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CHAPTER XII.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE HISTORY IN THE FAERIE QUEENE.
The Faerie Queene. The Plan Proposed. Illustrations of the History. The
Knight and the Lady. The Wood of Error and the Hermitage. The Crusades.
Britomartis and Sir Artegal. Elizabeth. Mary Queen of Scots. Other
Works. Spenser's Fate. Other Writers.
THE FAERIE QUEENE.
The Faerie Queene is an allegory, in many parts capable of more than one
interpretation. Some of the characters stand for two, and several of them
even for three distinct historical personages.
The general plan and scope of the poem may be found in the poet's letter
to his friend, Sir Walter Raleigh. It is designed to enumerate and
illustrate the moral virtues which should characterize a noble or gentle
person--to present "the image of a brave knight perfected in the twelve
private morall vertues, as Aristotle hath devised." It appears that the
author designed twelve books, but he did not accomplish his purpose. The
poem, which he left unfinished, contains but six books or legends, each of
which relates the adventures of a knight who is the patron and
representative of a special virtue.
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