The Faerie Queene | Criticism

This literature criticism consists of approximately 20 pages of analysis & critique of The Faerie Queene.

The Faerie Queene | Criticism

This literature criticism consists of approximately 20 pages of analysis & critique of The Faerie Queene.
This section contains 5,821 words
(approx. 20 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Critical Essay by Maureen Quilligan

SOURCE: "The Comedy of Female Authority in The Faerie Queene," in English Literary Renaissance, Vol. 17, No. 2, Spring, 1987, pp. 156-71.

In the following essay, Quilligan analyzes the allegorical representation of female power and authority in The Faerie Queene.

Basing his argument on Anthony Munday's recasting of an Italian play acted before Queen Elizabeth in 1585, Albert Baugh reasoned some time ago that "it would seem the Queen's taste was for the braggadocchio of Captain Crackstone, who adds malapropism to his other absurdities of the miles gloriosus."1 Baugh's shrewd guess not only shows how Spenser's coinages have entered the language, but also supports the notion that Spenser's decision to present Belphoebe on her first appearance in The Faerie Queene in the company of Braggadocchio and Trompart may owe something to his sense of what the Queen might herself have found amusing. If she liked to laugh at braggadocio captains—a taste...

(read more)

This section contains 5,821 words
(approx. 20 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Critical Essay by Maureen Quilligan
Copyrights
Gale
Critical Essay by Maureen Quilligan from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.