The Old Woman in the Cave of Lust: Edmund Spenser's Silenced Feminine Voices in The Faerie Queene
Edmund Spenser’s epic Arthurian-centric poem The Faerie Queene (1590, 1596) is permeated by fairy tales and old wives’ tales, but the very presence of the tales and their tellers is problematic, as these feminine voices are often included only to be silenced (Miller 6). Spenser’s anxiety of female v...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Edinburgh
2009-12-01
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| Series: | Forum |
| Online Access: | http://journals.ed.ac.uk/forum/article/view/627 |
| _version_ | 1797979058323062784 |
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| author | Colleen E. Kennedy |
| author_facet | Colleen E. Kennedy |
| author_sort | Colleen E. Kennedy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Edmund Spenser’s epic Arthurian-centric poem The Faerie Queene (1590, 1596) is permeated by fairy tales and old wives’ tales, but the very presence of the tales and their tellers is problematic, as these feminine voices are often included only to be silenced (Miller 6). Spenser’s anxiety of female voices, narratives, sources, and genres, becomes manifested in one very complicated and often overlooked character: the Old Woman in the Cave of Lust. This Old Woman is only found in one canto of Spenser’s epic poem (IV.vii) and is denied a voice; she isn’t given one line of dialogue. The very fact that this Old Woman emerges into the text, is ambiguously portrayed, temporarily vilified, and then retreats from the text unscathed demonstrates the power of the female voice in Spenser’s text. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:32:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ccb6bbc1befb4fba98e4a8205b9deae2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1749-9771 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:32:51Z |
| publishDate | 2009-12-01 |
| publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Forum |
| spelling | doaj.art-ccb6bbc1befb4fba98e4a8205b9deae22022-12-22T16:25:30ZengUniversity of EdinburghForum1749-97712009-12-010910.2218/forum.09.627627The Old Woman in the Cave of Lust: Edmund Spenser's Silenced Feminine Voices in The Faerie QueeneColleen E. Kennedy0Ohio State UniversityEdmund Spenser’s epic Arthurian-centric poem The Faerie Queene (1590, 1596) is permeated by fairy tales and old wives’ tales, but the very presence of the tales and their tellers is problematic, as these feminine voices are often included only to be silenced (Miller 6). Spenser’s anxiety of female voices, narratives, sources, and genres, becomes manifested in one very complicated and often overlooked character: the Old Woman in the Cave of Lust. This Old Woman is only found in one canto of Spenser’s epic poem (IV.vii) and is denied a voice; she isn’t given one line of dialogue. The very fact that this Old Woman emerges into the text, is ambiguously portrayed, temporarily vilified, and then retreats from the text unscathed demonstrates the power of the female voice in Spenser’s text.http://journals.ed.ac.uk/forum/article/view/627 |
| spellingShingle | Colleen E. Kennedy The Old Woman in the Cave of Lust: Edmund Spenser's Silenced Feminine Voices in The Faerie Queene Forum |
| title | The Old Woman in the Cave of Lust: Edmund Spenser's Silenced Feminine Voices in The Faerie Queene |
| title_full | The Old Woman in the Cave of Lust: Edmund Spenser's Silenced Feminine Voices in The Faerie Queene |
| title_fullStr | The Old Woman in the Cave of Lust: Edmund Spenser's Silenced Feminine Voices in The Faerie Queene |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Old Woman in the Cave of Lust: Edmund Spenser's Silenced Feminine Voices in The Faerie Queene |
| title_short | The Old Woman in the Cave of Lust: Edmund Spenser's Silenced Feminine Voices in The Faerie Queene |
| title_sort | old woman in the cave of lust edmund spenser s silenced feminine voices in the faerie queene |
| url | http://journals.ed.ac.uk/forum/article/view/627 |
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