The Facts on File Companion to British Poetry Before 1600

(coco) #1

explores the meanings of these last two identifi cations,
emphasizing what each teaches about charity.
Passus 17 begins with the fi gure of Spes (Hope)
searching for Christ and carrying a letter that says “love
God and your neighbor.” As Faith was identifi ed in
Passus 16 with Abraham who teaches the dreamer
about the Trinity, Spes is identifi ed with Moses. His
letter represents the law or covenant between God and
Israel given to Moses. In the Ten Commandments.
“Love God and your neighbor” is a summary of that
law endorsed by Christ in the Gospel of Luke in
response to the question from a scholar of the law,
“What must I do to be saved?” But if this law is suffi -
cient for salvation, it raises the question of why Christ
introduced a new law. At this point, perhaps comi-
cally, the dreamer seems to interpret Abraham/the
Trinity and Moses/“Love God and your neighbor” as
two different, mutually exclusive means of salvation.
This observation alludes to the question raised in Luke
10:29—“And who is my neighbor?”—which Christ
answers with the parable of the Good Samaritan, the
next and most important character to appear in Passus



  1. The point of the parable and Passus 17 is that
    everyone is one’s neighbor, and loving others enough
    to suffer for their benefi t is the highest expression of
    love for God, as it imitates Christ’s suffering for human-
    ity’s salvation.
    The Samaritan appears riding a mule to Jerusalem,
    allegorically aligning him with Christ. He is on his way
    to “joust” in Jerusalem with the “outlaw” (Satan) who
    robbed and injured a man the Samaritan encounters
    (fallen humanity). Faith (Abraham) and Hope (Moses)
    are unable to help the injured man; only the Samaritan
    can save the wounded man in an act of charity that
    comes at considerable personal cost. Described as rid-
    ing a horse called Caro (Flesh)—that is, the humanity
    assumed by Christ—the Samaritan brings the injured
    man to a farmhouse called Lex Christi (the law of
    Christ), an allusion to Galatians 6:2—“Bear one anoth-
    er’s burdens, and so fulfi ll the law of Christ.” Here the
    injured man can have his wounds washed (“baptized
    as it were”) in the blood of a baby born of a virgin and
    “plastered with the penance and passion [i.e., suffer-
    ing] of that baby.” His full health can only be restored
    by eating the baby and drinking his blood—that is,


receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion. For
those outside the church, the Samaritan says that until
he returns, Faith will guide them safely to Jerusalem
(Heaven), and Hope will lead those who cannot be
taught by Faith.
From this point to the end of the PASSUS, the Samari-
tan explains how the meaning of the Trinity can be
understood analogically through the image of a hand.
Another extended analogy follows where the Trinity is
likened to a torch or a candle where the fl ame (the
Holy Spirit) comes from the unity of the wax and wick
(the Father and the Son), bringing grace and mercy to
sinners—but only when the Spirit is present. The torch
is also compared to a good man who believes in the
Trinity and whose life is illuminated by Charity and
the Holy Spirit.
In this long theological excursus, the poet seems to
be struggling to reconcile God’s power, grace, and
mercy with human agency and merit. God’s ability to
save or damn people is absolute, but what humans do
must also be consequential in determining their fate.
WILLIAM LANGLAND wants to emphasize and also qualify
the disturbing idea that without Spirit, Christian beliefs
and practices are not salvifi c but damning. In the words
of the Samaritan, he makes a stern moral and social cri-
tique by naming acts of popular piety that are often per-
formed without charity and consequently have no
spiritual benefi t. The Samaritan ascribes the worst
lapses of and offenses against charity to rich people
whose avarice and envy lead them to physically kill or
murder the reputations of others. These acts are identi-
fi ed with the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit,
but somewhat paradoxically the Samaritan says that
even grave sins of this nature—for which there is no
possible restitution—are not necessarily unpardonable.
This observation brings Passus 17 to its conclusion
as the Samaritan warns of three things that drive a per-
son from his home, i.e., conditions conducive to sin.
The fi rst, likened to an intractably hostile wife who
drives off her husband, is the fl esh, meaning a willful
rejection of legitimate correction and the tendency to
make excuses for one’s own failure. This instance has
been subject to recent feminist criticism that also
addresses Langland’s misogyny holistically. The sec-
ond, likened to a roof that leaks in one’s bed, is sick-

328 PIERS PLOWMAN: PASSUS 17

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