Touching The Cave of Despair

Edmund Spencer’s “The Faerie Queene” holds in the ninth canto of Book I a rare gem about “The Cave of Despair.” Written in the late 1580’s, it contains adventure, intrigue, fantastic characters, and a deeply intellectual and theological theme dealing with the problem of evil, the condition of man, and man’s limited conception of God’s relationship with him, all of which, of course, deal with the very meaning of life. St. George, the Red Cross Knight, is protector of Una (True Religion) and has recently been freed by Arthur from the dungeon of Duessa (falsehood). Still weak, he encounters a knight fleeing the terror of Despair. St. George rushes to meet this foe to see justice done for the deaths he has caused. As a Christian, the confrontation that occurs in the cave had a great impact upon my memory. Some of my more difficult recollections are my encounters with the damning finger of the law which seems to drill into my heart and pronounce death eternal. Justice, were we to demand it, would never be satisfied, hence the eternal nature of hell; the never-ending torment to pay for Sin and rebellion.

And yet when we see the Red Cross Knight being driven to despair, we know that there is hope, though we may not be able to express it in words. When St. George grasps the hilt of the dagger offered by Despair, we gasp in shock as he prepares to end his life and his years, abandoning his purpose. Despair preys on the guilty conscience while appealing to the pride of human reason, for human reason, above all else, desires to be independent and sufficient, correct beyond dispute. The finite reason of man declares that forgiveness is impossible and that man is without God. Thus man rejects logic and disregards the infallible premise of the Loving Grace of God, for man’s reason, without the aid of Faith, is sinful and base and cannot grasp or comprehend the Infinite; man is incapable of comprehending the incomprehensible work accomplished by the person of Jesus Christ. Therefore it is only with the aid of Faith as worked in us through God’s word and the work of the Holy Spirit that we can hope to defeat such despair. Indeed it has been defeated by Jesus Christ on the cross. So St. George who is to defend Una also is in need of Una’s aid if he is to survive.

http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~rbear/queene1.html#Cant.%20IX

(Joseph Gutschmidt)