Season 4 Podcast 185 Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, Book I, Canto 11 Pt I Episode 33 “The Dragon.” Episode

Season 4 Podcast 185 Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, Book I, Canto 11 Pt I Episode 33 “The Dragon.” In the previous podcast we concluded Canto 10, The House of Holiness. The House of Holiness was the direct opposite of The House of Pride presented in Canto 4. In the House of Holiness, we meet: ·      Humility·      Dame Celia, Heavenly Lady·      Fidelia, Speranza, Charissa known as the three heavenly virtues·      Zeal·      Obedience·      Patience·      Penance·      Remorse·      Repentance·      Mercy ·      Contemplation·      Seven Beadsmen or Seven Virtues: Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Kindness, Patience, and Humility In the House of Pride, we meet the opposite of those in the House of Holiness:·      Malvenu meaning all evil to those who enter·      Queen Lucifera, daughter of Pluto and Proserpina king and Queen of hell·      Duessa or Duplicity·      Vanity ·      The evil brothers, Sans Joy, Sans Foy, Sans Loy, which means without joy, without faith, and without law.·      And the Seven Deadly Sins: Pride, Idleness, Gluttony, Lechery, Avarice, Envy, & WrathThe House of Pride promotes sin. It represents Babylon or the World. The House of Holiness teaches repentance and forgiveness and the tender mercies of Christ. Ironically the Redcross Knight suffered more in the House of Holiness than he did in the House of Pride suggesting that it is easier to sin than it is to repent. Having been purged of his sins and sanctified, the Redcross Knight is now prepared to go with Una and fight the dragon that holds Una’s parents captive. It is prophesied that the Red Cross Knight will become the famed Saint George widely celebrated in Christian literature. Canto 11 is introduced by Spencer.CANTO XIThe knight with that old Dragon fightstwo dayes incessantly;The third him overthrowes, and gaynsmost glorious victory.It was Una, of course, who took the Redcross Knight to the House of Holiness for she could clearly see that he was too weak from his time imprisoned in the giant Orgoglio’s dungeon. He was weakened by indulging in the sins of the House of Pride. Now, however, the Redcross Knight is a new man in Christ. Using Christian terms, he has been born again. It is time for Una to again be thinking of her parents’ long imprisonment and her original mission which is to free her parents, Also that was the commission of the Faery Queen to the Redcross Knight to slay the dragon that held them captive. It was Una who saved the Redcross Knight; however, she never sings her own praises but heaps praise upon the Redcross Knight HIGH time now gan it wex for Una faireTo thinke of those her captive Parents deare,And their forwasted kingdome to repaire:Whereto whenas they now approched neare, With hartie wordes her knight she gan to cheare,And in her modest manner thus bespake;Deare knight, as deare as ever knight was deare,That all these sorrowes suffer for my sake,High heaven behold the tedious toyle ye for me take.They finally reach Una’s native home, a place of enormous peril. The Dragon who holds her parent’s captive symbolizes Satan, and he has great power over the land of Eden.