Summary
At last, Una leads Redcrosse to her native soil.
As they approach her parents' castle, they hear the
terrible roar of the dragon. Redcrosse has Una stand aside
at a distance, and then he confronts the beast. The dragon is
covered in a flawless coat of scales, stronger than any
metal, has a long tail with razor sharp spikes, and
powerful wings that carry him to meet the knight.
Redcrosse charges at him and strikes, but his spear glances
off the dragon's impenetrable hide, and both knight and
horse fall to the ground. The dragon grabs them in its
massive claws and lifts them into the air. Redcrosse
struggles until the dragon is forced to let them down;
thrusting once more with his lance, he happens to strike
one of the beast's wings, and finally manages to leave a
wound. Furious, the dragon knocks Redcrosse off his horse.
Undaunted, the knight takes his sword and slices at the
dragon's head, but it only stuns the dragon; angered, it lets out
a fiery breath that scorches the whole field. Redcrosse's
armor is heated so much that it burns him; he writhes in
agony. The dragon knocks him backward, moving in for the
kill, but the knight is fortunate enough to fall back into
the Well of Life, which has great powers to heal wounds.
The dragon, however, simply assumes it has won, and Una fears the
worst for her hero.
The next morning, though, Redcrosse emerges as good as new.
Better, in fact, because through the magical power of the
water he and his blade are stronger, and confronting the
dragon again he cuts a deep wound in the beast's head. In
retaliation, the dragon wounds Redcrosse's shoulder with its
tail and then tries to pull away the sacred shield with
its claws. The knight manages to cut off the claws, but as
he retreats he again falls, this time into a mire where a
sacred tree grows, which, like the well, has magical healing
powers. Another night passes, as Una frets and the dragon
nurses its wounds. On the third day, Redcrosse emerges from
the grove refreshed and healed. The dragon is furious to
see the knight still alive; it bends down its open mouth,
intending to swallow its opponent whole. But Redcrosse
holds his ground and rams his sword deep into the dragon's
throat. The beast crashes to the earth like a mountain
falling from heaven, and it is dead.
Una's father and mother, the King and Queen of that land,
see the defeat of the dragon and rush out to give thanks to
Redcrosse. The whole kingdom, which had been hiding in
fear of the dragon for months, now comes out and celebrates
with music, parades, feasting, and many gift for the
victorious knight. All expect him to marry Una, but
Redcrosse announces that he still has a duty to serve the
Faerie Queene for six years in her battle against a proud
king. Una's father agrees that after that time, his
daughter shall marry the knight. At that moment, though, a
messenger runs onto the scene; he claims that the
engagement cannot be made because Redcrosse has already
pledged his hand to another woman. The king demands an
explanation; Redcrosse tells him that the woman is
Duessa, who only got his pledge by deceit and
witchcraft. He gave his love to an imaginary woman,
Fidessa, played by Duessa, and now he sees the truth and so
he is free to love another. Una seconds all of this and
also suggests that they examine the messenger to see if he
is disguised as well. In fact, it turns out to be
Archimago. The celebration of the engagement
continues until Redcrosse must sadly leave to fulfill his
duty and destiny.
Commentary
The final battle between Redcrosse and the dragon brings
the allegory of the entire first book to a climax and
encompasses all the different levels of religious and
political meaning that Spenser has put into the story.
Redcrosse's victory represents three distinct events:
Christ's victory over death and the devil in the
Crucifixion and Resurrection, the triumph of the individual
Christian over the temptation of sin, and the "defeat" of
the Roman Catholic Church by the Church of England and all
Protestantism. We have already seen much evidence
establishing Redcrosse both as the Christian "Everyman" and
as the champion of Protestants against Catholics. Here in
Canto xi, he is also portrayed as a Christ figure, because
he falls and triumphs on the third day and because the
dragon he defeats is damnation; its mouth was "like the
griesly mouth of hell (I.xi.12)." Just as Christ had to
descend to Hell to defeat it, Redcrosse had to enter the
hellish mouth of the dragon to finally kill it.
Redcrosse is not victorious alone, however; he is saved
twice by very timely help. In this respect, he better
represents the individual Christian in need of God's aid.
The Well of Life he first falls into is Baptism, always
symbolized by immersion in water. The Tree of Life is the
Eucharist, the symbol of Christ's body and blood. Both
well and tree represent the grace that God bestows on
mankind through the sacraments, which help a Christian in
danger of falling prey to sin. Redcrosse's lucky stumbling
into these two places of healing almost seems too lucky;
even in Faerie land, does Spenser really expect us to
believe that a miraculous swell or tree simply pops up
behind the hero when he is about to get killed? In fact,
the poet emphasizes that this was no coincidence at all:
"eternal God that chaunce did guide (I.xi.45)." Spenser's
point is that no matter how well a Christian is equipped or
prepared, he is no match for sin and death without the
undeserved grace of God. Because Redcrosse is saved
through such miraculous circumstances, we cannot give him
full credit for the victory; all the glory is to God. Thus,
Spenser's message about the Christian life is one of
humility; we can never take the credit for God's victory.
Finally, Redcrosse is again established as the hero of
Protestantism against Catholicism in the last Canto. Even
though he has conquered the dragon, his marriage to Una
must be delayed; his work is not yet finished. The knight
must "Backe to return to that great Faerie Queene / And her
to serve six yeares in warlike wize, / Gainst that proud
Paynim king (I.xii.18)." This brings the allegory back from
the general to the specific and back from the purely
religious to the political. We know that the Faerie Queene
represents Queen Elizabeth; thus, the "proud Paynim king"
whom she is fighting must be either the pope or a Catholic
king; either way, the enemy is the Roman Church. Spenser
is bringing us back to his own time where, although England
now is Protestant, the Catholic Church is still powerful.
Redcrosse will be united with Una only when the battle
against false religion is over--we see that Duessa is still
working her evil ways in defeat. And the battle, of
course, will not end until the end of the world, when
Christ will reveal which religion is false and which is true.
