What Means a Knight? Red Cross Knight and Edgar

This chapter views Redcross Knight (The Faerie Queene) and Edgar (King Lear) as chivalric knights, and studies Spenser's and Shakespeare's own uses of materials from the chivalric romance tradition. It then determines Spenser's and Shakespeare's attitudes towards knights and chivalry as possible signs of modern perspectives as the medieval world transitioned into the modern world. The chapter also explores both works through their intimate familiarity with chivalric romances, as well as their conventional materials.