meanings for falseness encompasses wrong or error—
that is, falseness in the perception of something or
falseness in knowledge, which is subjective. The sec-
ond range covers mendaciousness, deceitfulness,
treachery (objective falseness), and falseness in the
thing itself. Two characters for falseness represent each
semantic set. The parentage of Meed is a metaphor for
falseness in the conception of a thing, the thought of
Meed as a material good. Meed is an attractive fi gure,
one whom people desire. The point of her being a
whore is that she represents whoring after money in
indiscriminate fashion.
Favel, according to the Middle English Dictionary, is
duplicity or guile, and in the Oxford English Diction-
ary it is cunning. Favel is thus evil no matter what the
end is. He rides on fl attery, as the hallmark of cunning
is that you do not recognize it until it is too late. Flat-
tery aids cunning (Favel) in obtaining Meed. Favel
himself always appears with Fals. Both are involved in
Meed’s marriage scheme, and both are thanked for
their bribes. They accompany her to Westminster for
her trial, where the king promises to exact vengeance
on them both. Meed is to marry Fals, so he is objective
rather subjective. Thus, Favel is cunning and False
refers to deceit. Favel initiates the process, and Fals is
the result.
Favel is supported by other PERSONIFICATIONs. Liar is
a separate but related character. It is a lie whether you
want to deceive or not. Cunning implies the intention
to deceive. Liar is turned into a cart supporting the
activities of all those he transports. Guile, dressed as an
apprentice by the merchants, carries out the scheme
devised by Favel. He delivers the charter endowed by
Favel, distributes his bribes, and acts as a guide on the
journey. Symony and Civil Law are intimate with
Meed, and they receive the charter. It gives her free
reign to indulge all the SEVEN DEADLY SINS. Theology
rebukes Civil Law and Symony, telling them to beware
of Fals. He proposes that the case of Meed’s marriage
be tried by the king. All assembled journey to West-
minster, where Fals, Favel, and their followers meet
with a hostile reception from the king.
In this PASSUS, Theology takes over from Lady Holy
Church. He appears to personify her doctrine, system-
atized and applied to society. Conscience, in fact, sys-
tematizes Lady Holy Church, as we learn later. Lady
Holy Church describes Meed (B-text, l. 24) as illegiti-
mate, while Theology states (B-text, ll. 132–133) that
she is legitimate and of noble lineage. If we accept Lady
Holy Church’s account that there is no justifi cation for
Meed in the sense of material goods, why does Theol-
ogy give her partial legitimacy. He is motivated by the
similar desires to the corrupt members of society, and
hence he provides a more complicated argument. He
fi nds a theory which seems to make her acceptable,
and thus begins the process of accommodating Meed.
Scholars tend to explore the semantic range of
meanings for the concepts in Passus 2. In addition,
they look at the theological principles that are inter-
twined with them; discuss the techniques Langland
uses in trying to tease out these ideas; and frequently
compare the A, B, and C redactions.
See also ALLEGORY, PIERS PLOWMAN (OVERVIEW).
FURTHER READING
Benson, C. David. “The Function of Lady Meed in Piers
Plowman.” English Studies 6 (1980): 193–301.
Yunck, John A. The Lineage of Lady Meed: The Development
of Veniality Satire. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre
Dame Press, 1963.
Bonnie S. MillarPiers Plowman: Passus 6 WILLIAM LANGLAND (ca.
1381–1382) Passus 6 of the B-text (Passus 7 in the
A-text) presents WILLIAM LANGLAND’s experiment in
solving the problems created by human action and
inaction, by human need and greed, and by social
forces and social disillusionment. In Passus 5, Piers
explains the route through obedience to the Ten Com-
mandments that a person must follow in order to reach
Saint Truth. Passus 6 presents a further unfolding of
the pilgrimage motif in a nontraditional mode. The
scholar J. A. Burrow says the “half-acre episode” of Pas-
sus 6 has been called “a kind of pilgrimage” because
work, which is given a new status of value in the poem,
takes the place of a literal pilgrimage. Though Lang-
land is not opposed to pilgrimage entirely, it is clear
that he views it as an intensely personal activity with
corporate dimensions.
Passus 6 is rooted in the social problems surround-
ing the BLACK DEATH (1348–49) and the wages paid toPIERS PLOWMAN: PASSUS 6 325