Redcrosse Character Analysis Essay

Redcrosse Knight represents Holiness. He is a knight bearing that bears a symbol of Jesus Christ upon his shield. His holiness contains moral and religious clarity, as he fights deceptive monsters such as Errour (Book 1 #14) on behalf of his lady Una. Una herself is truth. She reminds Redcrosse that his holiness comes from God, not from within, allowing him to out think Errour and eventually destroy her and her babies.
Redcrosse is in fact a "tall clownishe yonge man" page 779. He alone takes on the quest to free Una's parents from the dragon. His adventures represent the Christian's struggle to maintain personal holiness while avoiding pride. In his travels, Redcrosse encounters many demons. One of the first is Archimago. He is dressed as an old Sire who offers them shelter, but while they sleep, he plots against them with his dark arts. The sorcerer summons nature spirits to do his requests. He sends Morpheus, (Book 1 #36) god of sleep, to set about a lying dream of Una’s unfaithfulness to Redcrosse. He then conjures up another where he transforms into a duplicate Una to seduce Redcrosse. Redcrosse resists this and drives the sprite away. Duessa introduces herself to

They come to terms with their weird relationship and complete with a sexual intimacy. Weakened by the sexual encounter with Duessa has made Redcrosse easy prey for the giant Orgoglio. The giant is about to kill Redcrosse but Duessa averts Orgoglio from killing him by offering herself as a lover to the giant. This satisfies Orgoglio and he imprisons Redcrosse in his dungeon, and then gives Duessa a splendid beast-steed. The dwarf companion of Redcrosse escapes Orgoglio’s dungeon and finds Una as well as Prince Arthur. He explains the circumstances to both of them telling his exscape and Redcrosses need of help. Una gains the protection of Prince Arthur and takes him on as her champion against Orgoglio (Book 1 Canto 7