The Faerie Queene, Book I, Canto IV

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So having solacèd themselves a space

With pleasaunce of the breathing fields yfed,

They backe returnèd to the Princely Place;

Whereas an errant knight in armes ycled,

And heathnish shield, wherein with letters red

Was writ Sans joy, they new arrivèd find:

Enflamed with fury and fiers hardy-hed,

He seemd in hart to harbour thoughts unkind,

And nourish bloudy vengeaunce in his bitter mind.

This stanza from The Faerie Queene opens with a description of the trip that Lucifera, the Queen of her “House of Pride”, takes in her golden coach. She is accompanied by her six counselors, named for six of the seven deadly sins: all but pride, represented by Lucifera herself. Also along for the ride is Duessa, a witch disguised as an innocent young maid named Fidessa. The passage explains that the group has just enjoyed a trip to a fragrant field, where they "fed" themselves with its pleasant scent. After this excursion, the caravan returns to "the Princely Place," Lucifera's lavish palace. Upon arriving, the group finds a knight who is prepared for battle, holding a shield that bears his name, "Sans joy," in red letters. The knight is described as bold and fierce, his heart filled with rage; he supposedly has his mind set on "bloudy vengeaunce." Sans joy is guided by his desire to avenge the slaying of his brother, Sans foy, by the Redcrosse Knight. As Sans joy’s violent nature becomes apparent, a bloody battle waged between the two knights seems inevitable, making this a crucial twist in the play's plot. While tensions have been rising up to this point in the fourth Canto, with the introduction of Lucifera and her counselors, and their obvious link to immorality and even Satan himself, the reader still waits for actual conflict to arise. Now, as the other characters encounter Sans joy, with his obvious intent to fight and kill the Redcrosse Knight, this conflict has seemingly arrived.

A more in-depth reading of this passage, however, reveals that the situation is more complex than its literal surface story. Firstly, an examination of the diction in the first two lines as contrasted with the characters those lines describe reveals Spenser’s use of irony. Lucifera and her companions are described as “having solacèd themselves.” The word solace implies comfort and consolation, and, according to the second line, the eight travelers found this by “feeding” themselves with the fragrance of a sweet-smelling field. When considering the characters on this outing, however, it’s hard to imagine that any of them would receive comfort in such a way. Lucifera, for instance, derives pleasure only from pride in herself, her power, and her material possessions, and would unlikely see any value in the breathing in of nature. Likewise, Idleness cannot be bothered to “uphold his heavy head” in order to take in this field, Gluttony cares for nothing more than the food and drink he constantly gorges on, Lechery is satisfied only by lust and the temptation of women, and so on for all of the characters. Therefore, Spenser portrays Lucifera and her companions opposite to their real nature, making them out to be the peaceful, amicable characters in this scene.

What can one make of this incongruity? Well, proceeding to the following lines, Spenser’s diction describing Sans joy seems to designate the knight as the passage’s villain. His shield is described as “heathenish,” implying that its carrier is an uncivilized barbarian. Further descriptions of the knight as “enflamed with fury” and “[harbouring] thoughts unkind” in his “hart” associate him with extreme anger and malice. Sans joy is described as violent as well; this is conveyed through the “bloudy vengeaunce” that supposedly consumes him, as well as through symbolism in the red letters on his shield, where the color red is often associated with blood. Even his name follows this pattern, since “sans” is the French word for without, making his name “Without joy.” In fact, this description of Sans joy sounds like a more accurate portrayal of the inhabitants of the House of Pride.

Since the riders in Lucifera’s golden coach are portrayed ironically in this passage, is it reasonable to theorize that perhaps Sans joy’s character similarly differs from his description here? While I’m not exactly thrilled with the prospect of this knight inflicting a violent death on the Redcrosse Knight, Sans joy does not seem to me to be the entirely evil villain that these lines imply he is. While he undoubtedly wishes to avenge his brother’s death, one cannot completely hold him at fault for this. After all, even if his brother did charged the Redcrosse Knight, forcing him to attack in self-defense, Sans joy was not present to witness the exact circumstances leading to the killing. Naturally, one brother would feel anger and grief at the death of another, and here Sans joy runs into the Redcrosse Knight insultingly carrying his Sans foy’s shield upside down, the woman who was presumably Sans foy’s lover in tow. Sans joy seems at least relatively justified in wanting retaliation, especially considering that brutal and bloody fights among knights were not uncommon. Furthermore, although his thoughts of “bloudy vengeaunce” and his fury make Sans joy seem ruthlessly violent, in Canto 3, he is brought into an angry frenzy at the sight of the sorcerer Archimago disguised as the Redcrosse Knight. When his disguise falls off, however, Sans joy realizes he has the wrong man, and spares Archimago’s life. This demonstrates that the knight isn’t just a blood-thirsty villain, but is rather behaving in accordance with the not-so-uncommon policy of “an eye for an eye.” Therefore, Spenser’s description of Sans joy, while perhaps not far-off enough to be ironic, is certainly laced in hyperbole, exaggerating his villainous qualities. Similarly, Lucifera and her counselors are placed in an ironic setting that represents a complete opposite of their characters.