Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene features a number of characters who appear briefly, usually to influence Redcrosse at a critical point in his journey. Fradubio is one such character, given sixteen stanzas in a poem of over 600 stanzas. The importance of Fradubio's character becomes even more puzzling considering that his verses could be removed from Cantos II without discontinuity in the plot. Why is this talking tree important, both to the literal plot and the allegorical subplot? Fradubio functions as a parallel character to Redcrosse and the contrasts between them pose questions about how grace is lost and gained. Fradubio's tale is a brief preview of the plot, allowing readers to consider Holiness, Doubt, Grace, and other themes before they are fully addressed in subsequent cantos. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Fradubio is easily identifiable as a parallel character to Redcrosse, through comparison with cantos II and the poem as a whole. At the beginning of his tale, Fradubio is “In the prime of youth, when courage is hot/ The fire of love and the joy of the horse” (1.2.35.1-2) similar to the naïve Redcrosse, “his stag he has earned / To prove his might in brave battle” (1.1.3.6-7). Both men were accompanied by a beautiful lady: Fraelissa or Una. They meet Duessa through a victorious battle against her former partner. After some form of magical deception, each man exchanges the beautiful lady's company for Duessa. Eventually, his two-faced nature is revealed. After experiencing great hardship, men hope to acquire God's grace. The ambiguous inclusive pronoun Fradubio uses includes Redcrosse when he states, "'We cannot change,' he said, 'this evil situation, / until we are bathed in a living well'" (1.2.43.3-4). Fradubio has no way of knowing that Redcrosse will be saved by “The Well of Life” in the last cantos (1.11.29). At the time Redcrosse meets Fradubio in Cantos II, Redcrosse is only at the beginning of this shared story arc. An attentive reader may have a far-sighted view of Redcrosse's fate and already begin to think about how faith is lost and regained. However, Redcrosse fails to see this warning against Duessa or the foreshadowing of his own future in Fradubio's tale. Redcrosse, identified in Professor Drew Daniel's lecture as representing the Holiness, is repeatedly deceived by malevolent magic and deception. Examples include Archimago's illusions of a false Una, Duessa's beauty, the House of Pride, and nearly giving in to the arguments of Despair. The space around Fradubio and Fraelissa is so cursed that even the shepherds “drive out the ill-fated ground,” but Redcrosse fails to sense this animosity (1.2.28.8). When Redcrosse throws Fradubio's bloody branch into the ground, "Who by blood might be innocent," he seems to actively deny the insight that Fradubio can grant (1.2.44.6). Holiness embodies an innocence that borders on ignorance, which leads to the first key difference between the too-reliable Redcrosse as Holiness and Fradubio as 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 Redcrosse as well as the universal nature of Fradubio's predicament. “Doubt” denotes Fradubio's allegorical role as someone religiously conflicted, poised between truth and deception, faith and false faith,Protestantism and Catholicism. The first doubt Fradubio has is between the beauty of Fraelissa and Duessa. He makes the mistake of comparing only outward beauty, a category in which Duessa "dressed in scarlet, / Beaded with gold and pearls of rich sage" has charm (1.2.13.3-4). In the Norton Critical Edition footnote to this passage, Duessa is linked to the “pomp and hypocrisy of Rome [and Rome's Catholicism]” (23).Fradubio praises Fraelissa as “my dear love” (1.2 .31.6), “this kind Lady” (1.2.35.4) along with her beauty, while Duessa is recognized only for her external features. It can be concluded that the seed of doubt and false faith is based 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 manipulation by false faith is necessary to divert them from attaining grace. The next doubt in Fradubio's story is the discovery of Duessa's deception, which can be compared to the recognition of the evils 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 "not even deformed, monstrous parts / They 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 were to accidentally stumble across Duessa's true form, there would be no internal development that would allow him to see through her deception. Doubt is not reserved for regressions in faith; allows you to doubt your past misconceptions. Some instance or internal change must have caused Fradubio to question Duessa, such as the "feigned grief" of losing Fraelissa or the instinct that Fraelissa was "turned into tre?n mould" (1.2.39.7-8). He was then able to "see" Duessa's true form without literally seeing her. Therefore, the breakthrough to true faith requires inner growth, rather than a lucky accident of chance. Returning to the confrontation between Redcrosse and Fradubio, the former protagonist's plot is fully realized in a return to grace, while Fradubio's fate remains in a state of uncertainty. Fradubio's tale is such an accurate prediction of Redcrosse's journey, why not give Fradubio the same end that Redcrosse reaches? With only sixteen stanzas in which to ascertain Fradubio's character, it is difficult to conclude whether Holiness is by nature more deserving of grace than Brother Dubbio. Fradubio recognizes his own shortcomings: “a wretched man…whose nature is weak” (1.2.33.4). However, Redcrosse displays the same susceptibility to outward beauty and proud anger tendencies as Fradubio. As previously discussed, Brother Doubt lacks the innate innocence of Holiness. There are nuances that perhaps paint Fradubio's character as less suited to grace. Fradubio begins to argue in vain with Duessa's partner in defense of Fraelissa, who is apparently not threatened. At the beginning of Cantos II, Redcrosse is attacked by Sansfoy at Duessa's urging, and is forced to defend himself. All in all, such minor differences hardly seem to merit granting grace to one character and not the other. The main difference between Fradubio and Redcrosse, which might explain the disparity in the conclusions of their plots, is waiting versus action. When Fradubio notices Duessa's duplicity, “he abstained, in order to slip away, / As soon as he thought it was a safe opportunity” (1.2.41.6-7). Such half-hearted action against a being he knows to be evil causes the state of inertia that Fradubio is forced to adopt indefinitely, after Duessa transforms him into a tree..