In Mystery and Manners, Flannery O’Connor quotes St. Cyril of Jerusalem, who in instructing catechumens, wrote: “The dragon sits by the side of the road, watching those who pass. Beware lest he devour you. We go to the Father of Souls, but it is necessary to pass by the dragon. No matter what form the dragon may take, it is of this mysterious passage past him, or into his jaws, that stories of any depth will always be concerned to tell.” Redcrosse's encounter with the Dragon has many levels of allegorical significance. First, we can see the fight between Redcrosse and the Dragon as the representation of the fight of man against sin. The dragon portrays all that is bad in man and the world. Redcrosse is the human trying to overcome it. With the time period and what most know of the Church's influence I would say it is a Christian man fighting against the wrongs of the world.

Another level of allegory could be that Redcrosse in this aspect represents Christ, and the Dragon, the Devil. Redcrosse seems to die and is resurrected. His fight with the Dragon leads to his falling twice. First is the fall in which he is healed by the Well of Life, second is the fal

Redcrosse suffers many setbacks, falling to the dragon and requiring help before he can continue again. This is an interesting point because all throughout the story Redcrosse tries to "win" on his own, every time he fails. He needs help. This allegory says that man can not overcome sin alone, he must accept and use the help that is provided for him, and Redcrosse must fight and fall, and get up again and continue to fight. This idea is continued with the allegory of Christ. Man can not overcome sin without God's help, or Christ's death on the cross, and even Jesus had the help of his disciples and followers.

l where the Tree of Life cures him. I see these as references to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, where he eventually triumphs over evil but does not rid the world of it entirely. Redcrosse's falling and rising shows us how difficult sin is to overcome and tells us that we must keep getting up and attacking again if we wish to succeed as a good Christian. The Well could symbolize in Christian theology the baptism and the Tree could be the tree from the crucifixion as well as a representation of the tree in Eden. 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 Go

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