Proteus is a god with the gift of prophecy who warns Marinell that a woman will be his downfall. At one point, he rescues the maiden Florimell but then tries to woo her unsuccessfully and ends up keeping her as a prisoner in his dungeon. Eventually, however, Proteus relents, and the wedding of Marinell and Florimell takes place in his house.
Proteus Quotes in The Faerie Queene
The The Faerie Queene quotes below are all either spoken by Proteus or refer to Proteus. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Book III: Canto IV
Quotes
Book IV: Canto XII
Quotes
Right so himself did Marinell upreare,
When he in place his dearst love did spy;
And though his limbs could not his bodie beare,
Ne former strength return so suddenly,
Yet chearefull signes he shewed outwardly.
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Faerie Queene LitChart as a printable PDF.
Proteus Character Timeline in The Faerie Queene
The timeline below shows where the character Proteus appears in The Faerie Queene. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book III: Canto IV
...would die in battle to someone trying to take his wealth, so she went to Proteus, who has the gift of prophecy.
(full context)
Proteus warned Marinell’s mother, Cymoent, that her son should stay away from women because one will...
(full context)
Book III: Canto VIII
Proteus tries to entertain and woo Florimell, even transforming himself into a faerie knight because he...
(full context)
Book IV: Canto XI
Meanwhile, the real Florimell has been in Proteus’s dungeon this whole time. She spent seven months in a dungeon so dark that she...
(full context)
...with the Thames being the river that runs through London.) The feast takes place at Proteus’s house.
(full context)
Book IV: Canto XII
Even after listing so many wedding guests at Proteus’s house, the narrator says he left off several names. At the wedding is also Marinell’s...
(full context)
...which nymph he loves. He admits that he loves Florimell, and Cymoent is upset because Proteus told her that Marinell’s downfall will happen because of a maiden.
(full context)
Cymoent decides that Proteus is just the messenger of her bad news and she knows he is keeping Florimell...
(full context)
Proteus doesn’t dare contradict an order from Neptune, and so he lets Florimell go. Marinell sees...
(full context)
