Because meanwhile, the knights in Spenser's tale seem to "...rotate the service of virtue from legend to legend, which the stationless and free-lance Arthur functions once in each of their legends in their stead - like an itinerant Levite" (Nohrnberg, p. 39).

Meanwhile, Arthur is often the right man at the right time: "When the rightful exponent of any virtue in its normal functioning is helpless or elsewhere, it is the moment for Arthur, the helper from heaven" (Parker, 1960). When the Salvage Man has gone past the limits he can deal with, along comes Arthur along that forest path, to help.

And Spenser, in developing the character of Arthur with all his courage and steadfast loyalty to duty and to do what is right, and to protect others from harm, juxtaposes Arthur with the cowardly Shame, who is probably the only coward among the evil of the knights.

The poet depicts Shame fighting against others who are not armed, and who, though antagonists, don't put up much of a fight; and yet Shame runs away when the unarmed antagonists resist. Arthur, a bit later in the story, goes to Shame's rescue, which contrasts Shame's shameful lack of courage and valor with Arthur's full steam of courage and valor.

And still later readers receive a lesson in virtue (not a satirical one but allegorical in its message) and in morality (this may actually be a morality story, was the point posed at the outset of this paper) when two young knights, who have taken direct action (impetuously and foolishly) against Arthur after Turpine accused Arthur of "great discourtisie," get their due.

When one of the youth knights, Inexperience, lashes at Arthur with his sword, he "is killed by the blow Arthur returns" (Parker, 241). The lesson shared by Spenser here (and interpreted by Parker) is a lesson that rings "true to life. Youth may survive the encounter in which he has been deceived into taking the wrong side; inexperience cannot, it necessarily dies in the very act of...

Arthur, while not a youth, "is at all times the child of light," Parker states. "Even in sleep there is brightness about him." The poem - similar to a great deal of classic literature - uses darkness and light as symbols, to carry forward the allegory, the parody, the satire, the message. Spenser may have designed this poem "to illustrate the Gospel saying about those whose deeds are done in light, and those who love the darkness because their deeds are evil," Parker asserts.
With Arthur asleep, "shining like a star, and dark Turpine whispering to the knight to stab," to quote Parker (241), we have the juxtaposition of the hero and the dark character. Meanwhile, there are many disputes among the critics and pundits who have reviewed and analyzed the Faerie Queene; but few dispute that the poem has strong satirical tone (vis-a-vis Christianity and the way society interprets Christianity), and that it will always be a great work of literature not merely because of the literary genius itself, but because it stimulates thought, discussion, and debate - and always will.

References

Nohrnberg, James. The Analogy of the Faerie Queene. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976.

Parker, Pauline M. The Allegory of the Faerie Queene. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1960.

Spenser, Edmund. Faerie Queene, Book I. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1896.