Week 13 Reading Notes: The Faerie Queene B

Britomart
Once again we return to the enchanting and strange tales of Britomart from the Faerie Queene, an epic poem of gallantry and knightly honor. Britomart is a lady raised as a knight of honor herself, choosing to disguise herself as man in some occasions (due to the culture of the time). She sees the face of her destined lover in the mirror of the magus Merlin, and goes to seek him out. As a (precarious) lover of Arthurian/Troubadour tales, I was happy to find these stories to be a refreshing, almost not misogynistic corner of the canon, featuring a valiant, strong female lead (who is unfortunately still on a goal that revolves around heterosexual love, but you can only get so much). Despite my complaints to this, Britomart maintains her royal air and strong demeanor throughout the story, and displays knightly qualities beyond even that of the legends Lancelot and Gawain. She even tries to maintain this in spite of her falling in love with Artegall, more and more as each day passes by, and tries to save face against even what she calls the crown of Knighthood - love. This ending to the tale wraps up many of the strings left throughout the story, minus the whole "sorry I lost your wife" kind of thing. That is conveyed in another story for another day, apparently. While Britomart tries hard to first remain with Artegall, then accompany him on his grand journey, she eventually realizes her duty is to secure the woman lost in the desert forest, and returns to the poor knight who has been waiting for her love to quiet down enough for her to complete a task she had promised. (That paragraph ended up a lot more cynical than I expected). Either way, my story will hopefully reflect a similar charm as Britomart, but maybe with the Troubadour love tuned down a bit.
Bibliography: Britomart, Untextbook Link

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