Errour

I was particularly interested in the scene of the knight as he encountered the monster Error. Her description of grotesque: "Halfe like a serpant horribly displaide, but th' other halfe did womans shape retaine, most lothsom, filthie, foule, and full of vile disdaine." The description goes on to describe her ill- favored young who, like parasites were "sucking upon her poisonous dugs..." This disgusting creature echoes classical and biblical monsters according to the text. The author explains that she hates the light which is a direct contradiction to the knight because he represents good, truth, and innocence. He fights his foe but is overcome by her strangling grip, when it seems like the knight will lose, his lady companion calls out to him to kill the monster (an example of Una being a voice of reason). The knight then grasps Error's neck and slays her. The end of this scene depicts her parasitic children sucking up her spilled blood and exploding from their gluttony... gross. I wondered if there was any deep significance to Error, the fact that she was half woman, half snake, and her name was error made me wonder if Spenser was addressing some stereotype about women. Or possibly he just thought the idea was an interesting one, who knows?