haze of Neoplatonism.

　'Virgins' or 'virginity' is another word that has rich associations in Spenser's works. The　particular emphasis given to this virtue seems to have derived from medieval Christianity; but 'virginity' also takes on a Platonic implication, especially when this is applied to the human　soul. Spenser uses this word sometimes in a sense distinct from 'chastity'. But in the present　context, where marriage is celebrated, it does not seem to be proper to make any distinction between the　two words. 'Ye virgins' are commanded to learn 'obedience' from the bride in whom 'sweet love　and constant chastity' dwells (191). 'Chastity' in this context is the very attribute that graces the　highest divine virtue.

　Now the bride's 'inner beauty' is revealed enthroned on his virtue. The lover of Amoretti seems to have reached his goal at last. For 'the bride' in this structural context is no less than personified 'celestial beauty'. The ascent toward this perception seems somewhat similar to that of the rungs of love described by Castiglione. Yet of course the whole setting is different. As Dante was led by Beatrice into the highest celestial light, so here the poet is led by the bride into the view of that immortal light. To him now is revealed what seems　to be Spenser's 'Christ' whom he calls 'Sapience':

　There in his [God's] bosom Sapience doth sit,

　The sovereign dearing of the Deity,

　Clad like a queen in royal robes, most fit

　For so great power and peerless majesty.

Sapience is Spenser's 'Christ', though she is interpreted in various ways.⁵⁴ She is the light that illuminates and reigns the bride's inward spirit 'as queen in royal throne' (194). From the poet's　view the religious love and the love of his bride do not belong to two different levels. In his pursuit both are inseparably aligned as he ascends from the earthly to the spiritual. For him to love his bride is to love Christ. He is a happy man who can perceive this Sapience; like the bridegroom 'whom heaven would heap with bliss' (247):