The Queen’s "Two Persons":the King’s Two-Body Theory And The Image Of Elizabeth I In The Faerie Queene

Elizabeth I occupies a prominent position in The Faerie Queene:she is the symbolic center of the epic. Heroines such as Una, Belphoebe, and Mercilla, all represent symbolically, in one aspect or another, the Queen of England. In shadowing the Queen, Spenser resorts to the king’s two-body theory. The theory claims that the king possesses two bodies:a body natural and a body politic. The king’s body natural is his human body that subjects to change and death. But his body politic, frequently identified with the crown or the kingdom, is invisible, perfect and immortal. As a justification of the "mismatch" between a woman monarch and the royal absolute monarchy, the king’s two-body theory was widely applied in the authorized presentations of Queen Elizabeth Ⅰ.It is manifested in this thesis that the king’s two-body theory is an organizing principle in Spenser’s disguised portrait of Elizabeth I in The Faerie Queene. Corresponding to the epic’s innate virtue system, the theory also constitutes its general structure:a symmetrical dyad that progresses from the first three books that shadow the Queen’s body natural to the second three books that mirror her body politic. However, Spenser does not completely comply with the theory. Rather he employs it creatively: the Queen’s body natural is glorified; but her body politic is slyly criticized. This reveals his poetical and political disillusionment.The thesis starts with an introduction to the Queen’s image in The Faerie Queen and the king’s two-body theory, including its contents, historical background and its significance in fashioning the Queen. Then it moves to Chapter One which deals with the Queen’s body natural. Through an analysis of Una, Medina and Belphoebe, this chapter shows the glorification of the Queen’s body natural in accordance with the king’s two-body theory. It also reveals Spenser’s paradoxical attitude toward women. The Queen’s body politic is treated in Chapter Two. It exposes Spenser’s sly criticism of the Queen’s political irresolution and vain mercy through the discussion of the poet’s allegorization of the Ireland issue and the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. Chapter Three is dedicated to the image of hermaphrodite, a metaphor of the Queen’s two bodies in one. The thesis ends with a summary of the main ideas in the above chapters and a further illustration of Spenser’s poetical and political disillusionment.