The Complaint of Britomart: Word-Play and Symbolism

Abstract

THE COMPLAINT of Britomart in The Faerie Queene (Ii. iv.8-10) seems to be a lyrical insertion, irrelevant to the narrative, and clearly illustrating a tendency toward meaningless rhetoric, sound effects, sensuous imagery, and word-play. It is a typical late Petrarchan passion. Its imagery, conventional to the point of triteness, develops the standard theme of the lover tormented by love. It repeats through four stanzas the information, sufficiently imparted before, that Britomart is suffering from the grievous smart of the deep wound of love and is following the guidance of blinded Cupid. The complaint leads to no new resolution or decision; it results in no action; it does not, in its stereotyped conceits, which might be transferred to the mouths of any of half a thousand despairing and passionate Renaissance or Medieval lovers, reveal a unique personality. If any passage in Spenser deserves the epithet Alexandrian, this would seem to qualify. Analysis of the passage, however, reveals the inadequacy of this judgment and suggests a more rewarding approach. The lament, it will be recalled, comes early in Britomart's search for the man, destined to be her husband, whom she has seen pictured in a magic mirror. She has been feeding her wound with the self-pleasing thought suggested by feigning fancie, and her pain has only grown the greater. Finally she arrives at the sea coast.