Though Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene and Christopher Marlowe’s Hero and Leander are quite similar in some ways, they have polar opposite themes. Both are long poems that tell fantastical stories about love, and both have rather abrupt endings. However, Marlowe’s depiction of love as an erotic physical drive is a stark contrast to Spenser’s ethereal, idealistic portrayal.
The Faerie Queene and Hero and Leander have similar narrative structures. Both could be classified as epic poems, since they are both long narratives about the adventures of fictional characters. The Faerie Queene in particular fits the description of a classic epic poem, since the plot involves a heroic knight traveling with his lady and fighting against evil forces. Hero and Leander is Marlowe’s retelling of a popular classical story about an affair between beautiful lovers. Marlowe’s poem is more erotic than Spenser’s, since the love affair is central to the plot, while The Faerie Queen’s plot is more adventure driven – though love is the main motivation of the protagonists.
Both poems also have abrupt, unresolved endings. Neither ends with a “happily ever after” conclusion, or indeed any sense of closure at all. In The Faerie Queene, Red Cross Knight and Una marry, but their story does not end there; the villain, who represents the Catholic Church and Red Cross Knight’s past sins, returns undefeated…implying that the Knight’s adventures are not over. Sins he thought he defeated may return. This creates a sense of anxiety in the reader, perhaps meant to imply that his or her own struggles against sin shall continue as well.
Hero and Leander has a different type of abrupt ending. Though the narrative seems to end in a logical place, those familiar with the original tale during Marlowe’s time knew there was more to the story. The poem ends with an enigmatic statement translated as “something is missing.”
No one knows whether Marlowe wrote those words or if someone added them after his death. Marlowe died at a young age, and he may have intended to add more to the poem. In any case, the abrupt ending left many readers unsatisfied. The poet Petowe was so disturbed by it that he wrote a continuation of Marlowe’s poem in order to finish the narrative according to the classic story. Campbell writes, “Hero and Leander is conventionally regarded as a fragmented poem.” However, she and others disagree….To this day, no one really knows whether Hero and Leander is a finished poem or not.
Sophisticated Innocence 