Duessa

Duessa is a central figure in Edmund Spenser's epic poem The Faerie Queene (written toward the end of the 16th century). She stands as a personification of Falsehood and hypocrisy, and is often read as an allegorical representation of the Roman Catholic Church within the Protestant framework of Spenser's time. Duessa is introduced as a beautiful, regal woman who travels with the Redcrosse Knight and serves as a seductive foil to Una, the embodiment of Truth. While outwardly alluring, Duessa's true nature and intentions are deceptive; she employs magical disguises and eloquent rhetoric to mislead her companions and to oppose the virtuous path guided by Una.

The figure functions as a vehicle for allegory in the poem: her beauty masks corruption, and her claims of piety conceal moral failing and political deceit. Through her, Spenser explores themes of appearance versus reality, the fragility of virtue under temptation, and the peril of religious hypocrisy. The Redcrosse Knight's encounters with Duessa test his faith and resilience, contributing to the work's broader meditation on spiritual warfare and the striving for virtue.

Scholars view Duessa as a conventional allegorical emblem within Elizabethan religious polemics, while noting her narrative complexity as someone who can evoke both condemnation and pity. In critical discussions, she is cited as a canonical example of how Spenser uses personified abstractions to drive plot and moral discourse, and as part of the broader tapestry of The Faerie Queene’s engagement with virtue, truth, and deception.