ness and sorrow that one should accept and suffer
without complaint or anger. Historicists have contex-
tualized this image within the framework of the BLACK
DEATH. The third, likened to a smoky fi re that blurs
one’s vision, is covetousness and unkindness that
inhibit God’s mercy. After all these dire warnings, the
Samaritan departs, reassuring the dreamer that no one
is so corrupt that he may not learn charity and reform
himself.
See also ALLEGORY, PIERS PLOWMAN (OVERVIEW).
FURTHER READING
Davlin, Mary Clemente. “Piers Plowman as Biblical Com-
mentary.” Essays in Medieval Studies 20 (2003): 85–94.
Godden, Malcolm. The Making of Piers Plowman. London
and New York: Longman, 1990.
Waldron, R. A. “Langland’s Originality: The Christ-Knight
and the Harrowing of Hell.” In Medieval English Religious
and Ethical Literature, edited by Gregory Kratzman and
James Simpson, 66–81. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1986.
Warner, Lawrence. “Jesus the Jouster: The Christ-Knight
and Medieval Theories of the Atonement in Piers Plowman
and the ‘Round Table’ Sermons.” The Yearbook of Langland
Studies 10 (1996): 129–143.
Daniel P. Knauss
Piers Plowman: Passus 19 and 20 WILLIAM
LANGLAND (ca. 1381–1382) The last two sections
of the B-text of Piers Plowman extend the commentary
on salvation history and at the same time bring this
monumental work to a frenetic, apocalyptic close. Pas-
sus 19 begins with the Dreamer awaking and then
immediately falling asleep again in the middle of mass.
In this new dream, he sees what he believes to be Piers
Plowman covered in blood and asks Conscience
whether or not this image is really Piers or if it is Jesus.
Conscience reiterates a previous lesson: Jesus donned
Piers’s armor in order to joust with the Devil. Con-
science teaches the Dreamer that the title Christ signi-
fi es Jesus’ role as conqueror and explains that he
fulfi lled this role by using Dowel, Dobet, and Dobest,
symbolizing the different types of miracles performed
by Jesus. Dowel, for example, represents the minor
miracle of turning water into wine; Dobet, the healing
miracles and the feeding of the 5,000; and Dobest, the
ultimate miracles of resurrection and redemption. Sig-
nifi cantly, this is the last time WILLIAM LANGLAND
employs the three-part motif that has served him so
well throughout the poem.
Christ then grants a pardon to Piers that reads Redde
quod debes (“pay what you owe,” l. 188). This pardon is
contrasted with the vague pardon issued to Piers in
Passus 7, which he destroyed out of frustration. This
true pardon simply involves confession and contrition.
Conscience then calls on Grace, who organizes human-
ity into different occupations in order to defend them-
selves against the coming onslaught of Antichrist. As
another means of defense, Grace constructs the church
of Unity out of the mortar of Christ’s blood. Conscience
then pleads for all Christians to enter Unity, and,
shortly thereafter, the Dreamer awakens.
Passus 20 deals with chaos of the Apocalypse.
Awake, the Dreamer is verbally attacked by Need. The
Dreamer then falls asleep and immediately sees Anti-
christ, in the shape of a man, cut down “truthe.” The
minions of Antichrist, such as Pride, begin to overtake
humanity and fi ght against Conscience. Conscience,
sensing the danger, tries to gather everyone into Unity
for protection, but instead must call on Kind (who
brings with him Old Age and Death) in an attempt to
convince others to join him in Unity. The ravages of
Kind affect the Dreamer by making him old, bald, deaf,
and impotent. Faced with the ends of their lives, many
turn back to Conscience and Unity, until Health
returns and Life forgets the lessons learned from Kind.
Langland’s SATIRE here is immediately apparent:
People are most contrite when death is near. So few,
in fact, are left after all of the disease and death that
many scholars believe Passus 20 to be a symbolic
account of the Last Days. Indeed, Conscience fi nally
gathers the remaining Christians into Unity, and Anti-
christ’s army bitterly attacks them, gradually weaken-
ing their defenses to the point where Unity is
penetrated by evil and all begins to fall apart. Con-
science, declaring that he will “bicome a pilgrym” (l.
381), sets out to fi nd Piers Plowman. The poem then
ends, rather suddenly many feel, with Conscience
shouting for Grace and the Dreamer fi nally awaken-
ing. The sense of doom felt at the conclusion of the
poem, however, is tempered by the expectation of
Piers’s return. Indeed, the ending of Piers PlowmanPIERS PLOWMAN: PASSUS 19 AND 20 329