Robert Pierce

April 26, 2006

English 204 – Dr. Marx

Fighting with Feelings

Cantos one and two of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene[i] each contain a type of conflict which not only take part in later plot development, but serve to illustrate the humanity of the Redcrosse knight. Based on his responses to differing challenges, one may intuit the intrinsic qualities which exist in Redcrosse despite his knighthood.

Canto one, after some introductory material, delivers Redcrosse and his entourage into the den of Errour. Errour is a woman-serpent hybrid who hates light and belches falsehood. In a biblical framework, this simple set of traits would allegorically represent a simultaneous lack of innocence and truth, depicted respectively by her likeness to a snake and her intolerance to light. Further living up to her name, Errour is only encountered after the Redcrosse party becomes lost, that is, errs in judgment. Errour’s defeat is tiresome for the knight, who summons the better part of his strength, and faith, for the purpose, “Add faith to your force, and be not faint,” (I.1.165). From a symbolic standpoint, Redcrosse is fighting with his own misjudgment, which is nullified by having faith not only in God, but in himself.

Healing from his physical ordeal in the house of Archimago the sorcerer, Redcrosse is again attacked, this time in a psychological sense. Redcrosse, as a knight, lives by a code of honor untainted by jealousy or lust. Archimago uses these exact emotions in an attempt to break his mind. First, his submission to lust is tested by the erotic advances of a false Una, projected by the magician. The knight passes this test, and reprimands Una for her indiscretion, but is noticeably troubled by the episode. His spirit is further strained by another false projection: this time Una is shown with another man “In wanton lust and lewd embracement,” (I.2.41). This image depresses and confuses Redcrosse, robbing him of his reason and driving him from the house. Unlike his conquest of Errour, this deception can not be neutralized by strength, and certainly not by faith. Rather, he is his own enemy, his sight shrouded not by an outside force, but by his internal jealousy towards Una’s supposed impurity. It is this flaw in character which dooms him to fall victim to Archimago’s design.

Both confrontations are damaging to Redcrosse; one physically and one mentally. His victorious struggle against Errour represents the faith (energy) in all of us, which can permit one to accomplish extraordinary tasks. His failure to purge his own jealousy displays an opposing notion that while capable of greatness, humans often become prisoners of their own emotions.