ABSTRACT
Arthur's account of his first encounter with the Faerie Queene who then becom es the focal point of his quest leaves many unresolved questions in the mind of the reader. If the meeting actually took place outside of the Prince's dreams, one is left to suppose that, as A.C. Hamilton notes, "either the fairy rose with her virginity intact or she did n o t."1 Even if the pair came together only in Arthur's im agination, however, one remains puzzled about the moral implications of such an erotic dream for the personified embodiment of all virtue, since lustful thoughts can be as morally suspect as illicit actions. As the figure in Faery Land who generally rescues the other knights from their battles with tem ptation, A rthur's actions are norm ally considered
exemplary, but his responses to women greatly problematize his status as superior knight and frequently unsettle the reader's understanding of the m odes of appropriate behavior toward women. As one progresses through the epic, this discomfiture increases, until it becomes impossible not to acknowledge that the established boundaries between "good" and "evil" often do not apply for issues concerning gender. Although the virtue receiving prim ary attention changes in each book, with the respective tem ptations shifting accordingly, disturbing sexual encounters remain a constant. Women, especially beautiful ones, continue to provoke suspicious responses from Faery Land's heroes, no matter which virtue is the nominal focus of the volume under scrutiny.
