I was intrigued by the narrator’s praise of Belphoebe at the end of Book 3, Canto 5. When Spenser was writing The Faerie Queene, Queen Elizabeth was known for her cult following that focused on her status as a virgin. Here, Belphoebe is exalted for her “chastity and vertue virginall, / That shall embellish more [her] beautie bright” (3.5.53.6–7), meaning that her chastity only makes her more beautiful. It seems that virginity gets its value from the way men deem it a quality; somewhat ironically, being chaste makes the woman more beautiful and revered in men’s eyes.