A striking scene in Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia is the image of the Queen Gynecia’s neck on the literal chopping block. Left distraught at the presumed loss of Basilius and willing to take the fall – and subsequent grisly tumble and roll as a punishment – Gynecia is willing to lay down her life. Imploring readers to view Gynecia’s martyrdom as a positive, Sidney phrases the act as “duty to their good king, honour to themselves and favour to her.” (732) However, because Basilius ultimately survives the assassination attempt, intended or not, Gynecia’s willingness to die can be viewed as self-serving.
While it may seem short-sighted to view a noble act as self-serving, consider Gynecia’s immediate reaction following the shepherds’ refusal to kill her. Gynecia appears to lose all sense of honor in a martyred death by exclaiming that she will “excel in misery”, turning the act as one that fulfills her wishes alone rather than the wishes of the people or even the shepherds in the room. Loyal to their queen yet incensed by the thought of her death potentially clearing her name in a legal sense, Dametas immediately chastises his queen, explaining that the reprieve of death at that moment is only temporary. In a display of karmic retribution, Dametas states that “You shall not long be cumbered with being guided by so evil a soul.” (736) If Gynecia is unwilling to face her presumed actions – and the shepherds are unwilling to force death upon her – she will see it soon enough.
Gynecia’s response to loyalty is in stark contrast to that of the Third Eclogues, in which Dicus delivers a song praising the loyalty of newly-found matrimony in a sea of floral metaphors. Faced not with death but with the joining of Thyrsis and Kala, Dicus sings of loyalty in its purest sense, as if their union saw “mother earth deck in flowers” (692). Allowing for the imagery of weaponry to pervade the song, Sidney replaces a sword in death with the vanquishing of Cupid’s arrows – unity rather than division. For a novel in which many of the most vivid scenes of relationships are those in which the negative side shines from the poisoning of a king to Musidorus’ momentary suicide attempt that opens the novel, Sidney pivots to show loyalty in a positive light. Sidney even goes as far as to use the continual refrain of “O Hymen, long their coupled joys remain,” as a show of loyalty to Hymenaeus, the Greek God of marriage, adding repeated displays of the mutual respect of marriage, one that would not end with a queen begging for her death. Perhaps Gynecia could have looked to the relative peasants for guidance.