Despair can be a great boon in the Christian life, but it can also destroy it. Despair, if taken to its most extreme conclusion, was seen as the unforgivable sin in the Renaissance (Snyder 50). To despair was to reject the only thing that could bring a believer out of his or her despair, for an “awareness of and sorrow for past sin, always the first step of fallen man on his way to salvation, may lead him into such self-loathing that he feels--and therefore is--beyond the reach of God’s mercy” (Snyder 20). The Redcrosse Knight’s problem lies not in Despair’s exposure of the Knight’s self, but in Despair’s warping of the knowledge of God.
Finally, after bringing the Knight to the lowest of lows, the fateful moment between Despair and Faith comes. …show more content…
As Una and the Redcrosse Knight leave the Cave of Despair, Despair takes a rope, and “with it hung himself” (FQ.I.ix.54.483). Despair is attempting to end his life in the same way he was attempting to convince the Knight, but he is utterly incapable: “death he could not worke himself thereby; / For thousand times he so himselfe had drest, / Yet natheless it could not doe him die” (FQ.I.ix.483-484). Despair cannot be ended by death, for the death of those despairing of salvation is the most palpable form of Despair. To die in a state of rejecting God’s mercy is to enter into eternal despair: “despair is the very atmosphere of hell, since grace is no longer possible there” (Sydney 59). Despair is only ended by reinstating the proper knowledge of God in relation to the proper knowledge of the self, not by abandoning both through …show more content…
On this lonely apex of the mountain, Contemplation tells him of his true Christian name, both in the sense of his baptismal name and in his metaphorical standing as a Son of God. Contemplation reveals that the Redcrosse Knight “Shalt be a Saint, and thine own nations frend / And Patrone: thou Saint George shalt callèd bee, / Saint George of mery England, the signe of victoree” (FQ.I.x.61.547-549). The Redcrosse Knight at last has a solid identity and self-knowledge. It is as Augustine suggested: to seek out God is to also seek out one’s self (Schwartzmann
Finally, after bringing the Knight to the lowest of lows, the fateful moment between Despair and Faith comes. …show more content…
As Una and the Redcrosse Knight leave the Cave of Despair, Despair takes a rope, and “with it hung himself” (FQ.I.ix.54.483). Despair is attempting to end his life in the same way he was attempting to convince the Knight, but he is utterly incapable: “death he could not worke himself thereby; / For thousand times he so himselfe had drest, / Yet natheless it could not doe him die” (FQ.I.ix.483-484). Despair cannot be ended by death, for the death of those despairing of salvation is the most palpable form of Despair. To die in a state of rejecting God’s mercy is to enter into eternal despair: “despair is the very atmosphere of hell, since grace is no longer possible there” (Sydney 59). Despair is only ended by reinstating the proper knowledge of God in relation to the proper knowledge of the self, not by abandoning both through …show more content…
On this lonely apex of the mountain, Contemplation tells him of his true Christian name, both in the sense of his baptismal name and in his metaphorical standing as a Son of God. Contemplation reveals that the Redcrosse Knight “Shalt be a Saint, and thine own nations frend / And Patrone: thou Saint George shalt callèd bee, / Saint George of mery England, the signe of victoree” (FQ.I.x.61.547-549). The Redcrosse Knight at last has a solid identity and self-knowledge. It is as Augustine suggested: to seek out God is to also seek out one’s self (Schwartzmann