I also have pondered the peculiar turn in the Amyas-Placidas story in which
Placidas takes off with Poeana's dwarf. I don't think the move is
understandable as part of a coherent story, but it is essential to Spenser's
purposes for that story--as I understand those purposes.
Prior to that moment, things proceeded as in a "one soul in bodies twain"
story. Placidas, hearing of Amyas's incarceration, gains admittance to the
prison, whereupon Amyas is aggrieved that his friend now shares his fate
because, as one would expect, Amyas loves Aemylia but his greater love is
for Placidas. Placidas then counter's Amyas's grief by outlining a plan for
Amyas's escape: "But I with better reason him auiz'd, / And shew'd him how
through error and mis-thought / Of our like persons eath to be disguiz'd, /
Or his exchange, or freedome might be wrought." (These words indicate to me
a specific plan, but no details surface.) At first, Amyas "was full loth"
and would not consent to the scheme but eventually, "ouerrul'd at last, he
did to me agree" (IV.viii.58).
When the dwarf comes to bring Amyas to Poeana, Placidas goes instead and
pretends to reciprocate he affections. As a reward he is given greater
scope and "on a day . . . [while] I with that elfe did play,
Finding no meanes how I might vs enlarge,
But if that Dwarfe I could with me conuay,
I lightly snatcht him vp, and with me bore away. (61)
Placidas's reference to "vs" implies that his scheme now includes both
friends. Did the plan involve the Dwarf as keeper of the keys? The dwarf
is not a bit player in the story; he is given a rudimentary personality and
he is mentioned 11 times by my count. But does any of this matter? Running
off with the dwarf simply cannot be part of any plan that would involve
rescue of Amyas through the twin-like appearance of the two.
I have argued that Spenser cut the heart out of a "one soul in bodies twain"
story so he could use Arthur to effect the rescue. The story, for me,
contributes to a larger argument in Book IV that concord in small
communities requires an authority figure (Cambina in the Cambell and
Triamond and Arthur in the present story), just as, in Book V, Mercilla is
essential to concord in her realm.
Jim Broaddus
Indiana State Univ. (retired)
Route 3 Box 1037
Brodhead, KY 40409
606-758-8073
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----- Original Message -----
From: David Wilson-Okamura <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, July 06, 2002 2:19 PM
Subject: Poeana's dwarf
> This question is only slightly less trivial than the last one.
>
> At FQ 4.8.47-62, the squire Amyas describes his captivity in the gardens
of
> Corflambo's daughter, Poeana, and his eventual escape, which somehow
> requires that he make off with a dwarf:
>
> Finding no meanes how I might vs enlarge,
> But if that Dwarfe I could with me conuay,
> I lightly snatcht him vp, and with me bore away. (61)
>
> The dwarf, as you will recall, is commissioned by Poeana to keep an eye on
> Amyas, and when he escapes, the dwarf blows the whistle (62; see also
> 54-55). This, I suppose, is plausible enough, but it doesn't really
explain
> the squire's decision to take the dwarf with him. If I were trying to
> escape from an unwanted girlfriend, I think I would look for ways to be
> inconspicuous. Carrying a dwarf under my arm would not be one of them.
Does
> he hold up the dwarf at the gate, like an ID badge?
>
> The whole business seems absurd and, as Michael Murrin pointed out many
> years ago, absurdity often functions as a trigger for allegorical
> interpretation. Having said this, I have racked my brains for a little
more
> than an hour and my allegorator is gazing back at me with a blank stare. A
> rapid survey of some books on my shelf (Hamilton, SE, Nohrnberg, Nelson,
> Roche, Alpers) turns up some fascinating material on the relationship
> between Lust and Poeana, but not much on the dwarf. (There is an entry on
> dwarves in the Spenser Encyclopedia, but it devotes the bulk of its
> attention to Una's dwarf.) Any suggestions?
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> David Wilson-Okamura http://virgil.org [log in to unmask]
> East Carolina University Virgil reception, discussion, documents, &c
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
