Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene presents a chart of characters who appear briefly, usually to influence Red Cross at a critical moment in his journey. Fradubio is one of these characters, blessed with sixteen stanzas in a poem of over 600 stanzas. The importance of Fradubio's character becomes more puzzling given that his stanzas could be removed from Cantos II without a discontinuity in the plot. Why is this talking tree important, both to the literal storyline and to the allegorical subplot? Fradubio functions as a parallel character to Red Cross and the contrasts between them raise the question of how grace is lost and obtained. Fradubio's tale is a succinct preview of the plot to come, allowing readers to consider holiness, doubt, grace, and other themes before they are fully addressed in later cantos. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Fradubio is easily established as a parallel character to Red Cross, in comparison to Cantos II and the poem as a whole. At the beginning of his story, Fradubio is "In the prime of youth, when courage is hot/The fire of love and joy of chivalree" (1.2.35.1-2) similar to the naive Red Cross, “his heart won/To prove his might in brave battle” (1.1.3.6-7). The two men were accompanied by a beautiful lady: Fraelissa or Una. They meet Duessa through a victorious battle against her former companion. After a sort of magic trick, each man exchanges the company of the beautiful lady for Duessa. Eventually, his two-faced nature is revealed. After experiencing great trials, men hope to acquire the grace of God. The ambiguous inclusive pronoun used by Fradubio includes Red Cross when he states: "'We cannot change,' he says, 'this evil fate,/Until we are bathed in a living well'" ( 1.2.43.3-4). Fradubio has no way of knowing that Red Cross will be saved by “The Well of Life” in the last songs (1.11.29). By the time Redcrosse meets Fradubio in Cantos II, Redcrosse only at the beginning of this shared story arc. An attentive reader can get an idea of ​​the fate of the Red Cross and already begin to think about how faith is lost and found. However, Red Cross does not see this warning against Duessa or the foreshadowing of its own future in Fradubio's account. Red Cross, identified in Professor Drew Daniel's lecture as representing holiness, is repeatedly deceived by ill-intentioned magic and deception. Examples include Archimago's delusions of a false Una, the beauty of Duessa, the House of Pride, and almost giving in to the arguments of Despair. The space around Fradubio and Fraelissa is so cursed that even the shepherds "avoid the unlucky ground", but Red Cross cannot sense this animosity (1.2.28.8). When Redcross drives Fradubio's bloody branch into the ground, "that from blood he may be innocent," he seems to be actively denying the insight that Fradubio can grant (1.2.44.6). Holiness embodies an innocence that borders on ignorance, which leads to the first fundamental difference between the overly trustworthy Red Cross in the role of Holiness and Fradubio in the role of Brother Doubt. Fradubio is identified in the footnotes of the Norton critical edition of The Faerie Queene as meaning "Brother Doubt" (Maclean and Prescott, 28). “Brother” denotes Fradubio's connection to the Red Cross as well as the universal nature of Fradubio's plight. The “doubt” designates the allegorical role of Fradubio asthat person in religious conflict, oscillating between truth and deception, faith and false faith, Protestantism and Catholicism. Fradubio's first doubt concerns the beauty of Fraelissa and Duessa. He makes the mistake of comparing only outward beauty, a category in which Duessa "clad in scarlet, / Adorned with gold and pearls in rich measure" has appeal (1.2.13.3-4). In the footnote to this passage from Norton Critical Edition, Duessa is linked to "the pomp and hypocrisy of Rome [and to Rome's Catholicism]" (23).Fradubio praises Fraelissa as "my dear love" ( 1.2.31.6), “this gentle Lady” (1.2.35.4) as well as her beauty, while Duessa is only recognized for her external features. We can conclude that the germ of doubt and false faith rests on superficial appearances. Also note that Fradubio and Redcrosse cannot reject the true faith without the active intervention of Duessa or Archimago. Good men may be susceptible to doubt, but it takes manipulation by false faith to distract them from obtaining grace. The next example of doubt in Fradubio's story is the discovery of Duessa's deception, which can be likened to the recognition of the misdeeds of the Catholic Church. There is a strange contradiction in the scene in which Duessa's true form is revealed: as Professor Daniel pointed out, Fradubio claims to see "certain misshapen, monstrous parts / were hidden in the water, which I could not see” (1.2.41.1-2). ). This contradiction is necessary to maintain Fradubio's role as Brother of Doubt. If Fradubio stumbled upon Duessa's true form, there would be no internal development allowing him to see through her deception. Doubt is not reserved for regressions in faith; this allows one to doubt their past misconceptions. Some internal event or change must have caused Fradubio to question Duessa, such as the “feigned pain” of losing Fraelissa or the instinct that Fraelissa was “turned to mold” (1.2.39.7-8). He was then able to "see" Duessa's true form without literally seeing her. Thus, turns toward true faith require inner growth rather than serendipity. Returning to the comparison between Redcrosse and Fradubio, the story of the former protagonist is fully realized in a return to grace, while Fradubio's fate remains in a state of uncertainty. Fradubio's story is such an accurate prediction of the Red Cross' journey, why not give Fradubio the same goal that Red Cross achieves? With only sixteen stanzas to determine Fradubio's character, it is difficult to conclude whether Holiness naturally deserves more grace than Brother Doubt. Fradubio recognizes his own faults: “miserable man…whose nature is weakening” (1.2.33.4). However, Red Cross displays the same susceptibility to external beauty and the same tendency toward proud rage as Fradubio. As discussed previously, Brother Doubt does not have the innate innocence of holiness. There are nuances that perhaps make Fradubio's character less worthy of grace. Fradubio unnecessarily begins a fight with Duessa's companion to defend Fraelissa, who faces no apparent threat. Earlier in Canto II, Red Cross is attacked by Sansfoy at Duessa's request, and he is forced to defend himself. Overall, such minute differences hardly seem worth granting grace to one character over the other. The main difference between Fradubio and Redcrosse, which could explain the disparity in the conclusions of their plots, is expectation versus action. When Fradubio realizes Duessa's duplicity, he "abstains, intending to slip away, / as soon as a sure opportunity gives him..