Piers Plowman Passus 3-5

After five passūs, Piers Plowman is only a little bit easier to read. The story, however, has become very strange and the introduction of Mede has complicated things. I am still a little bit confused about who Mede is. She is supposedly born of nobility, and her name implies that she has infinite money, and therefore, power and independence, but at the same time she seems to lack agency. Mede is supposed to have money and power, but so far in the book things have not been going her way and she doesn't seem to be able to do what she wants. People argue about who she is supposed to marry and she is already betrothed to someone, she gets arrested and abandoned, she is called a tramp by Conscience in public, and she gets laughed at and possibly raped after rewarding the people at the King's court. I think it's pretty interesting how Mede does have money and power and the ability to support herself and do what she wants, but at the same time she doesn't actually have power over what happens to her.

What's also weird is the narrator himself. The narrator wakes up after this strange dream, gets up, walks a little bit, then goes back to sleep. He doesn't seem to be concerned with how long he's been sleeping, which is strange because that seemed like a really long dream.

Envy is currently my favorite character, because Envy makes no attempt to convince us that they are anything other than what they are; Envy knows that they are a bad person and admits it, unlike other characters, such as Mede who pretends that she is a good person.