• Allegorical Consent: The Faerie Queene and the Politics of Erotic Subjection

    Author(s):
    Jeffrey B. Griswold (see profile)
    Date:
    2014
    Subject(s):
    Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599, Political science--Philosophy, Allegory
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Spenser, Political philosophy
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6V97ZQ90
    Abstract:
    This essay examines the Faerie Queene’s use of erotic subjection as a political metaphor for theorizing the relation between conquest and consent. In the Radigund episode of Book V, Spenser explores the gender dynamics of this trope, as the subjected body is male and the monarch, female. These scenes act as a powerful counter-narrative to the poem’s earlier representations of erotic subjection by showing that external obedience cannot be equated with consent. Radigund forces Artegall to wear women’s clothing and to do women’s work, but this submission constitutes nothing more than slavery. The narrative blends political domination with sexual conquest to demonstrate that compliance is not loyalty and violence cannot elicit love.
    Metadata:
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    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Publisher:
    University of Chicago Press
    Pub. Date:
    2014
    Journal:
    Spenser Studies
    Volume:
    29
    Page Range:
    219 - 237
    ISSN:
    0195-9468
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    5 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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