Introduction to Glosses Although our title suggests that the following glosses assume Spenser students are completely incompetent, Mammon’s Cave for Dummies is simply a catchy slogan. Our intent, on the contrary, is to provide first time readers with the basic tools necessary to foster the insight and critical evaluation we feel Spenser students are capable of developing. As English majors, we have struggled with literature of all genres to identify certain allusions. Ovid, Hesiod, Homer, Aristotle, Matthew and Mark have yet to appear on syllabi for any required English course. Personal intellectual pursuits aside, we feel the majority of college students lack the mythological, philosophical, and biblical background fundamental in the comprehension of works like The Faerie Queene. In most glosses, an editor will refer to a specific passage in one of these ancient texts, giving only the barest details: “Matthew, 10.2:1-4,” assuming that the reader will then read the corresponding text and develop his or her own opinion. Realistically, this requires a great deal of time and effort most students are not willing to put forth. Such a process would include but is not limited to, the following tedious steps: walking to the library, searching for the mentioned work on the database, finding the book amidst the five floors of shelving, checking the book out, walking home, reading the passage, reading a summary online of the rest of the work to understand its significance, and, finally, comparing it with the work currently being read. While some students certainly take the time to go to these lengths, most do not. For these students, with a full course load and a true desire to understand the depth and magnificence of Spenser, we have written these glosses. Our goal however, is not to pinpoint the significance of mythology, philosophy, or religion per se in relation to The Faerie Queene, feeding meaning to intelligent readers on a spoon. These commentaries are meant to not only provide textual references, but explanations of the texts themselves as well. Therefore, we have attempted to briefly outline the stories and characters to which Spenser alludes in hopes that students will then be able to make educated, stress- free hypotheses about Book II, Canto vii. It would be insulting to Spenser and to his readers to assume that Mammon’s Cave contains only certain themes, and audacious of us to assume we know what those themes would be. His use of these references, we feel it is safe to infer, aids readers in seeing beyond the intricate plots of The Faerie Queene. It is obvious that Spenser’s combination of mythology, religion, and philosophy is part of a deliberate ambiguity that encourages critical thinking about Guyon, temperance, life and love, among other things. Because this canto is so large, we have only included a small sample of basic glosses on misunderstood words that we would otherwise create, time permitting. However, many other editors have already written detailed and readily available glosses of this nature. We also made no references outside the areas of philosophy, religion, and mythology. Aristotelian References Our primary sources for Aristotelian references is listed below. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics. Classics of Moral and Political Theory. Ed. Michael L. Morgan. 3rd ed. Indianapolis, IN: 2001. It is evident from Spenser’s Letter to Raleigh that the poet intended to personify Aristotle’s magnanimous man, a person possessing all the virtues detailed in The Faerie Qveene. We feel that the combination of this letter and Spenser’s obvious use of Aristotelian philosophy throughout his work justifies our Ethics references. Although Spenser may not have been directly alluding to Aristotle in each of the stanzas where the philosopher is mentioned in the glosses, these explanations will hopefully clarify confusion for our reader and grant him the opportunity to gain further insight concerning Book II, canto vii. A first- time read through of this book can lead to misinterpretation of the virtue temperance and Guyon’s seemingly arrogant attitude as he rejects Mammon’s offerings; this is another reason we have included Aristotle’s philosophy on such matters. Biblical References We used verses from the Geneva bible specifically (except Timothy & Job, from the Hebrew Bible). Spenser, being Protestant, would probably not only have been familiar with that edition, but he also would have been more likely to draw from it and have it on hand. The Faerie Queen is a Christian work, but, more than that, it is a specifically Protestant work. We felt that having the specific words he did may help the reader to understand the text more completely. It is important to note that critics have argued that Mammon is nothing more than a Protestant manifestation of Satan. Mammon, according to Protestant beliefs, is the god of riches and serves only man’s desires and not those of God. His soul purpose is to corrupt the flesh and draw man further from God. Guyon is a representation of the Christ in the book. In this canto he is subjected to 3 temptations just as Christ did. As well, Guyon’s travel through Mammon’s cave lasts 40 stanzas (26-66), also in reference to Jesus’ 40 days in the desert. |