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

The dwarf, Una, and Prince Arthur ride until they reach Orgoglio the giant’s castle. They blow a horn at the gate, and Orgoglio leaves Duessa to see what the noise is. Orgoglio is ready to fight, and he lifts up his big club, but Arthur dodges it.

Orgoglio is struck down so hard that his club gets stuck in the ground. While he is trying to bring it up, Prince Arthur smites off his left arm, causing streams of blood to flow out. The giant lets out a fearsome bellow. Duessa hears it and rides out the gate on her seven-headed beast, but Arthur’s squire stops her. Duessa has a golden cup that she uses to perform magic, and she uses it to weaken Arthur’s squire’s courage.

Angered by the magic Duessa used on his squire, Prince Arthur smites off one of the heads of Duessa’s mount. A sea of blood comes out and stains Duessa’s clothes. Duessa’s beast can’t bear the pain of losing its head, so it throws her off.

Meanwhile, Orgoglio the giant has recovered and comes charging at Prince Arthur. He brings his club down hard on Arthur’s shield and believes it impossible that any mortal could withstand such a blow. But as Arthur falls, a veil comes off his shield, and it lets out a blazing light that stuns both Orgoglio and Duessa’s beast. Orgoglio realizes that the shield represents a power that he won’t be able to overcome.

Prince Arthur smites off Orgoglio’s right leg below the knee, and the giant falls down like a tree, making the earth quake. Arthur goes over to give a mortal blow by chopping off the giant’s head. When the giant runs out of breath, his great body disappears, and all that’s left is an empty bladder.

Duessa grieves to see the fall of Orgoglio. The squire captures her and brings her to Prince Arthur. Una thanks them for all that they’ve done for her and asks that they keep searching for the dungeon that holds the Redcross Knight. They force their way into the castle and find that it’s seemingly deserted.

After searching around the castle, Prince Arthur and Una at last find a slow-moving old man who has the keys to every door in the castle. The old man is Ignaro, and he acted as a kind of foster father to Orgoglio. Ignaro doesn’t answer Arthur’s questions about the keys, so at last, Arthur just takes them.

Prince Arthur tries the keys on various doors in the castle and finds great quantities of gold, but the floors are dirty with the blood of innocents who have been slain. He finds an altar that depicts the martyrdom of Christians. After much searching, Arthur finally finds an iron door and calls through it. A weak voice responds to him.

Prince Arthur breaks down the iron door. He has to descend a long way in the dark cell, but finally, he finds the Redcross Knight, who has lost all his muscles and is now very weak. Una runs to see him and cries tears of joy. She curses Fortune for being so bad to her and the knight lately.

Prince Arthur asks what they should do about Duessa, the source of all their recent misfortune. Una suggests that instead of killing her, they should steal her robes and leave her naked. They do so, exposing Duessa as a wrinkled old witch. They let her go, and she flees into the wilderness. Una, the Redcross Knight, and Arthur stay in the giant’s castle for a while to rest.