2/3 Arcadia: Summary of Book 3

I'm including a somewhat clumsy summary of the plot of Book 3. If anyone feels inspired to write a better . . .

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The Arcadia: Book III

(Courtesy of: http://home.utah.edu/~mp2434/522arc3.html)

Book three of Sidney's Arcadia begins with Pamela's anger and rejection of (Musi)Dorus because of his over-amorous advances towards her. Dorus, heartbroken an angry with himself, leaves and wanders about the forest in anguish. In the mean-time, the princesses Philoclea and Pamela, Miso and Zelmane are approached by six maids (later it is discovered that they are lead by Artaxia) who invite the four of them to the forest to watch some shepherds' sport. They agree to go, and on the way are brought to the hiding place of twenty armed men, who take the four captive. They bind and blind-fold Miso and leave her behind, and the other three are taken to the castle of Amphialus and Cecropia. Even though Amphialus is in love with Philoclea, it is his evil mothe that has engineered the captivity. (Amphialus is in bed recuperating from the wound Zelmane inflicted upon him.) Thus in her wickedness does Cecropia begin to work on the princesses to make them fall in love with her son, as she wants Philoclea to marry him (butto her, either will do). Both girls are steadfast in their refusals, and not Cecropia's pleadings or torments will move them. Thus commences the duels that take up half of the book. Sidney describes these with great (and sometimes gory) detail. Basilius, enraged at the captivity of his daughters, gathers his army and advances on the castle. As his attack is unsuccessful, he begins to send knights to challenge Amphialus, who is famous for his strength and bravery. Phalantus is the first, and he is defeated. Then Basilius sends for Argalus, who is at home in blissful happiness with his wife, Parthenia. Despite Parthenia's pleadings, Argalus obeyshe summons and challenges Amphialus. Argalus is mortally wounded, and before Amphialus can bestow the final-death blow, Parthenia interceeds. Argalus'death scene is absolutely heart-rending, as he says farewell to his beloved wife. Parthenia is driven mad with grief, and disguises herself as a knight. She, too, challenges Amphialus, and she is defeated. When mortally wounded, Amphialus discovers
her to be Parthenia, and he is struck with incredible remorse for what he has done. The burial of the lovers is a tragic and heart-breaking scene. Amphialus is becoming more and more torn. He loves Philoclea, but he is unhappy at the way she and her sister are being treated by his mother. Then Musidorus, disguised as the "Forsaken" or "Black" Knight challenges Amphialus. They fight, and are both seriously wounded. As Amphialus attempts to recover from his wounds, his mother decides to take drastic measures with the girls. She threatens to kill Pamela if Philoclea will not give in. Philoclea, believing her sister would do the same for her, refuses and says he would rather die instead. With some trickery, Cecropia makes each girl believe that the other has been executed. (Actually, Artaxia is executed in the guise of Pamela.) Pyrocles, still disguised as Zelmane, watches the supposed execution of Philoclea, and is struck with terrible grief. He bemoans his fate, and Philoclea, who is still alive, hears him and comes to comfort him. Amphialus, when he is able to move around again, discovers his mother's horrible treatment of the princesses, and becomes sad and angry. He follows her upto the top of the fortress, and there, with sword in hand, confronts his mother. He meant to kill himselfin his mother's presence, but Cecropia, fearing that he meant to strike her, and being burdened by her guilty conscience, threw herself over the side and died. Amphialus, watching this and being stricken with his own conscience, attempted to kill himself with Philoclea's knives (which he kept close to him). At this point, Queen Helen comes in search of him, and finding him thus, takes him away to possibly be saved byher surgeons (that earlier had restored Parthenia to full health). With Amphialus gone, his friend Anaxius takes charge of the prisoners, an soon finds himself in love with Pamela, and his brothers court Philoclea and Zelmane. Anaxius propositions Basilius so that they may marry the women, but Basilius refuses, and anotherbattle ensues.

2/3 Arcadia Book 3

A few threads for next week:

1. Who or what is Cecropia?

2. King suggests (p. 79) that Sidney’s revisions allow for the resuscitation of the moral and heroic worth of the princes. Do you agree? Do they seem like heroic knights in the end? What might be Hacket's response to this line of reasoning?

3. Look carefully at the debate between Cecropia and Pamela, pp.483-93. What is at stake here?

Reading 'Arcadia'

Whilst taking a break from reading Book Three or Arcadia (which I must say, I am thoroughly enjoying), I read an article by Andrew Elfenbein entitled "Cognitive Science and the History of Reading" (PMLA, 121.2: 2006). He is concerned with reading cognition and how various memory processes affect our interpretation and understanding of a text. I thought I'd share one paragraph that seemed relevant to Arcadia:

"[W]hen a teacher assigns an epic or novel with complex and dense plots to students who have relatively little background in reading such works, the amount of working memory resources they will need to perform such operations as tracking characters, creating causal links between plot developments, and registering major changes in time and space will inhibit their ability to perform tasks basic to contemporary literary criticism. These include creating connections across wide spans of plot that may not be causally linked, noticing unusual details that may not play a major role in the story, and linking content to generic, historical, or ideological background. Such tasks should be easier for readers with high reading spans and for those who have more background knowledge, skills, motivation, and time to read, but for many students, the newness of the cognitive tasks may result in what, to the teacher, look merely like shallow readings and basic mistakes" (498).

(Disclaimer: I promise not to cite this as an excuse for writing a weak paper)

1/27 Sidney and Vernacular Romance part one

Below please find the particular passages and pages that we will be focusing on for discussion:

Book 1: 61-182 special attention to the following pages: 61-79, 129-40; 148-57; 174-82
Book 2: chapter 3, 227-34; chapter 7, 258-75; 284-95; 311-12; 327-332; 350-51; 365-70; 376-97
Book 3: 441-448; 457-65; 483-93; 531-34; 545-75; 579-95

1. In the revised opening to the Arcadia, Sidney makes much of Urania and the role of memory. Do a little digging on the figure of Urania. Why is she significant and why does memory feature so prominently?

2. How does Sidney’s world and landscape compare to that of his Spanish predecessor as translated by Margaret Tyler?

3. Andrew King argues that Sidney's dialogue with romance engages "an aspiration toward an Edenic condition of perfect constancy, virtuous achievement, and the containment of mutability" (140). Do you buy his argument in your reading of Sidney? How does this reading compare to the critique of polemicists who accuse romance of encouraging error in multiple forms?

1/20 Reformation Debates

Here are some things to kick around for next Tuesday's class:

1. What seems to be the core of the attack against romance by polemicists?

2. Given your brief introduction thus far to the genre, do these attacks seem warranted?

2. What is the particular problem of women as readers of romance?

Heaven and the World (Question #1)

Frye describes the dragon-killing theme in quest-romance as: “the hero arrives, kills the dragon, marries the daughter, and succeeds the kingdom” (189). Sterility and fertility are important - positioning the tale in the world. However, in de Voragine’s “Saint George” the hero arrives and slays the monster, but rather than marrying the daughter, baptizes the townspeople people and leaves after offering the king parting religious advice. The story does not contain any sexuality, eroticism or fertility, focusing on purity and Christ. Saint George calls the princess “child” twice, removing the possibility of the erotic and positioning her in terms of Christ (239). In contrast, in Monmouth’s text, Vorigern’s desire for the Saxon Renwein, leads to the Saxon gains in Britain. While my argument might not be entirely convincing, since Vorigern is villainous, in the account of Uther Pendragon in Malory’s text, Arthur’s conception is the result of his father’s adulterous desire. Although not in this week’s readings, Arthur’s role is figured in terms of his marriage and its lack of fertility, while Galahad is distinguished for his especial purity, in contrast to the other knights. Frye does not seem to see this difference as important, easily equating human marriage with the idea of Christ’s marriage to the church. However, this overlooks the physicality. In “Saint George,” the physical aspects of Saint George’s life are the dragon’s death and, more notably, the descriptions of torture. The world is figured in terms of pain and death. However, Uther’s physical experience includes his illness over and affair with Igraine, and the magic used to this end. Furthermore, Arthur’s actions and goals are not heavenly, but are taken for the immediate benefit of his brother Sir Kay, and then for the (worldly) kingdom of England. The religious is a context for the physical actions.

A romance is a text that . . .

Based upon our first class discussion, I've listed below our working definition for essential traits of a romance. This is an organic list, so please add branches, roots, and leaves as you see fit.

*An interpolated or digressive / woven narrative structure. Also known entrelacement.

* Adherence to a code of conduct and a focus on external progression and movement

*A quest

*Insufficient death of major characters

* the presence of deus ex machina

*excess, both in form and content

1/13 Medieval Romance

Welcome all to our online community.

I've posted below a few discussion prompts to get us started. I encourage you, however, to add to these and formulate your questions and responses. You should post around 250-300 words per week. You can choose to do this all in response to one question, or, if you prefer, respond with briefer answers to more questions. I would also like to see you engage with and respond to other member's posts to make this a conversation and not a series of monologues.

For next Tuesday's class here are some things to get you thinking:

1. Frye talks at length about the ritual quality of romance. He suggests (see esp. 189-94) that rhythms of romance mimic those of Biblical stories. What does Frye seem to believe the relationship is between romance and sacred narratives? Do you see such a relationship between the saint's life and the secular narrative included in this week's reading? In other words, how are Saint George and Arthur similar and different kinds of heroes?

2. What would Jameson have to say about the presence of the marvelous in The Golden Legend and Monmouth's account of the history of Arthur? What kind of cultural work might it perform?

3. Compare and contrast the degrees to which the three primary texts from this week's reading conform to our working definition of romance. Would they qualify as "romances" for Frye? For Jameson? Why or why not?