Piers Plowman Passus 6 to 9
Finally, after all these other passus, we have gotten to the character the book is named after: Piers Plowman himself. As we discussed in class, one of the main mysteries about our Dreamer narrator is why and how he is envisioning these encounters, and what does he gain from them. Throughout class, we thought that the Dreamer is dreaming of these encounters to grasp what the "Truth" is for his life, using Piers and the interactions between characters to collect evidence on Truth's teachings.
However, Passus 9 reveals a glaring contradiction to this "dream-theory," which I want to analyze in this blogpost. Right at the beginning of Passus 9, the Dreamer is wandering about trying to find Do-wel, who symbolizes the virtue of doing well. We know that the Dreamer is awake because, shortly after an argument, he sat "under a lynde upon a launde lened I me a stounde ... Blisse of the bryddes broughte me aslepe,"(A.9.57,59) and meets Thought in his dreams. While the Dreamer was awake, he encounters a household of friars and clearly asks them "Wher that Do-wel duellyth, doth me to wisse."(A.9.13). The friars quickly respond that, "at hom with us he duelleth"(A.9.14). The Dreamer asked for Do-wel's location directly using his name, and the friars responded as if Do-wel was a person. If Do-wel, and the rest of the concept-characters, were inside the Dreamer's head, then the friars would have no idea what the Dreamer was taking about. Furthermore, the friars clearly understood Do-wel was a person, and not just a reference to the virtue of doing well because the friars say that "he" dwells with them. The friars, who we know are outside of the Dreamer's head, know that such concept people exist in the real world, meaning that the Dreamer's dreams are not entirely in the Dreamer's head. With this evidence, it is more likely that the Dreamer is experiencing visions of events that actually happen in the real world of the Dreamer, instead of individual and metaphorical dreams whose characters symbolize the Dreamer's own thoughts/inner self.
Having the dreams not be dreams but rather visions does not change the incentive the Dreamer has to determine the Truth, but it does lead to some very interesting questions that need to be addressed. Most importantly, if the Dreamer is not creating his own dreams, then who/what (in this book, it could honestly be a who and a what) is sending these visions to the Dreamer? What is their incentive, and why would they have chosen to give these visions to the Dreamer instead of another individual? Maybe the details regarding the Dreamer's visions will become clearer in the next chapters, but I am definitely looking forward to understanding more about the Dreamer's dreams and drive to find the Truth.
However, Passus 9 reveals a glaring contradiction to this "dream-theory," which I want to analyze in this blogpost. Right at the beginning of Passus 9, the Dreamer is wandering about trying to find Do-wel, who symbolizes the virtue of doing well. We know that the Dreamer is awake because, shortly after an argument, he sat "under a lynde upon a launde lened I me a stounde ... Blisse of the bryddes broughte me aslepe,"(A.9.57,59) and meets Thought in his dreams. While the Dreamer was awake, he encounters a household of friars and clearly asks them "Wher that Do-wel duellyth, doth me to wisse."(A.9.13). The friars quickly respond that, "at hom with us he duelleth"(A.9.14). The Dreamer asked for Do-wel's location directly using his name, and the friars responded as if Do-wel was a person. If Do-wel, and the rest of the concept-characters, were inside the Dreamer's head, then the friars would have no idea what the Dreamer was taking about. Furthermore, the friars clearly understood Do-wel was a person, and not just a reference to the virtue of doing well because the friars say that "he" dwells with them. The friars, who we know are outside of the Dreamer's head, know that such concept people exist in the real world, meaning that the Dreamer's dreams are not entirely in the Dreamer's head. With this evidence, it is more likely that the Dreamer is experiencing visions of events that actually happen in the real world of the Dreamer, instead of individual and metaphorical dreams whose characters symbolize the Dreamer's own thoughts/inner self.
Having the dreams not be dreams but rather visions does not change the incentive the Dreamer has to determine the Truth, but it does lead to some very interesting questions that need to be addressed. Most importantly, if the Dreamer is not creating his own dreams, then who/what (in this book, it could honestly be a who and a what) is sending these visions to the Dreamer? What is their incentive, and why would they have chosen to give these visions to the Dreamer instead of another individual? Maybe the details regarding the Dreamer's visions will become clearer in the next chapters, but I am definitely looking forward to understanding more about the Dreamer's dreams and drive to find the Truth.
Haven't you ever had dreams which included people you know in real life? Just because the concept-characters exist outside of the Dreamer's dream doesn't mean that the Dream is indeed a product of his imagination.
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