Elizabeth and Her Favorites: Britomart, Florimell, and Oram’s Concept of Fragmented Historical Persons

Attempts to identify figures in The Faerie Queene with men and women in Elizabeth’s court have proved problematic. In his work on Timias and Belphoebe as figures for Ralegh and the queen, William Oram provides a model in which Spenser explores psychological, moral, or political issues that interested him by fragmenting historical persons into more than one character. This article explores such fragmentation of Elizabeth into Britomart, Florimell, and her evil twin, the Snowy Florimell, extending Oram’s work on Timias to include Leicester, Hatton, and Essex. In the tournaments of Satyrane and Marinell, Spenser’s allegory explores the dangers of arousing and frustrating erotic desire, arguing that Elizabeth’s use of courtly and Petrarchan love as a way to enjoy intimacy without sex led to betrayal and danger to the state.