The Faerie Queene Analysis

Cory Urlacher
Dr. Held
Renaissance Literature
20 September 2015

The Book of Revelation and The Faerie Queene "Never affirm, always allude: allusions are made to test the spirit and probe the heart" (Umberto Eco). The Faerie Queene consistently alludes to the book of Revelation adding both richness and depth to the story. Revelation played a huge role in the development of this epic being that it was the main book that was referenced from the Bible. The allusions help set up the story, and also add references that most people of that time period can understand. The Bible was the most popular book in the late 16th Century, so to allude to anything else might go unnoticed. Spenser uses the Book of Revelation and the Bible in abundance to add
With the allusions, it promotes a deeper read. It also make it culturally relevant for that time period and also makes it historically relevant now. We can look back and see how the people that opposed the Catholic Church felt, and also the pure emotion that was behind it. This story doesn’t seem like an obvious attack on the church, but with just enough context and focus one will realize that this story is a beautiful example of an allegory on how corrupt and evil the Catholic Church is (or was, depending on your current feelings). By having a firm understanding of Revelation, Spenser was able to piggy-back off of the ideas of John of Patmos and really fine-tune them to fit his agenda. Spenser had to have seen the use of the Bible as more than just entertaining reading for the people of that time. The use of the Bible aided in his end goal, which most believe was a critique of the Catholic Church. Also the Bible, especially Revelation, aided in the development of the majority of the characters in The Faerie Queen. Christine O’Neill, talking about the two dragons in the poem says, “In Revelation, a dragon is used to embody Satan—and in case readers did not catch that, John of Patmos drives the fact home in saying, “the dragon, that olde serpent, which is the deuyll and Satanas” (O’Neill). The reason this is quoted is to show that without Revelation, there really is nothing there in the first canto. Spenser uses so much of the Bible in book one, twisting and manipulating the characters to fit the epic, that many scholars actually believe that he didn’t think of any of the characters on his own. Going back to Revelation 1:18 we will notice that the reference gives a suspense and excitement to the text that many stories of that time did not have. With the foreshadowing, the audience is reminded of Christ and also the sacrifice that He