The House of Pride and the House of Holiness - The Comparison.

The House of Holiness is well organized and disciplined, almost like a monastery, while the House of Pride is organized loosely and without discipline, like a court.  While social climbing and frivolous entertainment, to distract and divert the bored people, are of main importance at the House of Pride, in the House of Holiness the habitants are too busy to need or want such things.  The Seven Deadly Sins are the motion or the ‘wheels’ behind the notion of the House of Pride or hell, with Queen Lucifera in charge. But at the House of Holiness it’s the corporal acts of mercy and the seven godly men who tend the poor that substitute and stand as a contrast to the Seven Deadly Sins.  

Furthermore, while duality (Duessa), Vanity, joylessness (Sansjoy) and Lucifera dwell in the House of Pride, the House of Holiness is inhabited by fidelity (Fidelia), hope (Speranza), charity (Charissa), humility (Humilita), Zeal and Reverence, to name a few.  Even the language that Spencer uses emphasizes the differences between the houses; language used in description of the House of Holiness suggests nice decorum and appropriateness, while the language used in description of the House of Pride suggests excess and false appearance.  Further contrast between the houses is manifested through mention of descent to hell and dungeon at the House of Pride, while at the House of Holiness, transcendence, ascent of mountain and vision of Jerusalem are mentioned.  Even the fact that Redcrosse Knight does not see the descent to hell himself implies that he is unaware of the danger of the sin he fell in, while he does see the ascent of mountain and therefore has a clear vision of the righteousness and heaven.  

While at the House of Pride, Redcrosse Knight loses the sight of his quest, while at the House of Holiness he regains the vision of not only his quest, but also his identity and his destiny.  

        House of Pride is the embodiment of the fair-seeming evil, characterized by glitter and the scramble for wealth, place and power.  Its roadway is built of the bones from all the fallen souls who gave everything for this world of false glitter and wealth.  However, it is not the secular that matters in the House of Holiness but the sacred.  Its discipline echoes the traditional path to spiritual union with the divine: the purgative, the illuminative and the uniting ways, all applied to Redcrosse Knight during his stay at the House of Holiness.  Also, the strengthening and amelioration of Redcrosse Knight’s health is actually a medical metaphor, as the good health leads to good spirit (soul), which leads to salvation. And the final view, the view that Redcrosse Knight beholds from the House of Holiness is a view of the righteousness and of heaven.  And despite all the trouble and temptations he went through, heaven and love for God is something to be striven and waited for.