Platonic Versus Erotic Love

While Hero and Leander and The Faerie Queene share remarkable similarities, the way the authors handle the theme of love is their stark difference. Hero and Leander is an erotic poem that fully indulges in eros – the physical, romantic side of love. Marlowe describes the main characters in great detail, focusing on and exaggerating their beauty. The heroine Hero is described: “She ware no gloves, for neither sun nor wind / would burn or parch her hands, but to her mind / Or warm or cool them, for they took delight / To play upon those hands, they were so white.” Hero is so beautiful that even natural forces treat her with special care.

Her lover Leander is likewise as beautiful: “Fair Cynthia wished his arms might be her sphere; / Grief makes her pale, because she moves not there. / His body was as straight as Circe’s wand; / Jove might have sipped out nectar from his hand.” These indulgent descriptions of physical beauty give the poem an emphasis on erotic love.

In contrast, Spenser considers erotic love a powerful force that can be sinful, and holds Platonic love in higher regard. Though the heroine Una is beautiful, Spenser emphasizes her dignity more than her sex appeal. She is described as “A lovely Ladie rode him faire beside, / Upon a lowly Asse more white then snow, / Yet she much whiter, but the same did hide / Under a vele, that wimpled was full low.” Una’s beauty seems to be an expression of her inner qualities.

Red Cross Knight is attracted to Una physically, and he eventually marries her. However, at one point he abandons her during his journey because he is tricked by an illusion of her trying to seduce him. The Knight is so disturbed by the thought of defiling the pure, ethereal love he has for Una that he flees and ends up committing sexual sin with Duessa. Unlike Marlowe, Spenser does not treat sex as a fun and casual subject. He maintains the traditional Christian opinion that sex outside of marriage is sinful.

Hero and Leander is meant to be a fun, comical retelling of an old tale with a focus on physical love to make the story enthralling. There is no implication of premarital sex being sinful, though the characters suffer disappointment after realizing that their hasty affair does not create a lasting bond between them. In The Faerie Queene, eros is handled with a serious tone. Both poems deal with the theme of pain caused by love; Hero and Leander suffer greatly by being separated, and Red Cross Knight experiences guilt for his sin of lust. One poet treats love lightly, while the other treats it as the most serious subject in the world. Personally, I agree with the latter view.

Similar, Yet Different: Comparing Hero and Leander to The Faerie Queene

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.