In canto vi, we did not feel the usual comfort of beginning, even after the seeming promise of refreshment (v.46) following the weariness of canto v. Scudamor enters in a state of “mis-” (vi.2), and his encounter with the “Salvage Knight” (4) had an unusual asymmetry of naming. We puzzled over why we heard the motto of the Knights of the Garter on Scudamor’s lips: how are we meant to evaluate the contrast between a civilizing chivalric code and savage nature? Scudamor’s “misconceipt” (2), along with the jingle of repeated rhyming words (4, 5) suggested an irony in the formality of the Garter code. At the same time, “misconceipt” had a somewhat constructive role, helping Scudamor and Artegall ally against Britomart. What does it mean that their model of friendship is founded on error (and disrupted by romance)?
Turning to the encounter between Britomart and Artegall (10-23), we focused first on its eroticized style (elements of which we could identify in any of the poem’s scenes of combat). Though it happens amidst hectic and confused motives, this meeting of chastity and justice is central to the poem as a whole. Why does it appear in the book of friendship? We paused as a regal Britomart holds a sword over Artegall (23). How highly is the course of their relationship constrained by its parallel to a hypothetical marriage for Elizabeth?