Apocalypse and Allegory in Spenser

Once Archimago lures Redcrosse and Una into his dwelling, Spenser reveals the true nature of Archimago by his use of “few words most horrible…and other spelles like terrible…to call by name Great Gorgon, prince of darkness”(1:1:34). Ultimately, Fidessa represents false faith and the Roman Catholic mass, while Una is reflected in the figure of Fidelia, “the first of the three theological virtues in the house of Holiness, who like Una has a sunny face and is dressed in lily white”(Brooks-Davies 705). Spenser articulates his belief in Elizabethan Protestantism through the figures of Una and Redcrosse, by unifying them in the final canto of Book 1. In a letter to Sir Walter Raleigh, Redcrosse Knight is described as a “clownishe young man who sits on the floor, unfitt through his rusticity for a better place”(Kellogg 588). It is therefore essential for Redcrosse to undertake a quest in order to find and understand the true faith of Protestantism and recognize the evil forces portrayed in Ephesians by recognizing “a vision of the monsters [that] remain still inside, [and] which will certainly be defeated”(Gless 119). He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon… And he performed great and miraculous signs”. Redcrosse is then able to recognize evil and is ready to take on the demonic manifestation (the Roman Catholic dragon) in a final battle, with other Protestants, “his chosen people, purged from sinful guilt”(1:10:57) as his allies. Spenser allies the figure of Redcrosse with the archetypal figures of St. Una, whose name is derived from the Latin ‘One’ is Elizabeth, “semper eadem and semper una”(Brooks-Davies 260) - the “lovely ladie…upon a lowly Asse more white then snow”(1:1:4). Archimago duplicity is represented as essentially the papal image of the beast from Revelation 13:11: “Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. Archimago is the consummate image of Catholic hypocrisy, an evil magician, who ensnares Redcrosse knight and Una, by falsely presenting himself as being overtly pious, “an aged Sire, in long blacke weedes yclad/ His feet all bare, his beard all hoarie gray/ And by his belt his booke he hanging had”(1:1:29).

However, Redcrosse’s foundational belief in Protestant faith waivers when he is “disarmed of all yron coated plate”(1:7:2), the armour of God, by the deception of Duessa, reflecting the way in which national belief in Protestantism was assuaged during the interregnum of Mary, Queen of Scots; who re-instituted the Roman Catholic Church and is represented by the whore riding the dragon in Canto IV, “the Queene of hell”(1:4:11) from Stanzas 10 –11: “And proud Lucifera men did call her/ Yet rightful kingdome she had none at all… But did usurpe with wrong and tyrannie/ Upon the sceptre which she now did hold”(1:4:12). The fact that Duessa wears the “Persian mitre on her head”(1:2:13), the triple crown of the papacy identifies the Roman Catholic Church with paganism and temporal pride, resulting from the power of the Roman empire that had been transferred to the Pope. In relation to popular reformist notions of the period, historically Una represents Elizabeth’s unification of the religious and secular institutions under one sovereign. Furthermore, the allegorical nature of the text and the trials of Una and Redcrosse at the hands of Archimago and Duessa, further elucidates the religious and political conflicts of Reformation England and the struggle for the nation to attain an understanding of true, Protestant faith.