Summary
The speaker Will falls asleep on Malvern Hills. He dreams of a tower on a hill and a dungeon below it. In between lies a field, filled with folk, whom he describes. Then a parliament of rats and mice meets to discuss how to get rid of a menacing cat. A lady named Holy Church explains to Will that Truth, who is God, lives in the tower and that the devil, a wicked angel who fled from heaven, lives in the dungeon opposite. He asks her how to acquire Truth, and she replies that it must be acquired through love.
Miss Money is about to marry False Fickle-tongue, supported by clerics, lawyers, and officers of the court, when Theology intervenes. Theology persuades them to ask the court at Westminster for permission. The King threatens to arrest them all. They flee, leaving Miss Money by herself. Miss Money colludes with corrupt courtiers and a friar. When the King asks Conscience to marry Miss Money, he refuses. The King and Conscience argue, citing biblical quotations. Miss Money defends herself, claiming that she can help in times of need and with forming friendships. Conscience concedes that money has two sides, but foretells a time when she will not rule. The King orders Conscience to summon Reason to resolve the disagreement. Peace accuses Wrong of rape, murder, and theft. Wrong asks his friends Witwell and Wily to buy his freedom. This splits the court. Reason pleads for justice. The lawyers abandon Reason for Miss Money. The King asks Conscience and Reason to be his permanent counselors.
Analysis
The opening scene in the Prologue establishes a geographic symbolism. In his first dream-vision, Will sees a field which lies between a tower on a hill to the East, and a dungeon to the West. The tower is the home of Truth, or God. It sits in the East where the sun rises, as God is associated with light. The dungeon is the home of Wrong, the devil, and sits in the West where the sun sets, as Hell is associated with darkness. Just as the dungeon is situated the opposite of the castle, Wrong is the opposite of Truth. The field in between represents the earthly plane where humans live their everyday lives. The overall geography therefore represents Christian cosmology. The “fair field full of folk” is the main concern of the poem. Langland describes all sorts of characters, and emphasizes sensuous pleasures of food, wine, and fine clothes. At the same time, the presence of Heaven and Hell is a reminder of the choices which must be made in everyday life, which will have eternal consequences in the afterlife.
The genre of Will’s vision of the field full of folk is called an Estates Satire. The three estates, or social classes, in medieval England were the clergy (first estate), nobility (second estate), and peasantry (third estate). The King, while essential, was not part of any estate. The poem describes the folk as either working hard and performing their social roles properly for the good of the whole Christian community, or choosing worldliness instead, by selfishly accumulating wealth. The choice between right and wrong is clear. Many who have chosen worldliness are from the first estate, the clergy, of whom the poem is especially critical. The poem emphasizes throughout that the corruption of the clergy undermines Christendom, and by the end of the poem this corruption will cause the Church to collapse. Scholars disagree about Langland’s political views, labeling him everything from democratic to absolutist to conservative. Some argue that his views change in different versions of the text.
The Parliament of Rats allegorical fable is likely drawn from the Good Parliament of 1376, which tried to address royal corruption. This reference helps date the text. The cat represents the worst of royal tyranny. The text argues, through a mouse, that while the Cat may be corrupt and cruel, the answer is not for the Rats to revolt. If they gained power, they would be incapable of ruling, as cowardly, selfish creatures. The poem points out corruption, but never advocates structural reform, instead insisting that an ideal society results from everyone playing their assigned role honestly for the common good.
The Holy Church, personified as a lady, descends to the field from the castle on the hill, which represents Heaven. This means that the Church’s function is to act as God’s emissary to help guide people on earth. She represents the eternal, divine Church in its purest form, unpolluted by human corruption. She would have been a familiar character to medieval readers. Will is metaphorically reborn in this part of the poem, behaving as if he were a naive child who has to learn everything anew. Holy Church instructs him in the fundamentals of Christian faith and behavior, illustrating with biblical stories the importance of moderation, wariness of bodily desires, and selflessness. She also emphasizes a cornerstone of the medieval Church: doing good works. Holy Church introduces Will to the first manifestation of God in the poem: Truth. She also complicates the personification of Truth, describing it as a gift from God, who she calls Deus caritas, a Latin phrase which translates to "God is love." In her teachings, love changes from an abstraction into a person: Jesus Christ. Both the feeling and the figure represent a straight path to Heaven. Will feels that he is unable to truly understand Holy Church’s teachings because he lacks experience. The rest of the poem Will continues in his quest for salvation. He already knows what he needs to know, but this is not enough. He also needs to learn by doing.
Will is on a quest to fully understand Truth. In order to know what Truth is, he must first learn the nature of its opposite: Falseness. This dichotomy was established by the geographical imagery in the Prologue, with the Tower of Truth on the hill opposite the devil’s dungeon. Step II explores Falseness through the allegorical character Miss Money. She is complex, representing both bribery and just reward. Her dual nature is represented by her parents: Her father is False and her mother is Amends. Some scholars read the speech given by the personified Theology as asserting that Miss Money was intended to marry Truth. This would mean that God intends money to be used for holy purposes. Miss Money’s choice to marry False Fickle-Tongue instead suggests that money leads instead to corruption. Indeed, she quickly corrupts lawyers, courtiers, tradesmen, and friars. The friars’ corruption of the sacrament of penance has particularly serious consequences, undermining the Christian community. This will be important to the way that events unfold at the end of the poem.
When Miss Money is brought to the King, he won’t consent to her marriage with False Fickle-Tongue. Nor does he force her to marry Truth. Instead, he gives her the option to marry his knight Conscience. In this, he is well-intentioned, wanting to only reward those who deserve it. But Conscience refuses, pointing out that the King won’t be able to control Miss Money. By blurring the distinction between right and wrong, Miss Money always has the ability to corrupt. In her debate with Conscience, Miss Money loses, as it is revealed that the benefits she brings come at the high price of the soul’s freedom. This implies that the complex nature of money can’t be fully reconciled with conscience. In the case of Peace vs. Wrong, the lawyers of Wrong, Wisdom and Wit try to persuade the King to let him buy his way out of serious crimes. This scheme is supported by Miss Money. Reason argues against it. The scene is an allegory for the medieval Church’s practice of distributing indulgences (donations made in exchange for forgiveness), which was easy to corrupt, as the clergy saw them as a quick way to make a buck, and the wealthy as an easy out from punishment. The King points out the spiritual crisis this causes when he warns that if Wrong gets away with this, he won’t be remorseful for his sins.
