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- (b) It is a peculiarity of Allegory as compared with other motives that it varies in intensity: sometimes so clear that for every pictorial detail there is a moral detail underlying it [this is 'Formal Allegory,' or it may be described as Mediæval, or 'Bunyanesque']—sometimes producing its effect by a general suggestiveness—sometimes difficult to trace at all without violence of interpretation [though its reappearance a little later will suggest that it has been present all the time].
- (c) These variations put together give a sense of movement to the Allegory as a whole, a sort of rise and fall [compare effect of partial mist in landscape, the moon 'wading' amongst clouds]—and to fully appreciate it a sort of mental touch must be cultivated.
- (d) Remember: the Allegory of the Faerie Queene is (at least) double: Moral and Political.
3. Interest of Movement.
- (a) The Linking of each Scene or Incident to that which precedes and follows. A subtle agency in idealizing is to avoid natural concatenation of incident—e.g. scenes melt into one another as in dreams—or cross-linking [comp. game of Cross-tig].
- (b) The Working together of the different Incidents to a common purpose.
B.
The Allegory Traced Through the Second Book
| Incidents. | Moral Allegory. | Rise & Fall in Allegory. |
Meeting of the Red Cross Knight with Sir Guyon [i.1-34].
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Temperance in espousing causes. Also [by the Palmer 1. 7] Temperance connected with Religious Experience.
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Flashes out at the end [i-32].
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Incident of Mordaunt and Amavia [i.34-61]—leading to Marvel of the Bloody Babe [ii.1.11].
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Temperance doubly contrasted with unbridled Pleasure and unbridled Agony. Intemperance and hereditary stain. Also [compare old Metamorphosis Stories] Purity as a Passion.
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Lost in human interest till suddenly expounded [i. 57]. Expounded [ii. 5] and by implication extended to the whole world of Metamorphosis.
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Scene: the Castle of Medina [ii.11-46]—with the Hero's Story [ii.39-46].
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Main point of the whole Allegory: Temperance as the Golden Mean. Also: Temperance under petty vexations [ii. 12].
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Rises to the pitch Formal Allegory.
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