Renaissance Psychology and the Defense of Alma’s Castle

Autor: James W. Broaddus
Rok vydání: 2004
Předmět:
Zdroj: Spenser Studies. 19:135-157
ISSN: 2167-8529
0195-9468
DOI: 10.1086/spsv19p135
Popis: A Renaissance Aristotelian-Galenic look at Guyon’s faint and at the frailties exhibited earlier by Guyon and the Palmer calls attention to the physiological as well as the psychic in the episode at Alma’s Castle. Approached physiologically, Maleger represents the curse of mortality understood either within or without the Christian faith, the curse as found in the Garden of Adonis: that because of which “All things decay in time, and to their end doe draw.” Through his agents Maleger effects occasions of decay by exploiting psychic weaknesses; Maleger himself destroys through the “course of kinde.” Guyon, even if aided by the Palmer, could not contend with Maleger because Maleger preys on frailties apparent in both Guyon and the Palmer. That Arthur successfully defends the Castle further differentiates the relationship of Guyon and the Palmer to Maleger’s agents from the relationship of the two to Maleger himself.
Databáze: OpenAIRE