The role of the magic mirror in Britomart's encounter with Arthegall extends beyond motivating her quest to find him. It is also the central point of Spenser's theme of reflection and representation and its influence on his use of allegory and chastity. By identifying mirrors as a symbol of the allegory, and then emphasizing the deceptive qualities of the reflections, Spencer implies that the allegory, although directly reflecting a main theme, can be interpreted in multiple ways simultaneously. This suggests that the allegory of chastity has several meanings other than that of a virginal and entirely non-sexualized woman. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Unlike Book I, Spenser's writings in Book III are not intended to be a tool of blatant moralizing. Here he is much more interested in the abilities of his verse to create a “living portrait” of Queen Elizabeth, a “mirror [for] herself to see,” a reflection made of words (231-2). Spenser's mirrors reveal his quest to find the true identities of his characters and muses by examining their reflections, using tools like Merlin's magic mirror, which "resembles the world itself and seems to be a world of glass » (254). It serves the same purpose of allegory, creating an entirely new field that reflects and comments on real-world themes and events without requiring it to be a painstakingly exact copy. Likewise, Spenser concedes that his verse mirror, although it represents “living art,” cannot completely “resemble life” (231). Therefore, he indirectly describes Elizabeth, his true subject, through several varied "mirror images" of her, all of which are allegorized as Chastity. A reflection in a mirror can comment on the allegory through their similar natures as one-dimensional, formless images and fictional characters. By describing the very human Elizabeth using the imaginary Britomart, Spenser reflects and allegorizes her. The mirror is actually a symbol and an allegory of the allegory itself. However, many of the mirrors in Canto III exhibit rather misleading reflections. Elizabeth is represented by Chastity, but Chastity is in turn represented by a number of women in Canto III, from Belphoebe to Amoret to Britomart to Florimel, each of whom also represents an entirely different set of characteristics. If each of them is meant to be a mirror image of Elizabeth, then it would seem that Spenser's mirrors are so bewitched that each glance produces a completely different reflection. Perhaps due to the presence of mischievous magic, the enchanted mirror Britomart gazes at is surrounded by contradictions. Its origins are suspect; it is alternately called "Venus-like glass" and "the glass globe which Merlin made/and gave to King Ryence" and compared to mirrors made by "the Great Ptolemy...by the power of Magicke" (234, 254). The mirror reflections are also ambiguous. Arthegall is only “the shadow and semblance of a knight” (258), a mere impression, smoke and mirrors. He appears when Britomart looks at the glass, as if his reflection anticipates his own transformation into a virile knight. In mirror image, he is like a “fine counterfeit” (245), a “deceptive” copy of Britomart when she misleads everyone with her manly disguise, as Elizabeth did with her manly power and aggression. In addition to the unreliability of a magic mirror, creating a mirror through worms is also prone to deception. Britomart, withonly the face of Arthegall imprinted in his mind, attempts to construct a more complete image of him through the testimony of others. She confirms Spenser's earlier concern that words are not truthful enough to paint honest and faithful depictions when she forces Arthur to desecrate Arthegall's name and then prompts Red Cross to congratulate him. She is left with a mental image of her love that arises from what she wants to see, not necessarily what is actually true. Nor can one ever fully trust the motivations or purpose of a Spenserian mirror/allegory. In Britomart's case, the mirror revealed his true love, only to cause him pain from the love wound that followed. Love is generally the enemy of chastity, because it encourages and provokes "evil" and "harm" to purity (266); Britomart describes his resentful love in terms of “bitter horror [and] horror” (250). Under the guise of an agent of love, like the protean wicked witches of fairy tales consulting their mirror hung on the wall, the "mirror fayre" mischievously launches Britomart into a relentless and distressing search for a simple shadow (254 ). As two allegories clash, Britomart representing Chastity and the mirror representing Allegory fight to determine how rigidly the mirror can control Britomart, and vice versa. Ultimately, there is a compromise. Chastity can be interpreted more loosely, and the allegory need not imitate its subjects so exactly. Accordingly, the ambiguity of Britomart's reflection through the magic mirror and the mirror of Spenser's words suggests that there is room for interpreting the virtue of women, which she embodies. To make love not so painful, Spenser suggests that the translation of the allegory of chastity can also accommodate female eroticism and male domination. Disregarding his strict standards of honor, Spenser highlights Britomart's feminine sensuality by subtly surrounding her with immodest images. Speaking of Arthegall, Britomart seems to betray an emotion far more passionate than virginal affection; she can barely describe it without having an orgasmic reaction in her curiously "brest of alablaster" in "who all this while she felt like she was panting and shaking/like it was a tremor of earth” (259). With the relaxation of allegorical constraints, it is acceptable, even desirable, for chaste women to know and appreciate sensual delights, and to pursue them (as Britomart does) for pure reasons. Although it is a sin to lust after only the physical attributes of men, chaste spirits can still deal with healthy love and its natural consequences of procreation. Britomart's nurse describes her as being greatly affected by the image in Merlin's mirror and being "deeply etched [and] infested" by the resulting love (266). Like Chrysogonee, Britomart's chastity is imbued with something immaterial, without a physical body, which is reminiscent of Malbecco, who became an allegory when his "substance was reduced to nothing" (374). Likewise, Arthegall's non-corporeal "shadow" and the matterless sun also represent an allegory. Like mirror reflections, which can be infinite depending on how many times someone looks into a glass, they reproduce themselves from the images of the women in them. When Chrysogonee and Britomart, the representatives of chastity, are unwittingly imbued with an insubstantial allegory, Spenser allows chastity to experience and embrace sexual love while remaining blameless and pure. Mirrors are powerful vehicles for.