House of Pride (Faerie Queene)
The House of Pride is a notable setting in Edmund Spenser's epic poem "The Faerie Queene" (1590, 1596). The actions of cantos IV and V in Book I take place there, and readers have associated the structure with several allegories pertinent to the poem. Summary of Canto IV. The House of Pride arrives in the text due to the Redcrosse Knight's struggles with materiality and his code of chivalry. The House is an emblem of sin and worldliness. The ruler of the palace is Lucifera, who is accompanied by her six counselors. Together  they represent the seven deadly sins. When the Redcrosse Knight encounters the palace, he is met with Lucifera and her parade. Each counselor, a sin, and the falsehood of the structure itself representing a flawed nature, altogether embody the House of Pride. The encounter, meant to expose the Redcrosse Knight to the faults of pride, more or less fails. He comes face-to-face with the short-lived pleasure of pridefulness, especially in meeting Lucifera, who is, allegorically, the antithesis to the good-natured Faerie Queene (Queen Elizabeth). Despite experiencing the fabrication of both place and person, Redcrosse continues to  indulge in pride. In Canto V, he battles Sansjoy in an effort to reclaim the shield of Sansfoy. This "vanity-driven fight" shows that he continues to value prize over modesty, despite his encounter with the House of Pride. The Seven Vices. In the House of Pride, the Redcrosse Knight sees Lucifera on a chariot being pulled by six counselors riding animals. With Lucifera symbolizing the sin of pride, the remaining six sins are represented by her counselors. Each counselor slightly resembles the animal he is riding. Physical construction. Upon the reader's first introduction to the House of Pride , Spenser describes: The House works twofold: on one hand, it represents humanity's attempt at recreating the divine in its own image, which further alludes to the Biblical tale this passage mirrors, the Tower of Babel. In this story, found in Genesis, the people of Babel say, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves." Seen in this light, both structures come to represent the inherent vanity that lies within the human artifice, which futilely attempts to imitate, if not surpass, the one true  Christian God. Simultaneously, the House of Pride works as a symbol for the current state of Redcrosse's mental disposition, as well as the status of his soul. Indeed, Redcrosse's departure from God has been witnessed through his multiple failed encounters with deceit prior to this canto, and his inability to distinguish between truth and deceit ultimately lead him to the doors of his own reflection: the House of Pride. Thusly we come to see this passage take on a much more impactful meaning: "But full of great pittie, that so faire a mould / Did on so weake a  foundation ever sit..." As aptly stated by Blythe, "[A]t this point, Redcross too is only a 'fair mould' on 'weak foundations' who is externally fair to the eye of the world, but inwardly he is becoming increasingly foul..." Overall, we come to see Redcrosse and his embrace of Pride, as a welcoming to un-Christian values, which subsequently cause him to stray from the righteous path, and ultimately result in his estrangement from God.