The Faerie Queene

In Sexual Personae (Vintage, 1991), the literary and cultural critic Camille Paglia observes, “One of the cardinal events of The Faerie Queene is rape” (185). Sexual assault is commonplace, so Faerie Land suffers from what a contemporary person could call “rape culture.” Rape is normalized and becomes a disturbing symbol for female characters. Una, Amoret, Serena, Belphoebe, Britomart, and Florimell are some of the female characters that face and fear rape. These characters represent virtue, so they’re vulnerable to violation and corruption. Characters like Acrasia and Duessa don’t face the threat of rape—they symbolize evil: There’s supposedly nothing “honorable” to attack.

Through the frequency of rape, Spenser creates an unsettling hierarchy and perpetuates toxic myths about sexual assault. The symbolism suggests good women can stop rape and that rape can’t happen to women with supposed bad or questionable characters as they’re already tainted. Serena represents good: She’s a “sacred treasure” (6.8.43.8), so the “savage” nation wants to rape her. Her narrative contrasts with Hellenore’s trajectory. She’s vulnerable and “withouten groome or guide”(3.10.36.5), but the beastly satyrs don’t try to rape her. Hellenore represents a compromised character. She left her husband for Paridell and then cheated on Paridell.

Spenser doesn’t let men off the hook. The men who try to commit sexual assault represent wickedness. Archimago tries to rape Una because he’s bad. Amoret doesn’t have to worry about Arthur trying to rape her: He symbolizes virtue. Women can commit rape, but female rapists are less common in the poem. The bad female characters often find other ways to degrade the male characters—Radigund doesn’t try to rape Arthegall; instead, she imprisons him and tries to feminize him.