When Edmund Spenser wrote his romantic epic The Faerie Queene, he.
An allegory is a literary device used.
to give a literary work two different meanings. One meaning is easily.
understood, but the second meaning is expressed through a more subtle.
approach. In a letter to Sir Walter Raleigh, Edmund Spenser wrote, "Sir.
knowing how doubtfully all Allegories may be construed, and this booke of.
mine, which I have entituled the Faery Queene, being a continued Allegory,.
or dark conceit." (514). In the letter, he is explaining to the readers.
that it is an allegory, so that they will look for a hidden meaning to.
objects in his epic. Later in the letter, Spenser went on to tell that.
each of the twelve books that he intended to write would symbolize one.
virtue. Then combined as a whole, they would represent a truly noble.
person. However, only six of the twelve were completed. "Each book of The.
Faerie Queene has as its centre a hero or heroine whose task is to learn a.
particular virtue by facing, falling before but ultimately discovering how.
to master, the specific vices which beset it" (Evans 143). The second book.
portrays the virtue of Temperance through the knight Sir Guyon. The Fairy.
Queen ordered him to locate and destroy Acrasia's seductive Bower of Bliss.
With his companion and guide, the Palmer, Sir Guyon completes his mission.
successfully, and after his encounters along the way, he becomes the virtue.
of Temperance.
II. Body Section.
In order for the reader to recognize the maturation of Sir Guyon,.
Spenser leads him on a path of temptation. Thus, after conquering all of.
his encounters, Sir Guyon will be a symbol of Temperance. The first test.
Sir Guyon faces involves characters from the First Book of The Faerie.
Queene. Sir Guyon and the wise Palmer meet Archimago, who has just escaped.
from prison. Archimago invents a story about a young girl who has been.
raped by a knight with a bloody cross on his shield. This knight is, of.
