Morpheus is a minor character that appears in book 1 of The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser. He is a god of sleep and dreams, which may sound harmless, but was actually villainized in the text.
Oversleeping and idleness were considered morally questionable, which is why Morpheus appears as a villain in the fairyland.
During the story, Morpheus provides false dreams to the Redcrosse knight, dreams that affect his decisions later on when he wakes up.
Morpheus lives in a distant cave, seemingly completely removed from the real world, and yet his dreams were still able to have a tangible effect on our characters.
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.
