A Comparative Essay on the Characteristics of The Faerie Queen’s Error and Beowulf’s Grendel
The presence of antagonists and evil nemesis has to be in fictional literature for a number of reasons. Antagonists have to be always with the protagonists to differentiate good from evil and to tempt and test the characteristics of the said protagonists. Ultimately, the greatness of the protagonist is exemplified more in the presence of evil, temptation, and suffering.
Sometimes, the evil entity can be a different person, a whole thing, or object. There are even cases where it would be the protagonist who is at war with himself or herself. But no matter what happens, an antagonist has to exist and be present. There are a considerable number of great villains in the world of literary fiction, and they have certain characteristics which ultimately make them villainous. Being a villain is not just characterized by the evil or antagonistic personality of the character—rather, they became villainous in the sense that they sway the protagonist from his or her actual goal or whatever destiny he or she needs to fulfill in the plot.
In the case of Edmund Spencer’s The Faerie Queen, there are numerous villains which are present—Archimago and Duessa being the two most prominent villains in Book I. However, at the beginning of the story, the main characters would encounter another villain by the name of Errour or Error, while at the end, Redcrosse would fight with the fierce dragon that has captured the parents and kingdom of Una (his beautiful lady companion). However, the villain in the character of Error/Errour (some translations use the one with the “u” while others have done away with it) is to be compared in this essay together with the villains in another famous epic—that of the epic of Beowulf—Grendel and Grendel’s mother.
In both plots, there consists a kinship of villains—that of Error who acts as the mother and another villain whom Error simply calls her “young or child.” In Beowulf’s case, Grendel is the one who is named, while the mother is simply referred to as “Grendel’s mother.” Their similarities lie in that both villains have their family member with them, and both would try to avenge the death of the other when it becomes known that the other has died. In true villainous form and character—both villains lack the patience and acceptance that the family member has died. If for example, a hero or heroine of whatever fictional work had their family member die by the hands of the antagonist, the hero or heroine would most likely avenge the death but with just cause—that is, when the village or kingdom was also harmed. However, both pairs of villains in The Faerie Queen and Beowulf acted on pure selfishness. Moreover, another trait to be pointed out is that both pairs of villains attacked the group of the hero (Beowulf and Redcrosse) without just cause, for the heroes were not really destroying the lair of the said antagonists—they were merely led to the villains’ lairs by accident and fate.
On a different note, the way that Error/Errour defended her child and the way Grendel’s mother defended Grendel is commendable and can truly hold as an evidence of a mother’s love for her child—in this case though, both mother and child are evil monsters who wish to kill good-nature human beings. However, as what the first part of this essay is essentially trying to point out, villains or antagonists are needed because they test the character of the protagonist. Without the villains, the good guys would not exactly exist.
Works Cited
Liuzza, R.M. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation. New York: Broadview Press, 2000.
Spenser, Edmund. The Faerie Queen. Ed. Thomas P. Roche and C. Patrick O’Donnell. New York: Penguin Classics, 1978.
A Comparative Essay on the Characters of Una and Duessa
in Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen
Female characters in fictional work—whether they act as the heroine or main protagonist of the literature or as the support character to emphasize the personality of the main lead protagonist—are very important since they show another side of the other characters. The interpersonal relationships of the characters with each other will determine their own traits and will determine how the reader will view each one of them. The female characters—whether they are good or evil—are emphatically necessary because sometimes, they are the ones who juxtapose the personality of the male protagonist. In the case of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, Una, the good beautiful lady who ends up with the brave knight, Redcrosse; and Duessa, the beautiful and malicious lady who connives with Archimago to test Redcrosse are both important players in the plot—that is to say they both play an important in bringing the character to his full potential and goal as a protagonist and both determines the outcome of the plot concerning Redcrosse’s fate.
At the start of Book I, Una and Redcrosse travel to to the kingdom of Una so as to slay the dragon which threatens to enslave the family (or parents) of Una in their own kingdom. Redcrosse sees it as his task to help Una. Una is exemplified as a character who is virtuous, truthful, and chaste. Under normal fictional literature circumstances, Una is actually just the normal damsel-in-distress who is kind—and that’s it. However, with the presence and entrance of Duessa, Una’s goodness is further emphasized since Duessa is doing the exact opposite things which Una would have done. Duessa, being a witch that she is, weaves lies of spells and mistaken identities so as to make Redcrosse become lustful towards Una. When that plan fails, Duessa makes it a point that Redcrosse would be appalled by Una’s behavior towards sex as the evil Duessa make it seem that Una has lost her chastity. All of these just happen in the beginning of Book I after Redcrosse has battled with the monster Error/Errour; and yet, the characteristics of both Una and Duessa as female members of the plot are already determined.
The evilness of Duessa is determined by the fact that she chooses to cause havoc and destruction in the relationship of Una and Redcrosse. By her acts and deception alone, Redcrosse would lose his way both as a Christian and as a Knight since he pledged to protect and save the family of Una from the dragons. Duessa’s evil personality cannot really be classified as villainous in the sense that no one was harmed physically or even killed in a horrible way. However, her character as an evil person is exemplified by the fact that her actions were intentional, and even if they were not intentional, they still became the means of a weakening relationship and faith between Redcrosse and Una.
On the other hand, Una is determined by her goodness by the fact that she is an exemplary symbol of womanhood and femininity—she was chaste, wanted to be chaste, and will do everything so as to keep her chastity. By the Christian ideals perhaps, that is one of the most important factors of being a woman—one virtue which Duessa does not possibly portray in whatever little way. Duessa even goes to great lengths to instill the sin of lust within Redcrosse (with the help of Archimago) and to make it a point that Redcrosse strips Una of her chastity or see Una as an unchaste woman.
Yet, as what was pointed out earlier, the role of the female is important for the reason that epics are not written for the absence of one—for in many cases, the male protagonists will move heaven and hell for the hand of the beautiful damsel-in-distress.
Works Cited
Spenser, Edmund. The Faerie Queen. Ed. Thomas P. Roche and C. Patrick O’Donnell. New York: Penguin Classics, 1978.
