f Jesus by the Devil were needed in order to test and strengthen Jesus' faith and restraint so that he could free the world of original sin. In comparison the many trials of Red Cross also serve as a rite of passage to help his abilities grow and his talent blossom. For every test he passes the closer he comes to being the complete romance knight. Without the tests he would not have been able to defeat the dragon and free Princess Una''s kingdom. Another allusion to Christ occurs when Red Cross is rescued by Prince Arthur from Orgolio the Giant and Duessa.Therewith the Gyant buckled him to fight, Inflamed with scornful wrath and high disdaine, And lifting up his dreadful club on hight, All armed with ragged snubbes and knottie graine, Him thought at first encounter to have slaine...(I.viii.st.7) Arthur, who is the hero of The Fairie Queen, is brought by Una to save her champion. During the rescue, Arthur directly reflects Christ in his actions. Arthur is everything Red Cross can become and has all of the perfect qualities and values of a knight. According to the third footnote of the canto "the battle between Orgolio and Arthur shadows that of the Redeemer against the Antichrist." Once Orgolio is defeated there are a few lines in stanzas 35 and 36 which serve as "spiritual echoes reinforcing the association of Arthur with Christ:"And there beside of marble stone was built, An Altare, carved with cunning imagery, On which true Christians bloud was often spilt, And holy Martyrs often to dye,... (I.viii. st.36)These lines reflect the passage "The Killing of the Children" in Matthew 2.16: "Herod gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its neighborhood who were two years old and younger..." In Prof. Kaske's handout on "Una's champions in Sequence", she calls Arthur "a superman, that typifies 'The Greater Man' in the Harrowing of Hell of Hell," or when he frees Red Cross from the dungeon. The Harrowing of Hell is described ...
