“Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist,” the theologian G.K. Chesterton wrote, “Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed.” Fairy tales, myths, and movies, according to Chesterton, are not mere entertainment, but lessons for the soul: reminders in the midst of a fallen world that God must triumph.
No one understood this better than Edmund Spenser, a Protestant teacher and poet under Queen Elizabeth, who was named a “better teacher than Scotus or Aquinas.”1
Whether or not you have heard of his epic poem, The Faerie Queene, his story of the Redcrosse Knight is a familiar fairy tale: a brave knight saves his lady’s kingdom by vanquishing a fiery dragon and bringing peace to the land.
Yet the story goes much deeper, for behind the whole poem is a deep and multi-layered allegory on Christian doctrine, piety, and life.
In particular, Spenser wrote his first book as a theological lesson on holiness using the Redcrosse Knight. He serves his lady, Una, whose parents’ kingdom has been taken by an evil dragon whom he seeks to vanquish.
The dragon is not the only enemy standing in his way, though, as the story’s main villain is Archimago, named “architect of images,” a wizard who is infamous for creating doubles, mirages, and deceptions.
Through Archimago’s creation, Duessa, the Redcrosse knight is almost destroyed, but he is saved and, after being healed in the House of Holiness, he goes forth to kill the dragon armed with true holiness.
Yet the story goes beyond the literal to the allegorical: the Redcrosse knight is every Christian; Una, literally “one,” is the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church; Archimago and the dragon are the Devil and Duessa the false church.
All of Spenser’s characters and allegories come together to create a valuable lesson for today on the realities of sin, salvation, and sure victory in the Christian life.
The Reality of Sin
As Redcrosse and Una march onward to take back the kingdom, the sky suddenly darkens as rain pours down and thunder echoes. Fleeing for cover, they enter a forest, yet it is no ordinary forest.
As the storm clears and the sun shines once again upon their path, they find that the forest is a labyrinth with endless paths winding every which way. Taking what seems like the best path, the knight reaches a cave and bravely enters.
He is not alone. A surge of snakes wraps around him in coils, slowly crushing him as the gloomy light of his armor reveals his enemy: a monster with the appearance of a woman whose legs are a swarming maze of endless serpents. The monster is Error, and Redcrosse had stumbled into her den.
The monster Error represents sin and its true nature. The word “error” comes from the Latin word, which means to “wander” or “stray,” and in Christian theology, it is used to indicate any deviation from the truth.
Like with the Redcrosse Knight, the nature of error is that it ensnares only to destroy, for it was one error planted by the serpent that plunged the human race into perdition: “You will not surely die…when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God” (Gen. 3:4-5).
Sin ensnares, in part, because, like Error, it appears beautiful at first, only to reveal itself hideous; it hides in half-truths only to reveal itself too late.
And like Error’s endless train, distortions of the truth are endless, making the path to destruction broad. With such an enemy, the only safety from error is God’s power, “God help the man so wrapt in Error’s endless train.”2
By God’s help, the Redcrosse Knight escapes Error, yet he still cannot escape the deceitfulness of sin. He is eventually overcome by Archimago’s illusions and Duessa, whose name means “double,” who locks him in a dungeon and becomes his queen, seducing him to betray Una.
Much in the world of the Faerie Queene is not as it seems, and the same is true in our fallen world. Everything relating to man’s relationship with God, others, and himself is now characterized by ambiguity and error because he has become a slave to the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13) and the father of lies (John 8:44).
In particular, the most potent falsehood against holiness is the falsehood of hypocrisy, for, like Duessa, we put on a mask of beauty and holiness, while inwardly we remain hideous.
The result is that, like Redcrosse, we are trapped, conquered, and helpless in a dark dungeon of deceit.
The Reality of Salvation
This makes salvation far sweeter, for only the grace of God can save us from the delusion of sin and make us more than conquerors.
Though the Redcrosse Knight was locked in a hellish pit, a royal savior came: none other than King Arthur himself. In deep pity, he “rent that iron door, / With furious force, and indignation fell,” laboring to carry the Redcrosse Knight out of the dungeon, for neither “darkness foul, nor filthy bands, / Nor noyous [hurtful, annoying] smell his purpose could withhold.”3
In the same way, when we lay chained in the Devil’s dungeon, Christ, the true Arthur, broke the gates of hell with infinite pity and an anger for the destruction sin had wrought on his creatures.
He carried us out, harrowing our hell, for neither death’s darkness, our foul sins, or hateful souls could keep him from his purpose to redeem the ungodly.
Yet Spenser does not end there, for neither does Christ’s work end only with delivering us from sin’s slavery.
After Redcrosse is delivered, he is brought to the “House of Holiness” by Una, where he is healed and strengthened, representing the conversion and sanctification of the Christian.
There he is tended to by three sisters: Fidelia (Faith), Speranza (Hope), and the youngest, Charissa (Love).
Fidelia begins the work by preaching the Scriptures to him as she carries a cup of water and wine, representing the two sacraments; in the same way, salvation and sanctification for the Christian spring from faith created and strengthened by the Holy Spirit through the Word and Sacraments.
After Faith comes and brings Redcrosse the knowledge of God and his Word, Speranza (Hope) alongside Patience, Amendment, Penance, Remorse, and Repentance cure him of the sickness of his sins and encourage him not to despair but instead to repent.
At last, he reaches the pinnacle of holiness. He meets Charissa, who teaches him of love, righteousness, well-doing, and the “ready path” to heaven.4
Once attaining the virtue of love, Redcrosse is brought to Contemplation, who shows him the heavenly Jerusalem.
It is significant that, in Spenser’s allegory, Charissa is the youngest of the daughters and the last one the Redcrosse knight meets. This is because love can only come from a heart with faith and hope that knows its sins are forgiven; our love is not the prerequisite of the gospel, but the result of the gospel.
Nevertheless, it is love, like Charissa, that leads the Christian to his ultimate end: the contemplation of God.
It produces a kind of paradox that corrects both legalism and antinomianism, teaching that love is both dependent on faith and yet greater than it: “now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13).
The Reality of Sure Victory
After being healed in the House of Holiness, Redcrosse is ready to face the dragon whom he has sworn to defeat for Una to rescue her parents’ kingdom, now armed with true holiness; yet, even with holiness, the battle is difficult and even impossible.
Though wounding the dragon several times, he is mortally wounded twice as the dragon emerges the victor.
And yet the dragon does not win, for each morning Redcrosse rises again, healed and with new strength, raised by the power of the well of life first and then the tree of life until he crushes the dragon’s head on the morning of the third day like his Lord.
The episode is, admittedly, odd at first: apart from his “lucky” encounters with the well and tree of life, he would have lost. To put it bluntly, it seems like cheating, a kind of Deus Ex Machina.
Yet this was not a mistake on Spenser’s part, but a brilliant depiction of the Christian’s victory.
Like Redcrosse’s battle with the dragon, the believer’s victory over the Devil is by grace from beginning to end in union with Christ.
Even armed with faith, hope, and love, we are not enough (we still stumble in many ways and struggle with the sin that remains), but the grace that delivered us from sin is the same grace that assures our certain victory.
In the end, Redcrosse Knight’s falls and wounds, and ours, remind us that our triumph is not really ours, but Christ’s triumph in us, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).
This means that the believer is free to fight, for he cannot truly lose. Jesus is our well and tree of life in the battle against sin, death, and Satan, and he will lift us up again and again until he has crushed the enemy underneath our feet (Romans 16:20).
The call to holiness in this life, then, is not a call to sinless perfection, but the kind of gutsy holiness that, wounded and battered, still fights “to press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).
Conclusion
In the allegory of the Faerie Queene, the story of the Redcrosse Knight stands out as a tale about holiness, warning us of our spiritual enemies and helplessness, pointing us to the grace of God as our only help, and encouraging us that the victory of our faith is assured by Christ himself.
As Martin Luther’s famous hymn reminds us, we have an ancient foe, the Devil, so that, “Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing.”
Yet though we are doomed in ourselves, we have a Christ who has saved us, is healing us, and will come back to complete his work.
So take heart, Christian Knight, and pursue true holiness and love, knowing your Lord will soon slay the Devil under your hand. Dragons may exist, but their defeat is certain.
FOOTNOTES
FURTHER STUDY
If this literary reflection on holiness stirred you, we encourage you to read The Red Cross Knight: A Reformation Story of Grace by Colin Germer — the personal testimony behind the theological vision, tracing despair, healing, and the means of grace.
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