I'm writing in the absolute hope that the following passages won't be
familiar to anyone. I have a brilliant student (a sophomore, no
less)who's just handed in a
paper on Book III. Part of the assignment was a response to Wofford's
article in the back of the Norton Spenser. I would be suprised,
not to mentioned devastated, if any of this is plagiarized. But just in
case, here are two excerpts:
"The process of creating and understanding allegory appears to be logical
and straighforward. The link between the characters of an allegory
and the concepts behind their existence is the same as the link between
shadows projected on a wall and the material objects that create
them. Even though the physical sources of the shadows are hidden, it is
these objects that are ultimately significant and provide the reason
for the existence of the shadows. In turn, it is the interaction of the
abstract ideas of an allegory that shape the movements of the
characters the reader sees. As simple as this process of automatically
transferring the essence of abstract concepts into the breath of puppets
may seem, however, it is inherently and unavoidably complex. There comes
a point when the two-dimensional puppets break through the
contraints of their allegorical sense and begin to suggest that they
contain narrative significance as well. The result is a confusing and
disjointed
work fraught with unlimited possibilities of interpretation."
and here is the final paragraph (we've talked extensively about Sidney's
golden and brazen world, the paradoxical position of a
Petrarchan speaker, and the author -function as a means of limiting
meaning):
"But just as the Petrarchan male creates authority over the object of his
desire in the golden world and still cannot transfer this authority
to the brazen world, so is Spenser ultimately powerless to force the idea
of chaste love into reality. The allegory of The Faerie Queene
is decidely more complex than the theoretical ideal of an allegory just as
Britomart is decidedly more complex than the ideal figure of
chastity. Spenser's abstract ideas may coalesce in the golden world while
they're still under the power of his authorship, but once they
are set free into the brazen world and transplanted into the reader's
mind, they become subject to the whims of interpretation."
Thanks for your help. If these are (as I anticipate) entirely her ideas,
I reserve the right to brag.
Chris Warley
Oakland University
W
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