Stuart,
Besides the fine discussion in Jon Quitslund's SSF, there is Michael Steppat's Chances of Mischief: Variations of Fortune in Spenser (1990), and Judith Anderson's helpful review of that book.
Robin Reid
________________________________
From: Sidney-Spenser Discussion List [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask] [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2011 9:36 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Fortune / Providential Design in Book VI of FQ
Dear Stuart,
You are on to something with your observation that "fortune" is more frequently mentioned in Book VI than in the other Books. I am not so sure, however, that world-view in VI is very different from Spenser's conceptual framework in the preceding Books.
You may be helped by some passages in my book, Spenser's Supreme Fiction (Toronto, 2001). In particular I would refer you to chapter 5, "Nature in The Faerie Queene: Concepts and Phenomena" (pp. 133-83); pp. 150-55 interpret some references to "fate" and "fortune," and prior to that there's a discussion of Providence and Necessity. I don't discuss the references to Fortune in Book VI; there's plenty left to say.
In that part of my book I'm not concerned with sources, but I concur with others that Boethius is pertinent to Book VI -- and to FQ in general.
In some places -- and this may be especially true in Book VI, where the author's voice and values are often in the foreground -- references to fortune and locutions such as "it fortuned" serve, I think, as masks for Spenser's sly or playful assertions of his control over the narrative.
Best wishes, Jon Quitslund
--- On Fri, 7/22/11, Stuart Hart <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Stuart Hart <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Fortune / Providential Design in Book VI of FQ
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Friday, July 22, 2011, 2:59 PM
Dear colleagues,
whilst rereading 'The Legend of Courtesy', it struck me that the noun 'fortune' is used more often in Book VI than in any other of the previous ones. Indeed, it is used on 32 occasions, whereas in Book I, it appears only twelve times.
The idea of fortune seems a recurring motif throughout the book. At VI.iii Calepine is saved by the Salvage Man. We read that this is by ‘wondrous chaunce’ (VI.iii.51.6) and ‘fortune, passing all foresight’ (VI.iv.2.1.). A similar episode occurs in the same canto when Calepine is wandering through the woods having recovered from his wound. On this particular occasion, his attention is drawn to the ‘scrike and squall’ of a ‘litle babe’ who has been captured by a ‘cruell Beare’ and is seized ‘Betwixt his bloodie iawes’ (VI.iv.17-18). The infant’s ‘shrieches shrill’ are said to pierce Calepine’s ‘hart with pities point’. Subsequently, the ‘bold knight’ thus courageously attempts to rescue the helpless infant. Nearby he notices a ‘ragged stone, | Which lay thereby (so fortune him did ayde)’ (VI.iv.21). He collects this stone and then bravely approaches the bear and ‘thrust it all attone | Into his gaping throte, that made him grone | And gaspe for breath’. In his desperation, the bear relinquishes the baby, and so it is saved. Spenser’s parenthesis at VI.iv.21.3 encourages us to believe that yet again fortune is the key factor in this successful outcome. It is down to chance, or rather the capriciousness of life that the stone was at hand for Calepine to use. Book Six is scattered with many such instances of how arbitrary luck is seen to benefit characters at key times.
However, it would be wrong to think that for Spenser, fortune is always advantageous. At VI.ii.27, we discover that it is also responsible for Tristram’s peripeteia. Despite being ‘Briton borne’ and the ‘Sonne of a King’, he has his ‘countrie […] forlorne, | And lost the crowne, which should […] [his] head by right adorne’. Due to ‘fortune’, his uncle has supplanted him, and he is left a fugitive seeking refuge in the woods. This is not untypical in Book Six as fortune is often blamed for the vicissitudes of life. Spenser often highlights these instances through his use of epithets. At VI.viii.34.8, Serena is said to be the victim of ‘False Fortune’ as she is captured by the saluage nation whilst sleeping. Equally, we are told that it is Calidore’s ‘ill fortune’, which is responsible for the sudden disappearance of the graces (VI.x.20.7), whilst at VI.xii.37.7 he speaks of ‘fortunes wrackfull yre’. In other parts of the book, epithets are used to describe her as ‘tempestuous’ (I.vii.25.1), ‘wilde’ (I.vii.1.2.), ‘fickle’ (I.ix.44.8) and ‘wicked’ (III.ii.44.1). At V.iii.1.7. Spenser refers to her ‘spight’, and at I.vii.16.8 of her ‘cruell freakes’. At other times in Book Six, fortune is personified as being awkward and unhelpful. At VI.viii.10.1. ‘Fortune aunswered not vnto […] [Arthur’s] call’, whilst at VI.viii.15.5 it failed to ‘conspire’ with Disdain’s ‘will’. Moreover, at VI.ix.31.5 its punishing nature is suggested through Calidore’s reference to ‘stormes of fortune and tempestuous fate’.
The use of fate was clearly a recurring motif in the Romance genre, and served as a narrative device that helped shape the sequence of events. However, I suspect that many of Spenser's Early Modern readers would have seen these instances of fate as a reflection of the ways in which the universe is ordered by providential design.
My question to the list is whether any one knows of any particular primary sources that Spenser may have drawn from in his depiction of fortune, especially theological ones. Moreover, does anyone have a knowledge of any relevant critical texts that would be of interest. Richard McCabe's 'Pillars of Eternity' has a particualrly good chapter on Providence in Spenser, however I'd be grateful to hear of others.
Many thanks as always,
Stuart Hart
PhD researcher
University of Birmingham
England.
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