The Faerie Queene

The letter to Sir Walter Raleigh written by Edmund Spencer is mainly an allegory of the values of that epoch. The author tried to portray in King Arthur the twelve moral virtues. In fact, to him, Arthur “is the representation of the virtues of Magnificence. This is to say, he is the perfection of all the rest, and contained in it them all”. King Arthur was seen by the author as “a gentleman, a noble person in virtues and gentle discipline”.

Spencer’s book is an allegory, because he describes in a figurative or symbolic way, the representation of moral virtues through some characters such is King Arthur in this case. In his work, tried to emphasize through his different characters certain characteristics or virtues such are Holinesses which is represented by The Knight of the Red Crosse, Temperance expressed by Sir Guyon and Chastity by Lady Knight.

Having expressed all of this, I truly believe the author’s intentions to write the letter was to protect himself, mainly because was poor and was against some of religious concepts. The letter was a mode to defence in a certain way, his moral values.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Faerie_Queene http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/spenser/main.ht