“The Faeire Queene” is an epic poem written by Edmund Spenser in the 16th century – English Renaissance, but set in the Middle Ages because it is a chivalric romance. Aside from religious allegories, juxtapositions and contradictions, Spenser mentions the role of gender by providing his reader with stereotypes, which are a set of postulated ideas about the specific type of someone or something, which includes race, ethnicity, religion, culture as well as the concept of gender. gender of women of that century. Protagonist and antagonist, Una and Duessa, are the representation of two opposite gender stereotypes in the literary sense in the “Faerie Queene”. The writer focuses on the virgin and the whore by combining facts and his ideas about Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots, which he actually aims at, giving examples from the Bible. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay For starters, the 16th century was an era of discovery, invention, exploration, and great literary works. To give an example, Leonardo da Vinci built a flat water wheel, Peter Henlein invented the pocket watch, Zacharias Janssen the compound microscope, Galileo Galilei invented the water thermometer, Isabella Cortese wrote a book on alchemical secrets and Thomas More wrote her "Utopia"... Furthermore, Elizabeth I was one of the most successful women who was treated as “a female monarch in a male world”; however, women were thought to be influenced by their emotions and passions, so they should be rulers and dutiful, while men had a rational way of thinking, which gives them the right to rule a country. (Norton 541) As can be understood from the instances, it has rarely been women who have contributed to the history of humanity in this century. This problem is stated openly in the book “Who am I This Time?: Female Portraits in British and American Literature” as “patriarchal society sees women essentially as secondary characters in the drama of life. Men change the world and women help them." (Pearson and Pope) The reason almost everyone is male is that women were generally not allowed to work in fields such as medicine, law, or education because they were considered weaker than men. There were certain sociocultural stereotypes that women were expected to obey; therefore, their only duty was, usually, to take care of their families, especially their husbands. These tasks consisted of preparing food for them, cleaning the house and having sufficient knowledge of medicine in case of illnesses of family members. While men carried out serious jobs, in 1500 women had to be housewives, washerwomen, milliners, dyers, bakers, wet nurses, servants... On the other hand, those who worked were not only paid less but also suffered abuse from time to time due to their gender. Furthermore, there are some literary stereotypes attributed to women along with socio-cultural ones. These are used by writers, playwrights and poets to conveniently touch the lives of the audience, to help them understand and perceive fluently, and occasionally to criticize these clichés. Edmund Spenser wrote this allegorical poem to show the significant virtues and vices by benefiting from these literary stereotypes. In an unrefined way, women in literary texts were assumed to be virgins, mother/wife, old maid, or goddess/whore. In the Faerie Queene, Spenser focused on two specific stereotypes, that of the virgin in the face of Una and the prostitute in the face of Duessa, so as to represent the real figures of Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots. Furthermore, one of the main character of Faerie Queene is Una who stereotypes the in the poem"virgin". She is narrated as the ideal Christian woman, who is actually the woman Spenser wants in his life. First, virginity symbolizes purity and innocence and Una is described as “so pure and innocent, as that same lambe, / Era invites and virtuous traditions” (Book I, Canto I, Stanza 5, Lines 1 and 2). Furthermore, the whiteness of his physical appearance is the sign of that purity, given in the previous stanza; “A beautiful lady rode beautiful beside him, on a humble donkey now whiter than snow, yet much whiter, but she herself hid herself under a veil, which was completely low, and over all she threw a black stole, like one who was crying only; so sad was she, and heavy on her slow palfrey, she seemed to have some hidden care in her heart, and beside her in line she held a milk-white lamb. (Book I, Canto I, Stanza 4) His innocence is conveyed through metaphor, which emphasizes the underlying meaning as well as its appearance throughout the stanza. “Snow” embodies purity and rebirth in literature and is generally used with “white” denoting purity, light and innocence. In the second line of this stanza, the speaker says, “whiter now than snow,” and the next stanza repeats, “she much whiter.” Snow and white already mean purity and Una is even more innocent than these images. Besides that, in the last line, “a milke white lambe” refers to her chastity; however, there is an allusion to Christianity here due to "lambe" which is one of the titles of Jesus Christ mentioned in the Bible, John 1:29 and John 1:36, which compares her to Jesus just like in the previous verse, “like that same lambe”. Instead of white, "fair" is another word used for her both physically and spiritually. King also calls his daughter that; “Then he called that faire daughter of his, / The fairest Un', his only darling daughter, / His only daughter; and her only greeting;" (Book I, Canto XII, Stanza 21) Furthermore, the virgin is one who remains a maiden and who is uncontaminated, unaware of earthly concerns, which makes her angelic; she must never acknowledge sexual intercourse. Subsequently , this figure can transform into a mother/wife, or seductress if she loses her purity and commits fornication as mentioned in the Apocalypse; “And another angel followed, saying, Babylon, that great city is fallen, she is fallen, because she made drink to all nations the wine of the wrath of her fornication." (14:8) One prefers the first, to become a wife, and maintains her chastity until she marries the Red Cross Knight who also mentions her as a virgin: "The yours, oh then,” said the gentle Red Cross Knight, “Next shall that Dame's love take the place, O most beautiful virgin, full of celestial light, whose wondrous faith, superior to the earthly race, was most firmly fixed in my case And you, my Lord, Patron of my life, of that great Queen can well acquire worthy grace: For only you are worthy to prowes priefe Yf living man more worthy to be, to be her life” (Book I , Canto IX, Stanza 17 ) In addition to the expression “the most beautiful virgin,” the speaker once again emphasizes Una's innocence by saying “heavenly light.” The light is also used as a religious allusion, as Una drags him to the right path like Jesus, as is mentioned in the Bible; “When Jesus spoke to the people again, he said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'” (John 8:12) Help Red Cross find the right path, the light, on its journey. Likewise, he says, “you, my Lord, the Patron of my life”, sees her as the protector of himself, cannot be a hero without her and needs her support. In fact, these can be considered a sociocultural stereotype of women along with its literary sense,because women are expected to care for their partners and help them. Then, in the fourth line, Red Cross indicates the "earthly race", which refers to worldly pleasures, the fact that he is not infatuated with them and his virginity. Identically, men admire and venerate, from time to time, the stereotype of the virgin for her beauty and try to seduce her; However, she cannot be disappointed no matter what they do since she is the greatest girl; “Who, after the defeat of Archimago, led her away into a wild forest; And turning the angry fire into lustful heat, with bestial sin he thought her defiled, and made vile the vassal of his pleasures. Yet first he forced you, with a treaty and with Traynes, to persuade that obstinate strongman to yield. (Book VI, Canto III, Stanza 3) Conversely, another main character of Faerie Queene is Duessa who is the stereotype of the whore. She is the absolute opposite of the virgin, Una. Spenser also defines her twenty-two times in the book as "false Duessa". Literally, this stereotype is considered a goddess and is captivated by the weakness of men by tempting and seducing them through her beauty and sexuality. On the other hand, it is revealed by Arthur that Duessa is actually not all that charming contrary to what is known when she is captured by him; “Just as they despised that witch, and dressed in royal robes, and in a purple cloth, and in richly displayed ornaments; She saved them from stripping her completely naked. Then, when they had stripped her and called her, As she was, their eyes could see her, That her deformed parts frightened them, A foul, wrinkled, bad-looking, old witch, Whose secret filthy good manners do not prevent be told. " (Book I, Canto VIII, Stanza 46) This ugliness of hers is the result of her moral and interior deformity. A verse from the Bible also counterbalances this circumstance; “And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and gilded with gold , and of precious stones and of pearls, and had in his hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of his fornication.” (Revelation 17:4) What is essential is not his physical appearance but who he is , what Aristotle says comes true; “The female is female by virtue of a certain lack of quality.” In this quote, quality can replace its morality. Therefore, what the Knight of the Red Cross must do is choose Una or Duessa, good or bad, virgin or whore... Furthermore, Duessa exploits the power of female seduction for the purpose of bring men to a helpless position; Then bending her aged back, she kissed / … / She hid herself close; herself, states her seductresses; “Duessa I, daughter of Deceit and Shame” (Book I, Canto V, Stanza 26, Line 9), still describes herself as a “virgin widow” (Book I, Canto II, Stanza 24 , Line 8) that can never be reached. He continues to offer himself to characters such as Pride; "... hold your mortal hand for the love of the Ladies, / ... / And take me your worthy reward for your Leman [mistress ]" (Book I, Canto VII, Stanza 14, Lines 6 and 9). From another point of view, the way Duessa acts is to keep men away from their chivalric responsibilities unlike Una who helps the Red Cross Knight. It destroys men and leads them to failure instead of supporting them. Here we see that she is also the paradox of socio-cultural stereotypes. Duessa does not think about marital or maternal issues as she is only concerned with sexual pleasure and therefore changes her carnal partners very frequently. In the romantic chivalric epic “The Faerie Queene” composed by Edmund Spenser in 1590, the author uses stereotypes of women in the late 16th century. Una and Duessa are personified/25104695>.