the redcrosse knight represented royalty in the faerie queene.
what does the redcrosse knight represent in the faerie queene?
royalty
book i is centred on the virtue of holiness as embodied in the redcrosse knight. he and his lady una travel together as he fights the dragon errour, then separate as the wizard archimago tricks the redcrosse knight in a dream to think that una is unchaste. after he leaves, the redcrosse knight meets duessa, who feigns distress in order to entrap him. duessa leads the redcrosse knight to captivity by the giant orgoglio. meanwhile, una overcomes peril, meets arthur, and finally finds the redcrosse knight and rescues him from his capture, from duessa, and from despair. una and arthur help the redcrosse knight recover in the house of holiness, with the house's ruler caelia and her three daughters joining them; there the redcrosse knight sees a vision of his future. he then returns una to her parents' castle and rescues them from a dragon, and the two are betrothed after resisting archimago one last time.
the faerie queene
book iii is centred on the virtue of chastity as embodied in britomart, a lady knight. resting after the events of book ii, guyon and arthur meet britomart, who wins a joust with guyon. they separate as arthur and guyon leave to rescue florimell, while britomart rescues the redcrosse knight. britomart reveals to the redcrosse knight that she is pursuing sir artegall because she is destined to marry him. the redcrosse knight defends artegall and they meet merlin, who explains more carefully britomart's destiny to found the english monarchy. britomart leaves and fights sir marinell. arthur looks for florimell, joined later by sir satyrane and britomart, and they witness and resist sexual temptation. britomart separates from them and meets sir scudamore, looking for his captured lady amoret. britomart alone is able to rescue amoret from the wizard busirane. unfortunately, when they emerge from the castle scudamore is gone. (the 1590 version with books i–iii depicts the lovers' happy reunion, but this was changed in the 1596 version which contained all six books.)
the faerie queene