Season 5 Podcast 7 Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, Book I, Canto 12 Pt II Episode 39 “The Great Dragon is Dead.”

Season 5 Podcast 7 Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, Book I, Canto 12 Pt II Episode 39 “The Great Dragon is Dead.” In last week’s episode, The Dragon is pronounced dead. After four years the King and Queen are freed from the castle. The king proclaimed joy throughout the kingdom. The trumpets sound. A solemn feast is assembled. The ancient King and Queen dressed in vintage robes emerged surrounded by a huge entourage of noble souls carrying laurel branches. The Redcross Knight is honored. Una, “a goodly maiden Queen,” is recognized as the King’s daughter. The common people gather to gaze at their hero, the Redcross Knight, whom they thought was sent from heaven. However, when they saw the huge dragon stretched out dead on the ground, large as a mountain, they were filed with fear, and none dared approach.And after, all the raskall many ran,Heaped together in rude rablement, To see the face of that victorious man:Whom all admired, as from heaven sent,And gazd upon with gaping wonderment.But when they came where that dead Dragon lay,Stretcht on the ground in monstrous large extent, The sight with idle feare did them dismay,Ne durst approch him nigh, to touch, or once assay.The size of the dragon, of course, is a symbol of both Satan’s gigantic power and of his enormous influence. Fear is one of Satan’s greatest tools. The event is enormous. It was the final battle. The dragon who led the war in heaven whose tail brought a third part of the hosts of heaven with him and the war on earth is dead. It was Michael who led the war against Lucifer in Heaven.To understand the battle against Satan, let’s turn to the Book of Revelation as seen in vision by John on the Isle of Patmos. Let’s particularly examine Revelation 12.As Linda reads verses 1 & 2 think about the fall of man. 1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.As we ponder those two verses, think about the curse placed upon Satan, the curse placed upon Adam, and the curse placed upon Eve.14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.The curse of Eve is suggested in Revelation 12:2, “And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.”