Despair in the Redcrosse Knight

Despair was a false character who won over passersby with lies and the exact opposite of the truth. The Redcrosse Knight Is home to many supernatural and magical characters, but possibly one of the strangest is Despair. In the book The Redcrosse Knight, Despair is an invincible man who lives in a cave. He has the ability to brainwash passersby into committing suicide and has a good success rate for his evil acts. We first see him after a terrified knight and his horse come tearing away from his lair, the knight having a noose around his neck, saying that his friend had stabbed himself in the neck and he himself had barely escaped the man. When the Redcrosse Knight enters the lair, Despair immediately starts telling him why he should commit suicide and almost succeeds before Una gets the knight to snap out of it.

What is the irony in Despair trying to convince people to commit suicide?

The irony is that everything he says couldn't be falser. People who kill themselves don't get the rest and peace that Despair promised, they are immediately sent to torment. Despair tries to make people kill themselves by telling the exact opposite of the truth to win them over, while he doesn't gain anything from this but condemnation.