The work of art is a central image in The Faerie Queene, though it rarely appears as a neutral force. On the contrary: art often seems to act as a tool of the post-lapsarian world, dragging once-pure characters into earthly knowledge and moral descent. Specifically, in Busirane's house, art initially acts as an aid to Eve's original sin and, in more secular terms, to the loss of sexual innocence of the mythological women Leda and Danae. The tapestries on the walls of Busirane depict the means by which, through artistic transformation or ornamentation, women especially are deceived or invaded. However, while the power and invasiveness of Busirane's art is clearly emphasized, the art seems far from being entirely evil from the narrator's point of view. As strong as Busirane's attempts to show, re-enact, or remember female downfalls in human history, equally strong (though less often asserted) is the work of art's function as a redemptive force. Just as, in contemporary Christianity, the fall of the Old Testament is somehow "reversed" through Christ's redemption in the New Testament, so too The Faerie Queene suggests a narrative of fall and rise. Spenser does not want the work of art to disappear completely; rather, he wishes to present a counterexample to both the mimetic and lapsarian views. Through the cases of Eve, Danae and Leda, the work of art will be seen not only as an accomplice to lapsarian acts, but also as a salvific and reparative force, which allows us to rectify acts of violence against women and to absolve the women themselves . .Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay When the art in Busirane's house is first described, the reader may begin to realize the damage that visual representation is capable of. Since Busirane's actual situation is to hold Amoret captive, physically and perhaps sexually, and attempt to force her emotional love, it is tempting to read the descriptive scenes as a mirror of this triptych of violence, lust, and desire. Busirane not only desires and physically holds Amoret, he desires to penetrate her psyche, to turn her favor in his favor. This same kind of impure desire emerges in the first description of the Busirane tapestries, in which the following passage appears:[The tapestries were] woven with gold and silk so closely and closely that the rich metal lurked secretly, as if wanting to hide from envious eyes . .Yet here and there and everywhere, unaware, he showed himself and shone in spite of himself: like a discolored serpent, whose snares hidden through the green grass his long burnished back declares. (Book 3, c. 11, s. 28) This stanza has implications beyond pure Platonism, which might suggest that all art is imitation: instead it imaginatively connects art with the serpent in the biblical Garden of Eden . The metal of the tapestries is connected through a simile to the "discolored serpent", an image that can be read both on the visual level (the serpentine interweaving of the threads) and on the metaphorical one (the tapestry "woven" with deception.) Significantly, the rich metal does not seem to declare itself: instead, it "hide[s] secretly, / As if it would be hidden" and "s[ines] unwillingly." This phrase suggests the increased power of art due to its hidden nature: rather than simply stating facts, as a report might do, or declaring beliefs in a propagandistic manner, the artwork uses more subtle techniques. Although a modern reader might praise the artwork for allowing for a multiplicity ofinterpretations, here it seems that the ambiguous status of the art object leads more easily to flattery and deception rather than to a simple work. In reality, it is the snake's "hidden snares", secret lures, rather than any easily visible purpose, that reveal the snake's location. Through this biblical reference, the narrator directly relates the artwork to Eve's experience. eating melae, more generally, to the consequent fall of man and the loss of paradise. The artwork “nests” in this post-lapsarian world, mirroring and perhaps even reconstructing the initial fall. The fact that the serpent "states" its back in the present sense suggests that its narrative is still (at least metaphorically) ongoing; that is, that the content of the tapestries is dynamic. In the tapestries, the metal is still "as if it wanted to hide from envious eyes"; the spectator, now present on the scene, could presumably perform the function of this "eye", watching with amazement and jealousy the scene before him. This spectator could now, in fact, stage a modern version of the biblical tale of lust and desire. Therefore, not only is the work of art involved in the narrative of the present, but also the viewer himself is implicated in Eve's sins. Considering the work of art in the Platonic imitative sense, this tapestry is an imitation of the original biblical event; as such, it fulfills its mimetic function as a work of art as well as recalling Eve's flattery. The hidden and "reluctant" splendor of the tapestries suggests that they would rather work his invisible evil; because it is visible, however, it participates in tradition as a work of art, starting with the first representations of the fall. In this way the tapestry is brought to the viewer's senses, allowing them to consider what relationship it has to the original event. Through visual representation, the fall continues into the current narrative of the story, allowing the viewer to understand that he too is engaged in the lapsarian act. This ability of art to remember and restore a fall from Paradise is not exclusive to the biblical story. of Eve; instead, it extends into the more secular realm of female sexuality. Just as the fall from the Garden of Eden occurred, so too can a "fall" from the realm of female virginity cause a loss of purity or holiness. Especially when this final fall is not voluntary, its ability to be artistically represented is both jarring and profound. The presentation, in a tapestry, of rape and voyeurism is perhaps only made possible through the tapestry's status as an art object, one that can presumably be viewed at a distance from the actual event. Had the narrative been presented in a graphically simple manner, even as a sort of "crime report", the atrocity of the acts might have been too much for the viewer to bear. However, because the act is expressed in beautiful colors and a pleasing composition, the nature of the act as an invasion and fall can be more easily hidden. Even more relevant, however, is the idea that these acts of rape and voyeurism are themselves fostered through the art of deception. Even a god must visually transform to be a "successful" rapist or voyeur. In the Busirane house, some tapestries depict the classical god Jupiter in his role as a violent and invasive force. Known as the reigning god, Jupiter also engaged in numerous earthly activities, including the vision of Danae (s. 31) and the rape of Leda in the guise of a swan (s. 32). Significantly, these narratives participate in the same way as the biblical one in the idea of ​​the fall of a female character. In this case it is not the original fall from paradise, but a versionparallel, more modernized and secularized: that is, of the fall from the purity of virginity to the "knowledge" of sexual life. This reference is significant not only for the customs of the time, but also for Elizabeth's status as the "Virgin Queen". The transformation of Jupiter into "a golden shower" and "a snowy swan" uses the serpent's principles of secrecy and deception; furthermore, it enables his ability to instigate the fall from virginal integrity, literally in Leda and visually (Jupiter desires to "see" Danae) in Danae's case. In the passage from Danae (s. 31) the narrator underlines the further possibilities open to the transformed Jupiter. Although Danae "kept the iron gate tightly barred, / And saw that none came in or out," her efforts were all "in vain" and "useless," once Jupiter was changed to a "golden hue." Like the serpent, Jupiter would not want his true identity to be revealed; if he were, he would be recognized as the obviously male figure that Danae struggles to keep out. It would have a clear physicality, which in the form of "golden hue" is absent therefore careful attempts to protect itself would have a better chance of success, and Jupiter would have to fight against at least a somewhat stronger barrier. Significantly, the Danae and Leda episodes detail the ways in which illusion and divine transformation can cause harm to the innocents of Jupiter are invasion tales, in which rape and voyeurism are aided by the invader's transformation into various visual forms. Such transformation helps to instigate the fall from purity for these women, who appear to have little choice in the matter at hand. The fact that these episodes are displayed in the tapestries on Busirane's wall suggests that their content is something he at least implicitly admires. While effective transformation is possible in the divine, a parallel visual transformation can occur in art. Presenting these episodes alongside that of the serpent implies a narrative or even thematic connection between them all, in short, their parallel qualities of illusion and secrecy, even "cunning", which give rise to clearly lapsarian acts. However, the idea that art can act as an aid to transformation is, in a very real sense, its saving grace. While art can enable the transformation from purity to meanness, it is equally capable of facilitating the opposite. Acts that occur through art, it seems, can only be accomplished through art itself, allowing the narrative of fall and redemption to come full circle. The restorative power of art, in a very literal sense, can be seen in Busirane's forced release of Amoret. In this episode (c. 12, s. 31), Busirane has command over Amoret's body and is attempting to gain control of her mind through spells. The description of spells seems to resemble the writing of verse or, more generally, written metaphor. Busirane "figur[es] strange characters of his art" and writes "with living blood those characters," suggesting that the spell is transformative both as a written document (the "characters") and as a mixture of the spoken and the physical (the "con living blood.") In general, it seems that the spell is designed to influence the mind through the use of the physical body, mixing them in a single attempt to falsely receive love. However, when Britomart meets Busirane, who is supposedly involved in evil deeds, and begins killing him, she is stopped by Amoret herself. Amoret's reason for doing so is a pure act of self-preservation: she [Britomart] hit him so powerfully that he fell to the ground half dead: the next blow should have killed him, if the boy (who was tied up next to him) had not been cruel towards her called to.