The Orgoglio Episode

Introduction

Northrop Frye said in the Anatomy of Criticism, "Western literature has been more influenced by the Bible than by any other book, but with all his respect for 'sources,' the critic knows little more about that influence than the fact that it exists. Biblical typology is so dead a language now that most readers, including scholars, cannot construe the most superficial meaning of any poem which employs it." (14). Our readers, therefore, are those not familiar with biblical text. While in Spenser’s time biblical references were common, today’s reader may require a decoder to understand certain references. This may be because of a more multicultural and worldly society; perhaps it is the readers’ own religious beliefs. Whatever the reason, it is certain that some comprehension of the Bible is needed: Spenser, above all other poets, weaves such an intricate amalgam of biblical and mythological references that, at least, a most basic knowledge of Christian doctrine is needed to understand his work.

Our particular gloss will deal explicitly with Book I, canto viii. We have chosen Book I because it is the book of Holiness and, as The Spenser Encyclopedia notes, “Spenser alludes to Revelation more than any other book of the Bible (Landrum (1926:517) and most often in Book I” (88, italics added). Canto viii, which deals predominantly with the Orgoglio episode, was chosen because (as The Spenser Encyclopedia also observes), “To be able to ‘read’ (i.e., to interpret, unriddle) the Orgoglio episode is to have found the green pathway into and through the forest of Spenser’s art” (518). Consequently, a tramp through that green forest of text will be our attempt.

This gloss will attempt to decode some of the more archaic references for Spenserian readers, whose religious background may be lacking. Key elements we will examine include difficult words that have biblical connections and how Spenser then utilizes them in his text. We will also explore biblical imagery and phrasing and how Spenser blends in certain mythological references from the Greek and Latin as well.

As a basis for understanding the Biblical references in The Faerie Queene, one must understand the major players operating in both FQ and the Bible. An understanding of Arthur as a Christian Knight and his relation to Christ is also beneficial. To provide a basis for understanding the characters, we will provide descriptive analysis of these important players.

Orgoglio can be compared to the Biblical Satan, who is the eternal enemy of God and man. According to the Bible, Satan was once Lucifer Morningstar and he sat on the right hand of God. He was the most beautiful of all angels, but he was proud and jealous. Pride (Orgoglio’s name in Italian) is the reason Satan was cast down from heaven. Satan’s pride made him believe he could take the throne of heaven from God and make it his own; Satan then declared war upon heaven, was defeated and cast into hell. Orgoglio, like Satan, is a would-be usurper; swooping down and taking Duessa from the Red Cross Knight. Spenser uses classical references in order to reinforce Orgoglio’s nature as a usurper and thus tie him to Satan. The Spenser Encyclopedia says, “Spenser contrives further to associate Orgoglio with the rebellious giants of classical myth, looking ultimately to Hesiod and Ovid and immediately to Conti’s version of passion ridden and ambitious earthborn figures who instinctively seek to topple the just gods themselves” (518). This analogy, while not explicitly so, reinforces the rebellious and passionate nature of Satan inherent in Orgoglio.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Arthur, the “victorious knight” that comes to redeem Red Crosse in canto viii. Several times within the canto it is hinted that Arthur is slightly more-than-human-he causes Orgoglio’s castle to tremble with the ram’s horn, and then slays Orgoglio in a blinding flash of light. After defeating Orgoglio and Duessa (analogically, Christ’s triumph over Satan and the whore of Babylon in the Book of Revelation), he searches for and seeks out Red Crosse. Arthur is determined to save him, literally and figuratively-not only is Red Crosse chained within Orgoglio’s dungeon, his soul is also in the depths of despair. Once Arthur finds him, he literally upholds the weak knight as he carries him back to the upper realm of man. Finally, Arthur restores Red Crosse to the “one true faith” of Una, thereby redeeming his soul as well. Because of this, it is easy to see the connection between Arthur and Christ-in the Bible, it is said that only Jesus can “save” people from doom and despair, as Arthur does for Red Crosse. Moreover, both are seen as “victorious knights” that seek out the lost and redeem them.

Duessa’s character is perhaps one of the most direct representations of characters from the Bible. After the defeat of Red Crosse, Orgolio gives Duessa “purple pall to weare, And triple crowne set on her head full hye” (FQ I.vii.16). The beast she rides is purple with seven heads. Spenser takes this imagery directly from the Book of Revelations: “I sawe a woman sit vpon a skarlat coloured beast…which had seuen heads…And the woman was araied in purple and skarlat, and guilded with golde, and precious stones, and pearles” (Rev. 17:3-5). This woman, later named the Whore of Babylon, “with whome haue committed fornication the kings of the earth, and the inhabitants of the earth are druken with the wine of her fornication,” seems to represent all material things in the world that prevent men from connecting with God. But as the Spenser Encyclopedia points out, “The Whore of Babylon is regularly interpreted by sixteenth-century Protestant commentators as an image of the Roman Catholic religion and the Roman Catholic church” (229). Spenser, who was a sixteenth-century Protestant, uses Duessa to represent the Catholic Church, which he would have considered a false religion. Arthur, representative of the one true Church, finally reveals Duessa’s true nature, and strips her of any misleading appearances (similar to the Whore of Babylon’s downfall). According the Spenser Encyclopedia, “These episodes dramatize Spener’s bitter critique of the Roman Catholic church and his hope that in England at least it has been defeated” (229).

Narrative

A lot of work went into the making of this introduction and glosse, and we are proud to say that it was a team effort. Much of our early work was dedicated to finding sources, obtaining a copy of the Geneva Bible, and cross-checking references--not an easy task. We met frequently at the library to pool resources and exchange ideas; R.D. began to write the introduction, Becky looked at ways to divide up the research, and Casey outlined our discussion for the class presentation. We found that by each one of us concentrating on a different main character (R.D. on Orgoglio, Casey on Arthur, and Becky on Duessa), we could research our specific characters a lot more in-depth. Finally, we decided that if we were to have any sanity left at all, we would have to split up the stanzas and gloss them separately; at our weekly library meetings, we would report our progress and show our glossed work, asking for suggestions and improvements. We would also use this time to search for new resources that might help us with any problems we were having. R.D. really seemed to have a knack for finding books related to our project. We would leave a large stack of them on the tables after our meeting was done. These meetings and cooperation made us feel that even if we were working on separate stanzas, when all the glosses were finally put together, it was an all-around team endeavor.

The way we went about glossing was fairly straight-forward: after noting the biblical observations Hamilton had made, we then cross-checked it with another Spenserian scholar, Shaheen. His book, Biblical References in The Faerie Queene, was extremely helpful. We also made frequent use of The Spenser Encyclopedia, as well as The Analogy of The Faerie Queene. Finally, on top of this, we found a Geneva Bible on-line that we could use-most accommodating! Becky went to Special Collections and found a 1589 version of the Geneva Bible, and copied some of the verses out of it by hand. After all this, we were confident that we had enough material to make a proficient glossing of canto viii.

Instead of glossing all of canto viii, we decided to concentrate specifically on those stanzas that were heavy in biblical analogies and references (even after making this distinction, however, we still glossed a lot-around 40 of the 50 stanzas in the canto). Roughly, then, we each had around 13 stanzas to do. When we started to put the final product together, we discussed putting our glosses out by the side of the stanzas but instead opted for putting all of the glosses in the back. We decided that by doing it this way, we are not enforcing our views or opinions on anybody-and if the reader chose to utilize our work, he or she could do so with an open mind.

Thus, finally, what you hold in your hand is the finished product. We all thoroughly enjoyed working together and separately for our project, and we feel like we’ve done a thorough job of glossing and research.

Tetelestai. (Hebrew for “It is finished”)