Lucifera is another of the big bads in book 1 of The Faerie Queene. She appears, relatively briefly, during the House of Pride episode, when the Redcrosse knight is temporarily under the spell of Duessa.
As her name suggests, Lucifera is closely tied to the devil (a.k.a. Lucifer).
Lucifera is the embodiment of pride, one of the seven deadly sins. And it is no wonder, therefore, that she is surrounded by the other six deadly sins, each represented by a different figure in various clothing reminiscent of the sin that they embody.
Lucifera sits on a high throne surrounded by tons of people that want the same status that she has. She clearly has a strong ego and thinks a lot of herself.
In addition to the six deadly sins, she is also accompanied by two individuals known as Vanity and Ambition.
Like Duessa, Lucifera is an antithesis to Gloriana, the Faerie Queen, as she represents the opposite of everything that Gloriana (representing Queen Elizabeth I) is supposed to embody.
She also shows a stark contrast to the characters of Celia and Alma, found later in The Faerie Queene who also have large houses that begin with “House of…”.
In short, it’s not a nice place.
See our complete list of Arthurian characters for more entries like this one.
Arthurian Bibliography
- Norris Lacy, Geoffrey Ashe, Debra Mancoff – The Arthurian Handbook (Second Edition)
- Alan Lupack – The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend
- Ronan Coghlan – The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Arthurian Legends
- Anonymous – Lancelot-Grail, the French Vulgate
- Sir Thomas Malory – Le Morte d’Arthur
See also my ever-expanding list of primary and secondary sources.
