Exactly how steamy is this story?
R
Spenser's Faerie Queene is not your bedtime fairytale for a whole bunch of reason, but the depiction and prominent role sex plays in the poem is one of the big reasons. And it's not just sex that ratchets up The Faerie Queene's mature content, it's the frequency with which that sex amounts to rape and other forms of physical and emotional abuse. There is some icky stuff in this old book.
Violence against women is constantly and disturbingly depicted in the poem, and part of what makes those depictions hard to stomach can be their almost routine nature. Almost every time a female character is in danger in the poem—and they're in danger quite a lot—that danger tends to be sexual. So be warned, The Faerie Queene isn't just the rosy side of adventure, but examines and describes some pretty bleak and upsetting aspects as well.