Redcrosse and the Descent into Hell

The first Book of The Faerie Queene alludes from its outset to classical and medieval contexts; the procession of sins and the descent into hell in cantos iv and v draw our attention to such allusions with an increasing emphasis and, by canto v, insistence. As the critical tradition testifies, these passages call attention to themselves, partly because of their length, partly because of their styles and subjects, partly because of their relatively loose connection with the story of Redcrosse. In canto iv Redcrosse enters the House of Pride, where he first witnesses a long procession of deadly sins and later encounters Sans Joy. In canto v Redcrosse actually fights Sans Joy and appears to defeat him. The canto then moves from Redcrosse, wounded by Sans Joy but resting in the House of Pride, to hell, where Sans Joy, defeated but not destroyed by Redcrosse, has been concealed, and back from hell for a final glance at Rederosse. Cantos iv and v form a loosely sequential unit: both are concerned with a single episode, Redcrosse's visit to the House of Pride, and together they are framed by cantos dealing with the wanderings of Una (I. iii, vi) . Narrative and thematic ties between these two cantos make contrasts between them more striking. Especially after the association of vice with a formal, surface order in the procession of canto iv, the increasingly casual, even loose, ordering of canto v-most notably in hell (I. v. 36-37, 45) -invites our asking why this technique should occur just here. Details of the descent into hell and the sheer length of this incident raise further questions about the unity of canto v, the significance of hell, and the precise nature of its relation to Redcrosse.1 We find ourselves asking why large sections of the episode in the

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