{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.02158273381294964, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 5.188888888888889, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Providential Love and Suffering in The Faerie Queene, Book III

This essay argues that Spenser is intrigued by the subtle yet significant difference between two kinds of human suffering: an unproductive self-generated discomfort (associated with such Church practices as hair shirts, fasting, and flagellation) and that ennobling, Job-like anguish that arises from harsh conditions imposed on the self from outside. In the Book of Chastity, Spenser uses the phenomenon of sexual desire as a way to examine these divine and debased components of human pain.