Allegories: what a mystery!

Thanks to the class I could try to find some answers to all questions in my mind about this letter and the class questions that I had before it. Seeking the perfection in humans, Spencer thought King Arthur was near about a perfect human, obviously, he was fixed by Spencer’s addition of his pretty emphasized 12 values, especially, holiness, temperance and chastity. Spencer chose this King because I guess he was very famous in those times an also he was helped by Merlin and other mystic creatures of the middle ages. Therefore, Spencer told to Raleigh about the heroes of the other times such us Ulysses, Virgil, Tasso, etc. which with them Spencer could make a mix with the best of the best and create this perfect King Arthur, then. Moreover, what I understood in this letter was Spencer tried to send messages through these books that it was what actually, the British Empire was or needed as an empire and as an invader on new lands called colonies. When he emphasized some of the 12 values such as holiness, temperance, and chastity could be the meaning of the knight of “Red Crosse” (their flag as symbol of power), Sir Guyon... “The Forth” (sir: English nobility; forth: until the end, forward, etc. – England needed to find more territories and more modern development, or they already had them)” and the lady knight (“Elizabeth I?” who was the most of her time alone), respectively. This must be his allegory, because allegory means hidden messages among a story which could have a moral, but the main intention is to awake the reader’s curiosity and thoughts about the story to analyze its meanings.

Supposedly, Spencer explained his intentions of his books in this letter, but I believe that this letter was another Spencer’s allegory, because there are many things in this letter that I could not catch instead of being more explicit, that is the reason to send this letter, isn’t it? So, maybe he explained his intentions to save his life from people whom misunderstood his books; or perhaps he tried to send those messages to Sir Raleigh taking advantages from those supposedly people’s misunderstandings, and explain the real meaning in codes that only Spencer and Sir Raleigh were aware about. According to Spencer’s references or bases such as Aristotle, Plato and others philosophers, virtuous people and politics; this letter and the 12 books could me allegories and messages.

Having or not the reason, this way of thinking, analyzing and seeking the meaning beyond what we read is very interesting.