Meggie's Blog #3

In Edmund Spenser’s Sonnet XXIII from “Amoretti,” the poet reveals that, though unfailing loyalty drives the actions of Penelope, the queen is hardly as kind or likable as she is portrayed in “The Odyssey,” for she displays unfair treachery toward the suitors. Devoted Penelope, though “at night she [does] againe unreave” her day’s work on the funeral shroud “for her Ulisses sake,” is not an entirely respectable figure. This sonnet, from the unusual point of view of a suitor, reveals that Penelope, with a “subtile craft,” plays with the emotions of her love-struck group of followers. For “many days,” the speaker, a suitor, works to woo the queen, and he finds out that “in one short houre,” all his advances are “by her undonne.” The suitor continues by claiming that, even worse, “with one word,” his “whole years work doth rend” by the queen. In the suitor’s mind, although Penelope displays the admirable trait of being so loyal to her husband, she actually is cruel and manipulative toward him. In fact, the author even goes so far as to compare his time and energy spent toward courting Penelope as a “Spyders web,” which can be “broken with the least wynd” by the curt queen. Describing his “worke” as “fruitlesse” shows that, no matter how much love the suitor may feel toward the cunning queen, he will always be rebuffed. However, Penelope’s actions are justified because she is being harassed by these ignorant suitors. By calling her “my Damzell,” the suitor shows that he obviously feels some sort of ownership over Penelope, which he does not deserve. Though Penelope may consciously be toying with the emotions of the suitors, which brings to light that she has negative, scheming aspects to her personality, she does so to protect her own heart as she longingly waits for her true husband.