Faerie Queen And Love Essay Research Paper

As we have discussed in class, there are several different types of love. And in

identifying the perils of ?inventing? love in The Faerie Queen, many of

these kinds of love can be related. In addition to the romantic love that

Spencer and the Redcrosse Knight invent, one also must consider the love for

faith and God. Throughout the book, most of the problems that Spencer and the

Redcrosse night with inventing love stem from the fact that they are doing it in

a physical sense. The Knight?s service to a lady can be looked at as nothing

more than submission to her desires. There is always a hidden anxiety inside in

proving oneself to be a worthy knight, driven by male ego. His lady sad to see

his sore constraint, Cride out, ?Now now Sir knight, shew what ye bee, Add

faith unto your force, and be not faint: Strangle her, else she sure will

strangle thee.? [I,1,163-66] The knight is eager to prove himself to the lady

and save himself from shame; he is not about to show weakness and defeat to a

lady cheering him on: That when he heard, in great perplexitie, His gall did

grate for griefe and high disdaine, And knitting all his force got one hand

free. [I,1,167-69] Spencer has conjured up this idea of chivalric service, yet

he fails to keep selfishness and narcissism from getting in the way. Through

this, the childlike need of the male to have a woman come back in his life and

guide him is apparent. Thus, the Redcrosse Knight invents love around his

submission to the needful lady. Let fall her eyen, as shamefast to the earth,

And yeelding soft, in that she nought gain-said, So forth they rode, he feining

seemly merth, And she coy lookes: so dainty they say maketh derth. [I,2,240-243]

Having done this, the Knight has in essence obeyed his own erotic desires and

therefore sinned by making himself vulnerable to deception. This is where we can

tie in Christian love. Aside from the obvious allusions to Christian religion

and Roman Catholic fallacies, Spencer includes his own invention of love for

Christianity and faith. The Redcrosse Knight represents the individual

Christian, on the search for Holiness, who is armed with faith in Christ, the

shield with the bloody cross. He is traveling with Una, whose name means

"truth". For a Christian to be holy, he must have true faith, and so

the plot of the book mostly concerns the attempts of evildoers to separate the

Knight from Una. For of devotion he had little care, Still drownd in sleepe, and

most of his dayes ded; Scarse could he once uphold his heavie hed, To looken,

whether it were night or day: May seeme the wayne was very evill led, When such

an one had guiding of the way, That knew not, whether right he went, or else

astray. [I,4,165-171] These difficulties faced by the Redcrosse Knight in

staying with Una reflect our own difficulties in staying true to our faith.

Faithlessness, despair, pride, the seven vices, and evil are all personified in

the book; yet it seems that at the most difficult and trying times, the Knight

is saved. This shows the Christian individual?s need for God?s aid.

?eternal God that chaunce did guide? [I,11,402] No matter how well a

Christian is equipped or prepared, he is no match for sin and death without the

undeserved grace of God. All of these allegories make up Spencer?s invention

of love for God. He sees it as a constant struggle against temptation and evil,

which in the end creates a closer relationship with faith and with God.