Piers Plowman Passus 3-5

Passus 5: "Than waked I of my wynkyng, and wo was withalle That I ne hadde sclepte sadder and yseye more."

So far, this story has given an interesting vibe regarding it's history as well the general oddities that it entails. The concept of "The Dreamer" as a person who, not only exists in real life, but also apparently has the ability to sleep whenever he pleases and dreams up an entire complex world of moral concepts that have been personified. The barrier between imagination and reality is also very confusing since clearly the parts of the story regarding the entities are fictional but these entities also interact with non-fictional things such as the king and the country of England, including its laws as well as geography.

As discussed in class, it was intriguing in passus 5 when the dreamer woke up, showing that he was displeased by this since he had not gotten to see more of the events unfolding regarding Mede, the king, and Conscience. It seems as though all of these characters are just different portions of the dreamer's conscience and moral compass, especially because most of the story literally takes place in the mind of the dreamer. If this is thought of as not just a dream but as the inner workings of a particularly religious man's brain, this entire story can be viewed as just a romanticized example of how the dreamer views the world in everyday life, and how he uses "Reason" and "Wrong" and "Wisdom" as separate entities rather than one singular mind.

Although the narrator seems very calm while in his dream, it must a be quite a surreal experience to view all of the events taking place as an outsider within his own subconscious. Passus 4 must have been very amusing to be a part of from the Dreamer's perspective, what with Conscience refusing to kiss Mede despite the king's orders as well as Conscience's efforts to put Reason between himself and Mede.