Season 4 Podcast 155 Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, Book I, Canto 9 Pt I Episode 23 “King Arthur’s History.”
Season 4 Podcast 155 Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, Book I, Canto 9 Pt I Episode 23 “King Arthur’s History.”
In last week’s episode, Una commands that Duessa strip off her royal robes. While wearing her queenly attire, Duessa was strikingly beautiful and alluring. She used her charms to seduce men, even the Redcross Knight. However, Duessa is the Whore of Babylon spoken of by John the Revelator. Without her royal attire, she is revealed to be hideously ugly and repulsive to anyone who sees her. She symbolizes the ugliness of sin which is often camouflaged by earthly habiliments. Ashamed under the eyes of heaven, she hides in the desert. With the Giant dead and the beast upon which Duessa rode heavily wounded, the castle is left vacant. King Arthur, the Squire, Una, the Redcross Knight, and the Dwarf remain while the Redcross Knight gets back some of his physical strength.
Spencer summarizes the theme of Canto 9.
His loves and lignage Arthur tells:
the Knights knit friendly hands:
Sir Trevisan flies from Despayre,
whom Redcrosse Knight withstands.
The virtues of King Arthur are highly praised, Scholars tell us that the “Goodly golden chain” symbolizes chivalry or knightly honor, the bond that unites all virtues.” In the days of chivalry, the only protection people had were the ‘knights in shining armor’ among whom the noble King Arthur stands foremost. Other knights, off course, stand out: Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad, Saint George, Sir Gawain. The knights represent the best of Christian virtues. For Christians, the greatest knight of all is Michael the archangel who first fought the dragon in the war in heaven. The other stories of knights and dragons derive from that first account. In Revelation 12 we read.
“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
That same Michael who led the war in heaven will also lead the last great battle as recorded in Daniel 12.
“And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.”
Saint George who slays the dragon is a type of Michael, often depicted by artists. The Redcross knight is a type of Saint George. The Redcross Knight symbolizes holiness, and it is his mission to free Una’s parents from the dragon who has held them captive for four years. Una’s parents are the king and queen of Eden, which symbolizes all mankind. We are held captive by the dragon. Una symbolizes truth; the Redcross Knight symbolizes holiness, and King Arthur symbolizes all the virtues because he wears the full armor of God. He is praised for delivering the Redcross Knight from the giant’s dungeon and exposing the ugliness of the witch Duessa who symbolizes lies or duplicity or deceit.
O GOODLY golden chaine, wherewith yfere
The vertues linked are in lovely wize:
And noble mindes of yore allyed were,
In brave poursuit of chevalrous emprize,
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