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Redcrosse Timeline and Summary

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Redcrosse Timeline and Summary

  • Redcrosse, knight in training and hero of Book I, is charged by the Faerie Queene to slay a dragon bothering the kingdom of Una and her parents.
  • He and Una travel together, along with her dwarf, until they come upon the monster Errour, who Redcrosse slays.
  • Soon after, they come across the magician Archimago in disguise who takes them home and tricks Redcrosse into thinking Una is unfaithful to him. Tough luck.
  • Upset, Redcrosse leaves, meets and kill the knight Sansfoy and joins up with his companion, the witch Duessa, also in disguise. Worse and worse.
  • The two of them come across Fraudubio, a man changed into a tree by Duessa, but Redcrosse, alas, never figures this out.
  • They then arrive at the house of Pride, where Redcrosse fights with Sansjoy and becomes suspicious of the whole place after hearing about prisoners she keeps trapped.
  • He meets up again with Duessa and is defeated by the giant Orgoglio, who throws him in prison and makes Duessa his queen.
  • After a while, he's freed by Arthur and Una and the two swear eternal friendship before Arthur has to leave.
  • Una and Redcrosse then come across the knight Trevisan, fleeing from Despair, who Redcrosse then challenges himself.
  • But Despair is a tricky character, and almost convinced Redcrosse to kill himself before Una intervenes.
  • Una then takes Redcrosse to the house of Caelia where he learns how to live a moral, Christian life and where he learns his future identity as St. George.
  • They leave the house of Caelia and then, finally, come to Una's kingdom where Redcrosse fights the dragon for days and then finally kills him. Huzzah!
  • Una's parents are, naturally, overjoyed, and then Una and Redcrosse get engaged, after Redcrosse clears up a little misunderstanding about his past relationship with Duessa.
  • But Redcrosse's works isn't over yet since he's promised the Faerie Queene six years of service.
  • In fact, we meet him soon in Book II, where he's falsely accused by Duessa of raping her.
  • Guyon almost fights him over this, but luckily, they straighten everything out.
  • We then catch up with Redcrosse when he helps Britomart fight Malecasta's knights, and ends up telling her all about Arthegall.
  • They leave on good terms, swearing eternal friendship, and we don't meet Redcrosse again until Book V, where he knights Burbon.