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Article: Works of Edmund Spenser: Book III
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Spenser, Edmund
Monarch Notes
01-01-1963
Book III
General Theme:
The general theme of Book III is that of chastity. Spenser thinks of
virtue in a positive, affirmative way, rather than in negative terms.
Britomart's chastity is power rather than privation. While chastity might be
considered in the Aristotelian system as a sub-division of Temperance,
Spenser places this virtue in a special classification. It is certainly as
much an "infused" gift from Heaven as a habit in the order of nature. Milton
in his Comus reflects Spenser, in speaking of chastity:
She that hath that, is clad in complete steel,
And like a quiver'd nymph with Arrows keen
May trace huge forests and unharbord'd Heaths,
Infamous ...