Discuss the Faerie Queene as an allegory.

Nearly every character in the Faerie Queene can be considered an allegory of some larger concept or virtue, and often these allegories are multi-faceted. In Book One, for example, the Redcrosse Knight is an unlikely hero; instead of deploying the larger-than-life, fully-capable heroism that protagonists of epic poems often have at the outset, Redcrosse has to grow into the hero he will eventually become. In many ways, Redcrosse is portrayed as completely fallible (he even has a run-in with the allegorical Error, emphasizing his ability to make mistakes). Book One therefore centralizes what many would describe as an "average" person as its hero, interrupting audience's expectations for an epic poem.

However, Redcrosse eventually earns his heroic title when he slays the fearsome dragon and saves Una and her family. His complex character – as a fallible human and a near-divine hero – is precisely what earns him an important allegorical role in the text. Redcrosse, in both name and characterization, is an allegory for Jesus Christ and the holiness espoused by the Biblical son of God. His name is a direct reference to the crucifixion, and his feat in slaying the dragon makes him a savior to those spared. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is both fully human and fully divine, and Redcrosse embodies this combination in his character trajectory from an uncertain fighter to a saintly savior. He even experiences his own "resurrection" of sorts during his battle with the dragon, in which the magical fountains erase his wounds altogether and render him a "new-borne" knight (1.11).