naming the serpent “Errour” in Book 1, canto 1, line
18 [1.1.18]). Because the narrative is written with a
specifi c interpretation in mind, many critics view the
allegory as one-dimensional. Spenser addresses this
issue in his “Letter to Raleigh”: “Sir knowing how
doubtfully all Allegories may be construed, and this
booke of mine, which I have entitled the Faery Queene,
being a continued Allegory, or darke conceit, I have
thought good aswell for avoyding of gealous opinions
and misconstructions, as also for your better light in
reading thereof.” Given this comment, we may view
Spenser’s use of allegory not so much as a way to clas-
sify the poem but as a way to read the poem.
The Faerie Queene begins with “The Legende of the
Knight of Red Crosse,” or Redcrosse—so called from
the red cross he bears on his shield. (He is eventually
named as St. George in Book 1, Canto 2, lines 11–12).
Redcrosse’s quest, defi ned as a whole, is most immedi-
ately understood as an allegory of the making of a Prot-
estant saint. Characteristic of Spenser’s knights,
Redcrosse is untested at the beginning of the book—an
incomplete representation of his virtue. As an individ-
ual, Redcrosse is a Christian everyman; his journey to
holiness is archetypal in that it explores the challenges
every human being goes through on his or her path to
spiritual wholeness. Central to his quest for holiness is
his need to learn to distinguish falsity from truth—to
see clearly. His worst foes are the sorcerer Archimago
(Latin, “arch image-maker”) and the duplicitous Duessa
(Latin, “to be two”), who work toward his destruction
through guile, duplicity, and false appearances—mak-
ing evil seem good, foulness beautiful, and vice versa.
Before Redcrosse can complete his quest, he must learn
how to see through such deceptions.
Redcrosse’s companion, Una (Latin, “oneness”), whose
name implies singleness and unity, stands in opposition
to the duality and deception of Redcrosse’s archene-
mies. Their duplicity illustrates the disjunction between
truth and outward appearance that marks the worldly
existence of the errant Christian. Most of Redcrosse’s
problems stem from this. The book even begins in the
Wandering Wood, where dwells Errour, a half-woman,
half-snake monster. Redcrosse’s triumph over Errour,
his fi rst battle, does not armor him against the more
insidious confusions forced on him when Archimago
makes a dream that challenges Una’s chastity. Deceived
by false appearances and overcome by jealousy and
disappointment, Redcrosse deserts Una. In conse-
quence of this act and his inability to see the reality
beneath the surface, evident by his continued dalliance
with Duessa, Redcrosse lands in the House of Pride.
Enervated by his time there, he is unable to fi ght off
Orgoglio, who enslaves him (canto 8). After his rescue
by Prince Arthur, reschooling in the House of Holi-
ness, and restoration to Una, Redcrosse is ready to face
Sin: the dragon who has kept Una’s parents exiled from
Eden and captive in a brazen tower.
As a Christian allegory, the myth of Eden dominates
Book 1. Redcrosse’s mission, given to him by Gloriana
(the queen of fairie-land) herself, is to release Una’s
parents from their imprisonment. They are the king
and queen of Eden, Adam and Eve, and to liberate
them is to restore Eden. Moreover, the book’s central
dilemma is Redcrosse’s inability to distinguish truth
from falseness, a dilemma traceable to Eve’s inability to
recognize good or evil in Eden. Book 1 also reminds us
that our postlapsarian existence brings spiritual blind-
ness. On the level of historical allegory, the book is
speaking to the religious division between Catholics
and Protestants within Elizabethan society. According
to Spenser’s theology, near the beginning of Christian-
ity, Redcrosse (who is sometimes read as the personifi -
cation of England) and Una (who is often read as the
personifi cation of the Protestant church) were “one.”
But under the infl uence of Augustine and later medi-
eval Catholicism, England betrayed its ancient religion
and deviated into the arms of Una’s double, Duessa, an
image of Catholicism. The betrothal of Redcrosse to
Una marks England’s return to the true Christian
church.
After Book 1, religion no longer dominates poeti-
cally. In Book 2, “the Booke of Temperance,” the impe-
tus is humanism: the study of humanity with an
emphasis on education as the path to human perfec-
tion. The central concern of the book is to analyze
moral life and human nature, and to reconcile one to
the other. The book begins with the reappearance of
Archimago, who has escaped his captors and has
woven his web of deception over the young knight of
temperance, Guyon (taken from the Arthurian legend,FAERIE QUEENE, THE 175