Piers Plowman: Prologue and Passuses
The prologue of Piers Plowman left me with many questions about the narrator and his dream, and I was looking forward to finding some of the answers in the passuses. However, after reading the passuses, the narrator and his story only became more mysterious and added on to my list questions. In the prologue, we questioned the narrator's identity and the credibility of his dream. One of the plausible answers was that the narrator could be a member of the clergy who remains faithful to God and wishes to help the common people in his village.This explanation becomes unlikely, however, as the passuses depict the narrator as a seeker of Truth who wishes to understand the gospel. What is makes the poem more confusion though, is the contents of the narrator's story. In the prologue, the narrator explicitly says that he "slombryd in a slepyng" (line 10, page 49) and dreamt of the scene he describes. Similarly, at the beginning of the passuses, the first line writes "Passus primus/secundas/tercius... de visione", which suggests that the narrator is fabricating the stories in his mind. This matches the contents of the passuses as the character of the lady who represents the Holy Church and the story of Mede's marriage are clearly allegorical and not real. This poses serious doubt to the narrator's credibility and we are still unsure whether the narrator's description in the prologue is fact or fiction.
What I've also noticed is that there is no clear connection between the prologue and passuses in Piers Plowman, which is different from other mystery stories where the prologue typically introduces and sets the scene for the rest of the story. In Piers Plowman, while the prologue talks about what the narrator sees (or dreams) in his village, passus one jumps straight into a lesson on Truth, followed by the allegorical story of good and evil in passus two. The best explanation would be that the speaker realises the corruption in the clergy and wishes to teach villagers the real gospel through his 'visions'. What exactly are the narrator's intentions? I hope we'll be able to find out more as we read on.
What I've also noticed is that there is no clear connection between the prologue and passuses in Piers Plowman, which is different from other mystery stories where the prologue typically introduces and sets the scene for the rest of the story. In Piers Plowman, while the prologue talks about what the narrator sees (or dreams) in his village, passus one jumps straight into a lesson on Truth, followed by the allegorical story of good and evil in passus two. The best explanation would be that the speaker realises the corruption in the clergy and wishes to teach villagers the real gospel through his 'visions'. What exactly are the narrator's intentions? I hope we'll be able to find out more as we read on.
Although technically their is no direct connection between the vision in the prologue and the trial of Mede, some themes do crossover between the two. In both, greed and bribery were at the center, as the priests in the den of scum abused the poor for money, and in the trial, the very concept of money is put onto trial. However, while greed and the church seems to be intertwined in the prologue, the main story draws this distinction that Mede is hated by the Holy Church. I think that the mystery in this story is not one with murder, but how the church from this denizen of God into this foul thing the dreamer sees in the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI actually disagree and strongly believe the passages build on one and other maybe not with direct content but all aide in better understanding the passus because of practice. I think its interesting to see what Mede symbolizes. Why does the catholic church hate her? I think because Mead is someone who is deemed a threat for being too pure and considerate.
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