In this passage Spenser follows closely the description of the witch
Alcina in Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_, vii, 73.
Alcina in Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_, vii, 73.
Spenser - Faerie Queene - 1
381. There was an old familiar ballad entitled _Fortune my Foe_.
384. i. e. your good fortune will be threefold as great as your evil
fortune.
384. GOOD GROWES OF EVILS PRIEFE, good springs out of our endurance of the
tests and experience of evil.
391. BEST MUSICKE BREEDS DELIGHT, etc. A troublesome passage. Upton and
Jortin emend _delight_ to _dislike_; Church inserts _no_ before _delight_
and omits _best_; Kitchin suggests _despight_; Grosart prefers the text as
it stands with the meaning that although the best music pleases the
troubled mind, it is no pleasure to renew the memory of past sufferings. I
venture to offer still another solution, based on the context. When Una
shows a desire to hear from her Knight a recountal of his sufferings in the
dungeon, and he is silent, being loath to speak of them, Arthur reminds her
that a _change of subject is best_, for the best music is that which breeds
delight in the troubled ear.
xlvi.
In this passage Spenser follows closely the description of the witch
Alcina in Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_, vii, 73. Rogero has been fascinated
by her false beauty, and her real foulness is exposed by means of a magic
ring. The stripping of Duessa symbolizes the proscription of vestments and
ritual, and the overthrow of images, etc. , at the time of the Reformation.
Duessa is only banished to the wilderness, not put to death, and reappears
in another book of the poem.
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS
(Canto VIII)
1. What moral reflections are found in i? 2. What were the duties of the
Squire in chivalry? 3. What part does Arthur's Squire play? 4. What does
the Squire's horn symbolize? 5. Observe the classical figure in ix. 6.
