Regenerating Into A New Adam

Edmund Spenser is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and one of the most distinguished poets in British literature history at the Elizabethan Age. With his brave innovation of the poetic form, he has given great influence on English poetry for his Spenserian stanza, as used in The Faerie Queene. The Faerie Queene is considered as Edmund Spenser's most rewarding epic. It is important for readers to understand Spenser's attitudes towards the allegorical presentation of virtues through Arthurian knights in the mythical Fairyland. Spenser follows the trace of the Italian masterpieces, such as Ariosto's Orlando furioso and Tasso's Gerusalemme literata (Jerusalem Delivered), which is defined as an amalgam of epic, romance, allegory, legend and myth. There are some striking similarities in terms of initiation between the Christian knight Redcrosse's experience in the wilderness and the French scholar Mircea Eliade's description of religious initiatory ceremony theory. Initiation involves hardships, growth, and rebirth. In Mircea Eliade's theory, initiation includes three phases:natural birth—death—rebirth. The natural birth refers to man's coming out from the mother's womb; death relates to the disappearance of the old self, and after the death of the old self comes the birth of a new self or the rebirth of the old self. Meanwhile, the process of maturity is like the journey in the wilderness, which means to atone for the sins of ancestors:Adam and Eve, as Frye said. Their final destination is to return to and rebuild the garden of Eden. On the way of adventures, human beings can abandon their sins and wickedness in order to gain rebirth and attain the Christian virtues.Therefore, in The Faerie Queene, Redcrosse Knight is regarded as the authoritative representative of human beings'growth in religious sensibility and emotions, which is reflected in the original theories of initiation. To some degree, Spenser shows solicitude for human beings' initiation, in his way reacted in The Faerie Queene.According to Mircea Eliade's initiation theory, this paper will demonstrate the personal growth up of Redcrosse knight in Book I of The Faerie Queene. In addition to Introduction and Conclusion, the main body of this thesis is composed of three chapters.The first chapter, based on the letter to Sir Walter Raleigh, illustrates that the aim of The Faerie Queene is to fashion a gentleman at the standard of Elizabethan time. The standard is to be an Arthur-like hero, who has the virtues of Christianity in the light of the hardships of the wilderness. In each book of The Faerie Queene, there is a knight as the protagonist. Redcrosse Knight is the main character in the legend of salvation of Una's kingdom in Book I. He experiences the initiatory ordeals through fighting with the different kinds of beasts. The ordeals give human beings to test his belief and self-examination to grow up. Human beings get the rebirth from the old self to the new self by means of Christian virtues. Eliade believes that initiation will come from the ordeals in the woods. And after the ordeals, human being is matured in his mind and body. That is to say, a new self must experience the hardships in the wilderness along with the clear mind of his wickedness.The second chapter will discuss the natural birth of Redcrosse Knight. Perceived from Mircea Eliade's theory of initiation, Redcrosse goes through the stage of a pseudo Christian knight. The ceremony of Redcrosse for his departure of saving Una's country is ironic and interesting, which Redcrosse behaves as a clown with low quality. The reason that he is chosen to complete the task of salvation is his original sin. Christianity insists on man's original sin at his birth. The way to Jerusalem is to return to Eden. And in Book I, Redcrosse Knight experiences a lot of dangerous situations due to his arrogance. Redcrosse is thrown into the dungeon by Orgiglio. In the dungeon, he faces the fear of death and loneliness. The death, especially the mental death, makes Redcrosse clearly realizes his sins.Chapter Three discusses Redcrosse's rebirth. Accoring to Christianity, even though Adam and Eve lost the Eden, God will help them out of troubles when Adam and Eve face the hardships. They are chosen to be children of God, and have the hope of being saved. Redcrosse Knight is like Adam and Eve to be chosen by Gloriana, agent of God, to complete the task of salvation. And God gives him the divine grace to finish his task. But the precondition that human beings must work hard to go through faith proof with good works. Professor Liu Lihui said that Divine grace brought to light the almighty power of God, and revealed itself as divine intervention in man's life, such as King Arthur. Based on his self-reflection, Redcrosse Knight can defeat his wickedness and keep his Christian belief in God so that he can reach into the spiritual Eden in his heart.As a kind of initiation study, and through a somewhat detailed study of the initiation as embodied in Redcrosse, this paper wishes to offer a new perspective to the study of The Faerie Queene.