Phaedria: A Temptress in The Faerie Queene

Phaedria is a villainous character in book 2 of The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser. However, her villainy is a little more subtle.

Phaedria’s name means “glittering”, suggesting that the danger that she poses is more attractive than many others.

All she does is row around in a boat by herself, flirting with anyone she picks up. This has a strong effect on Cymochles, who goes with her and passes out drugged on the Idle Isle, but it has no effect on Guyon who is simply frustrated that he cannot continue (although she does manage to separate him from the Palmer).

Indeed, it is Phaedria is seemingly harmless façade that makes her dangerous. To succumb to her is to make no forward progress, which can be just as destructive as violence or giving into bodily pleasures.

In a sense, she is one of the few that comes closest to vanquishing Guyon, because she manages to separate him from the Palmer, a fact that becomes nearly disastrous for Guyon later on.

See our complete list of Arthurian characters for more entries like this one.

Arthurian Bibliography

• Norris Lacy, Geoffrey Ashe, Debra Mancoff – The Arthurian Handbook (Second Edition)
• Alan Lupack – The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend
• Ronan Coghlan – The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Arthurian Legends
• Anonymous – Lancelot-Grail, the French Vulgate
• Sir Thomas Malory – Le Morte d’Arthur