Pre-Cartesian Representations of Animals and Humans in Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene

Abstract

Edmund Spenser’s (1552/53-1599) eminent sixteenth century epic, The Faerie Queene (1590-1596), truly proves to be a canonical text of English literature as it has received almost constant critical attention from the time of its first publication, to the twenty-first century. Persisting interest confirms that the poem offers valuable cultural insight to the historical period it was written in. Hence, it has been studied from various cultural and literary perspectives and scholars working on the interdependent fields of posthumanism, ecocriticism, and most recently, animal studies, have also turned their attention to Spenser’s works. These contemporary perspectives potentially indicate the future course of Spenser studies, especially in relation to The Faerie Queene, as the poem not only represents the political structures of its time, for which it has been scrutinised, but it keenly allegorises Spenser’s views on creation, existence and natural order by presenting innumerable human-nonhuman interactions. Accordingly, this thesis conducts a contemporary and extensive analysis of The Faerie Queene, as a whole, and with focus on Spenser’s depiction of nonhuman animals and humans as a representative of the pre- Cartesian period. The main argument is that Spenser’s pre-Cartesian attempt to distinguish and privilege humankind in The Faerie Queene falls short of a total realisation and absolute anthropocentricism unlike dualistic Cartesian discourses which flourish few decades after him in the seventeenth century. This is because, while Spenser aims to establish moral ideals and virtues to elevate humans through allegory in line with humanist thought, due to the poet’s theological and ontological understanding and political position, his work indicates that postlapsarian humans are not capable of achieving these qualities through their own efforts. Only elect human characters are directed by God’s grace to attain Spenser’s ascribed virtues and ideals of humanity, thereby distinguishing themselves from other earthly creatures. The rest are stationed equally to or sometimes lower than animals. Thus, The Faerie Queene not just subverts its poet’s humanist intent, but it also reflects the ambiguity and permeability of the human/animal divide in pre-Cartesian early modern discourses.