knight gets in some good blows, slashing at the drag-
ons’s head and chopping off its tail, he is knocked
down under the Tree of Life, where, in a symbolic ges-
ture of communion, Redcrosse is healed, strengthened
again, and ready for a third battle. On the third day,
the dragon tries to eat the knight, but Redcrosse runs
his spear in to the dragon’s mouth, causing its death.
Finally, in Canto 12, after the dragon is defeated,
Una’s parents and their subjects come out and rejoice.
They return to the palace, where Redcrosse and Una
are betrothed, the wedding set for a time after Red-
crosse fi nishes his six-year tour of duty for the Faerie
Queen. While they organize the details, Archimago,
dressed as a messenger, arrives and claims that Red-
crosse is already bound to Duessa. By Una’s counsel,
Archimago is revealed and imprisoned. The tale ends
as Redcrosse returns to fulfi ll his duty to the Faerie
Queen, while Una waits for his return.
Critics have drawn attention in Book 1 to Spenser’s
use of BIBLICAL ALLUSIONs, and often praise it as being
The Faerie Queene’s most satisfying book from a narra-
tive perspective. Specifi cally, the book has been linked
to the Book of Genesis, as critics have seen Redcrosse’s
story as a resolution of the Eden story, with Una’s par-
ents as Adam and Eve and the dragon as Satan. Femi-
nist criticism has explored the presentation of female
characters, generally concluding that they reinforce the
stereotypical perspectives of women as lustful and
duplicitous. Una is pure, of course, but Redcrosse has
diffi culty accepting that. Postcolonial critics have
examined the traces of colonialism as well as the pre-
sentation of the monstrous and the grotesque.
See also ALLEGORY; CHIVALRY; FAERIE QUEENE, THE
(OVERVIEW).
Alison BakerThe Faerie Queene: Book 2 EDMUND SPENSER
(1590) Book 2 of The Faerie Queene tells the story of
Sir Guyon (wrestler), the knight of temperance. The
double meaning of the title, “Contayning The Legend
of Sir Gvyon, or Of Temperance,” suggests that EDMUND
SPENSER had fun playing with the titles of his books in
this EPIC work. Does the book tell the tale of the “leg-
end” of temperance, or does it tell about the “legend”
of Guyon?
Book 2 tells the tale of a knight who ostensibly has
dedicated himself to his assigned virtue, but who even-
tually falls victim to emotional release. The proem begs
the reader unfamiliar with Faerie Land not to make fun
of the poem’s tales, pointing out that nobody had heard
of Virginia and Peru a few years earlier. As the book
begins, Archimago (arch image) has just escaped from
his imprisonment and become intent upon causing
problems for the Redcrosse Knight. Archimago meets
Sir Guyon and his squire, the Palmer (pilgrim), and
tells them about a virgin whom a knight attacked.
Archimago offers to lead the two travelers to the knight
with a red cross on his shield to seek revenge. Guyon,
the Palmer, and Archimago meet a damsel (Duessa in
disguise) and she tells them Redcrosse ravished her.
The party then meets Redcrosse (holiness), but Guyon
decides he cannot attack a knight with a cross on his
shield, and the two become friends.
Sir Guyon and the Palmer continue on their journey
and meet a damsel named Amavia (suffer), who plunges
a knife in her chest as they approach her. They soon
discover that she holds a newborn baby in her arms and
that she lies by the body of her dead husband, Mor-
dant. Amavia tells the story of how an evil enchantress
named Acrasia had seduced her husband into her
Bower of Bliss, where she offers men sexual enticements
and ultimately turns them into beasts. Mordant had
managed to free himself from the enchantment, but
Acrasia (incontinence) then poisoned him.
Guyon tries to save Amavia, but she dies in his arms.
Guyon takes the baby, Ruddymane, and tries to wash
the blood off his body but cannot. Guyon (who now
has lost his horse) and the Palmer continue on their
journey and come across a castle inhabited by three
beautiful sisters. The middle sister, Medina, accepts
the travelers, and they soon fi nd that two knights, Sir
Huddibras (foolhardiness) and Sansloy (lawlessness),
stand courting the youngest (Perissa) and the oldest
(Elissa) sisters, respectively. The two knights begin to
attack each other, but they turn and instead attack
Guyon when he tries to stop them. Medina begs the
knights to stop fi ghting, and they ultimately do so.
Later, at the banquet, Guyon tells how the Faerie
Queen charged him with fi nding and destroying Acra-
sia’s Bower of Bliss. Guyon and the Palmer stay theTHE FAERIE QUEENE: BOOK 2 181