This essay is concerned with Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene. In particular, the Redcrosse Knight and his confrontation with Despair will be examined and analyzed. Several questions must be answered: (1) Why do good and evil exist? (2) How was Despair able to bring the Redcrosse Knight to the point of suicide? (3) Why do the arguments of Despair prove so effective with the Redcrosse Knight? (4) What was the Redcrosse Knight's psychological state at this time? and (5) What does this incident have to do with the Knight's previous episodes of temptation?
The Redcrosse Knight meets Despair in Book I, Canto IX, XX-LIV. Although this poem was written on several allegorical levels, the main interest here is the moral allegory.
Out of the initial adventures in Book I, a figure known as the Redcrosse Knight (Holiness) emerges. He would willingly serve Una or Truth, and yet he cannot always differentiate between Truth and her imitations.
When the Redcrosse Knight goes forth from the House of Archimago (Hypocrisy) he is alone. Redcrosse is somewhat similar to Abraham, who journeyed from the country of his fathers to become a stranger in the Land of Promise. And yet, like the Church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:4, Redcrosse fluctuates with regard to Truth and Faith. This leaves him quite vulnerable to all varieties of temptations. One such temptation is Despair, who is one of the most problematic personifications in Spenser.
THE REDCROSSE KNIGHT AND GOOD AND EVIL
Theologians down through the centuries have been perplexed by the problem of good and evil in the -world. The Christian scriptures say that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:4). Redcrosse, as Holiness, certainly has a willing spirit; but as is true of all human beings, his flesh is weak, and he easily gives in to temptation.
As Redcrosse and Una set forth on their mission, they meet a knight named Sir Trevisan, who is hurriedly traveli...