Book II of Edmund Spencer's The Faerie Queen focuses on the quest of Sir Guyon, the Knight of Temperance. Guyon must learn to be a tempered man, meaning he has to learn to deal with the temptations in life without falling victim to them. Guyon's quest is to perfect his virtue just as Red Crosse has don in Book I of The Faerie Queen. On this journey Guyon is accompanied with The Palmer who is an allegorical figure of Reason. An allegorical figure represents a quality that can be seen in certain individuals. There are many allegorical characters in Book II of The Faerie Queen, some help and some hinder Guyon's quest to perfect his virtue of temperance. Throughout this essay I will illustrate the tribulations Guyon encounters and show how he, and with the help of other characters, overcomes these problems.
             Each section of the poem is separated by a canto. In the first canto we are introduces to a satanic character, Archimago. Archimago is an evil enchanter who uses spells and can disguise himself to help him lead his victims to sin. Now that Archimago can no longer go after Una and Red Crosse, who are married and Red Crosse is the hero of Book I, he sets up Guyon so he will fight Red Crosse and then at least one of them will be destroyed. Archimago disguises himself as a holy man and lies to Guyon about a virgin who has been raped. Archimago tells Sir Guyon that the woman has been a victim of Red Crosse. Archimago is trying to diverge Guyon because he does not want him to finish his quest. The woman, the supposed victim of the rape is Duessa, she is working with Archimago. Duessa represents falsehood, she appears to be beautiful, however it is only skin deep. Duessa tells the story of the rape and also points out Red Crosse as the attacker. Guyon tells Duessa that he will punish Red Crosse for his actions. Sir Guyon attacks Red Crosse but at the last moment he recognizes him and they stop fighting. Guyo...