이진아, 『페어리 여왕』 5권의 이시스 : 브리토마트의 신화적 변용의 정치성
Jin-Ah Lee, Isis in Book 5 of The Faerie Queene: the Political Implications of Britomart's Transfiguration

Abstract

Britomart's repeal of the female rule in Radigund's amazonian kingdom,
probably one of the most controversial episodes in Book 5 of The Faerie
Queene, happens right after her transformation into Isis in her dream vision of
marriage in the Temple of Isis. Her action seems to be quite contradictory to
her images as a queen regnant-to-be. From a contextual point of view, the figure
of Isis seems to be crucial to the understanding of the allegorical inscrutability
of Britomart's action. This paper explores the political implications of the myth
of Isis and their relations with Britomart's repealing of female rule. It also aims
to illuminate how Spenser's concerns with the issue of Elizabeth 1's marriage
are engaged in Britomart's transfiguration into Isis and her vision of marriage.
The two queens regnants, Mary and Elizabeth 1 in early modern England
respectively posed urgent political problems: the problem of the authority of a
married queen regnant to her husband, her social and political superior, in the
case of Mary whose husband tried to gain control over the internal and
diplomatic affairs of the realm, and the problem of the dynasty without an heir
in the case of the virgin queen Elizabeth. Spenser seemed to find a role model
of female ruler in the figure of Isis in his attempts to solve the problems of
female rule.
Isis was established in the Egyptian and the Greco-Roman myths as the
loving and faithful consort and the dynastic mother. She resuscitated the dead
Osiris who was killed by his brother Setth in their power struggles, helped her
son Horus to regain the kingship from his uncle, and so was worshipped as the
dynastic mother of all the pharaohs in Egypt. She also ruled Egypt on behalf
of her husband, when Osiris was away from his country. In Spenser's
representation of Isis, she shares the power of justice with Osiris and suppresses
the violent aspects of his power. However, she reveals herself more prominently
as the loving and all-embracing mother and the faithful spouse than female
ruler.
Britomart's identification with Isis as wife and mother has the effect of
reducing her role of a queen regnant, suggesting that her regal power could be
considerably transferred to her consort Artegall after their marriage. Her repeal
of female rule and her making all the Radigund's magistrates subject to Artegall
strongly imply her future uxorial subjection to Artegall, and anticipate her share
of the regal power with her husband, which Elizabeth 1 would never have had
hoped. Britomart's roles as the ancestral mother of the Tudor dynasty and more
a queen consort like Isis than a queen regnant seem to be the ones that Spenser
expected the queen should have chosen for the future of England.

Key words

Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, justice, Britomart, Elizabeth 1, Isis, Osiris, female rule.