The role of Prince Arthur in The fairie queene.

Abstract

Although many scholars have written about The Faerie Queene, few have given any special attention to Prince Arthur's role in that poem, and Spenser clearly implies in his letter to Raleigh, that Arthur is an important element. However, a close examination of the poem itself reveals that Arthur is an even more complex character than Spenser indicates. In fact, he functions on several levels throughout the many episodes of the narrative. Therefore, the present study attempts to describe Arthur's roles in each episode and, then, to generalize his significance to the poem as a whole.