The Faerie Queene: Book I: Canto IX Summary & Analysis

The narrator praises the knightly chivalry that led Prince Arthur to help free the Redcross Knight from his imprisonment. Eventually, it is time for Arthur to take his leave of the Redcross Knight and Una. Una asks where Arthur comes from, but Arthur replies that he was taken away at a young age and trained to be a knight, and so he doesn’t know.

Arthur talks about how the great wizard Merlin helped tutor him. Merlin told him that he was the heir of a king and would bring the light of truth. Arthur says that he has a secret wound, and Una asks what wound could trouble a gentle knight like him. Arthur explains that his wound is love. While he ignored love when he was younger, one day he was traveling through a forest and got off his steed to take a rest in the green grass when suddenly, in his slumber, he was greeted by a royal maiden.

The royal maiden filled Arthur with joy. They talked for a while, and when she left him, she revealed that she was called the Faerie Queene. When Arthur awoke, he was in love with the woman from his dream and vowed to go try to find her. He regrets that he may be seeking in vain, but Una reassures him that the Queene of Faeries must be honored to have a knight as brave and skilled as Arthur. The Redcross Knight talks about his own love for Una.

Arthur and the Redcross Knight shake hands, bound in friendship. Arthur gives the Redcross Knight diamonds, and in reply, the knight gives him a book containing the New Testament. They part, as Arthur goes off to seek his love.

As Una and the Redcross Knight travel, they run into an armed knight who is galloping towards them quickly, seemingly on the run from some enemy. When the Redcross Knight approaches the other knight (Sir Trevisan) and asks what’s the matter, the knight takes a while to come to his senses. At first, Sir Trevisan would prefer not to say what’s troubling him, but he eventually agrees to speak after the Redcross Knight reassures him that he’s out of danger.

Sir Trevisan speaks about how he used to keep company with a knight named Sir Terwin, who was a brave knight but who was unhappy because he loved a lady who was too proud to love him back. As Trevisan and Terwin rode away from the lady, they ran into a man called Despair who asked them who they were and what they’d been doing.

Sir Trevisan continues telling the story of how Despair listened to Trevisan and Terwin’s stories, then provided a rope to Trevisan and a rusty knife to Terwin, trying to persuade them both to kill themselves. Terwin did kill himself, but Trevisan was so afraid that he rode off at once. He believes he will keep riding and never know rest after seeing Despair, but he agrees to lead the Redcross Knight to Despair’s dwelling place.

Sir Trevisan leads the Redcross Knight and the others to a cave that’s so dark it resembles a grave. The Redcross Knight enters the cave and sees Despair sitting on the ground in the blood of Sir Terwin, with long, greasy hair and ragged clothes with thorns in them.

The Redcross Knight confronts Despair, saying that he should pay a price in his own blood for what he did to Sir Terwin. Despair, however, argues that what he did to Terwin was just and that now Terwin gets to enjoy eternal rest. According to Despair, a long life just gives more opportunity for sin, and more sin leads to a greater punishment after death.

Despair suggests that the Redcross Knight himself should lie down and take a rest so that he can be free from fear, sickness, sorrow, pain, and other difficult parts of life. He says that surely the Redcross Knight must have already heard death calling to him when he was locked up in the dungeon. He asks why the Redcross Knight would prolong the day of his death when surely, he has already built up a heaping pile of sins that he’ll have to account for on the day of judgement.

Despair lists some of the Redcross Knight’s specific sins, such as the way he was false with Una and instead chose to serve the evil Duessa. Despair says it’s God’s law that sinners should die, and so it is better that the Redcross Knight kill himself willingly and finally end his sorrows.

The Redcross Knight is moved by Despair’s words and thinks back on all the sins he’s committed, quaking. Despair sees that his words have weakened the knight. As the Redcross Knight sees death ahead of him, Despair brings out swords, ropes, poison, and fire for the knight to use against himself. Instead, however, the knight takes a dagger that he already has and holds it out in a trembling hand.

Just as the Redcross Knight is about to strike himself with his dagger, however, Una comes in and grabs it, throwing it down. She asks if he is really still the same knight who is able to slay a dragon in battle, then advises him not to listen to Despair’s words. She reassures him that heaven is merciful, then tells him that he must get out of Despair’s cave at once.

The Redcross Knight rises up and gets ready to leave. When Despair realizes that he’s lost his power over the knight, he tries to hang himself with a rope. But Despair has tried to kill himself before, and no matter how many times he tries, death never comes.