Blatant Beast
A monstrous beast with a thousand tongues in Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene," representing slander, abuse, and malicious speech.
Introduction#
The Blatant Beast is a monstrous creature in Book VI of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. It is covered with tongues of many kinds, including those of animals, serpents, and human beings, which pour forth abuse, lies, and poisonous words. Gloriana, the Fairy Queen, commissions Sir Calidore to capture the Beast and put an end to its destructive influence.
The Thousand Tongues#
When Calidore finally overtakes the Beast, Spenser gives one of the poem’s most memorable descriptions of the creature:
At last, in a narrow place, Sir Calidore overtook him, and, fiercely assailing, forced him to turn. Then the Blatant Beast ran at him with open mouth, huge and horrible; it was all set with a double row of iron teeth, and in it were a thousand tongues of every kind and quality – some were of dogs, that barked day and night; some of cats that yawled; some of bears that growled continually; some of tigers that seemed to grin and snarl at all who passed by; but most of them were tongues of mortal men, who poured forth abuse, not caring where nor when; and among them were mingled here and there the tongues of serpents, with three-forked stings, that spat out poison at all who came within reach, speaking hateful things of good and bad alike, of high and low, not even sparing kings or kaisers, but either blotting them with infamy or biting them with their baneful teeth.
The Beast’s many tongues make it a grotesque embodiment of malicious speech. Its attacks are not limited to the wicked: its poisonous words fall upon “good and bad alike” and spare neither commoners nor kings.
Calidore’s Victory#
Calidore is not intimidated by the Beast’s appearance. After a violent struggle, he overpowers it and pins it to the ground.
But Calidore, not in the least afraid of this horrid spectacle, met him with such impetuous might that he checked his violence and beat him back. Then the monster, rearing up, ramped upon him with his ravenous paws, as if his cruel claws would have rent him; but the Knight, being well on guard, cast his shield between, and putting forth all his strength, forced him to fall back; and when he was down, he threw his shield on him and pinned him to the ground. In vain did the Beast rage and roar; for the more he strove, the more firmly the Knight held him, so that he was almost mad with spite. He grinned, he bit, he scratched, he spat out venom, and acted like a horrible fiend.
When physical violence fails, the Beast resorts to its more characteristic weapon: speech.
When the monster saw force was of no avail, he began to use his hundred tongues, and reviled and railed at the Knight with bitter terms fo infamy, weaving in many a forged lie, whose like Sir Calidore had never heard or thought of; yet for all that he did not let the creature go, but held him so tight that he nearly choked him.
Calidore refuses to release it. At last, he places an iron muzzle over the Beast’s mouth and fastens a chain to it.
At last, when he found his strength failing and his rage lessening, Sir Calidore took a strong muzzle of the stoutest iron, made with many a link, with which he fastened up his mouth, shutting up therein his blasphemous tongue, so that he should never more defame gentle knight or wrong lovely lady; and to this he tied a great long chain, with which he dragged him forth in spite of himself. The hideous Beast chafed inwardly at these strange bonds, which no one till then had dared to impose on him; yet he dared not draw back nor attempt to resist the power of the noble Calidore, but trembled before him, and followed like a frightened dog.
Through Fairy Land#
With the Beast captured and chained, Calidore leads it through Fairy Land. Crowds gather to witness the extraordinary sight of the knight and his monstrous captive.
The spectacle turns Calidore’s victory into a public demonstration of the power of virtue over malicious speech.
Allegorical Significance#
The Blatant Beast represents slander, abusive speech, malicious gossip, and the destructive power of false accusation. Its countless tongues suggest how quickly harmful words can spread and how difficult they can be to silence.
Unlike a conventional monster that destroys its victims through physical violence, the Beast attacks reputations and honour. Its ability to defame both the virtuous and the wicked makes it a particularly insidious enemy.
Calidore’s capture of the Beast therefore represents the triumph of Courtesy over the destructive forces of slander and dishonour.
In the Arthurian Tradition#
The Blatant Beast is unique to Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. It belongs to Spenser’s allegorical reworking of Arthurian romance, in which knights confront not only physical monsters but also personifications of moral and social evils.
The creature’s eventual escape and return later in the poem also gives the allegory a darker conclusion: slander may be restrained, but it is not permanently destroyed.
Sources#
The Faerie Queene | Edmund Spenser, 1570-1599
