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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A paper which looks at the concepts of ritual, sacrifice and violence in Spenser's poem Epithalamion, with specific reference to the magical and metaphysical associations of blood sacrifice and defloration, and how this is relevant to the importance of marriage within the social order. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Page Count:
10 pages (~225 words per page)
File: JL5_JLepithal.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
Spensers poem betray the underlying violence of the definition? Before considering Spensers poem in detail, it is perhaps useful to look first at
the function of the epithalamion as ritual, as described by Puttenham. It is immediately evident that it is a "genre which celebrates a ritual", since we are dealing with the
marriage rite and all the paraphernalia and ceremony which accompanies it. Admittedly, we might argue that there is in fact more than one ritual being celebrated, when we consider the
various components which go to make up the totality of a wedding: however, this is still a comparatively straightforward and simple definition in comparison to Puttenhams second assertion, that it
"ritualises a rather violently described event". In order to address these points, we need to consider not only the essential elements of an
epithalamion but also its function as a "performative utterance", or what diPasquale (2005) describes as its "element of sacred magic". The text is not merely descriptive, it also has the
power of investing the words with action. In its structure and content, Spensers poem follows closely the standard form for an epithalamion which, as diPasquale states, does indeed invariably incorporate
some reference to violence, in the course of the consummation of the marriage. There are, she notes, elaborate rhyming stanzas, the use of refrain, many classical allusions (Hymen and Juno
being often referred to, as deities of marriage and fertility respectively) and the poem always adopts a chronological sequence in which we follow the bride from her bed to the
wedding ceremony and feast, on to the bedding and consummation, and the presumed conception of a child. Fertility, in fact, is one of the central themes, often illustrated by prayers
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