Piers Plowman: Passus V Summary & Analysis

Will wakes up from his dream only to drift back to sleep moments later. Once again, Will sees the “field full of folk,” but this time he also sees Reason preaching to all of the people in the field. Reason urges the people to see their sinful ways and repent. After admonishing the common people, Reason turns his attention to the priests, advising them, “What you preach to the people, practice it yourselves, / …Live the lessons you teach us: we’ll believe you the more.” Reason also has words of wisdom for the King, telling him to treat his people with love. Lastly, Reason addresses those who “seek Saint James and saints at Rome,” telling them to instead “Seek Saint Truth, for he can save you all.”

As Reason’s sermon comes to a close, a man named Repentance enters. When Repentance speaks, his words make Will “weep water from his eyes.” One by one, each of the Seven Deadly Sins come forward to repent. Parnel Proud-Heart confesses first, followed by Lecher, and then Envy, who confesses to living “loveless like a loathsome dog.” Envy is distraught by his sinful life, but Repentance teaches him that “sorrow for sins is salvation for souls.”

Envy is followed by a friar named Wrath, whose “vicious verbiage” gets him into trouble. He admits that when he drinks wine, “All the nastiness I know about any of our brothers / I cough it up in our cloister so the whole convent knows it.” Repentance tells the friar to keep tight-lipped about any secrets he knows and to be moderate when he drinks.

Covetousness, whose real name is Sir Harvey, comes next. When Repentance asks him if he has ever made “restitution,” Covetousness says yes, and launches into a story of when he “rifled” through a group of peddler’s bags. Repentance quickly explains to him that “restitution” and “rifling” are not the same thing, but Covetousness claims to not know the difference since he never learned how to read. After enduring further admonishment by Repentance, Covetousness wants to hang himself, but Repentance comforts him, saying, “…all the wickedness in this world… / Is no more to the mercy of God than a spark amid the sea.”

After Covetousness comes Glutton, who claims he was on his way to the Church when the women working in the tavern talked him into skipping confession to drink with them. After a nasty hangover that lasts two days, Glutton finally wakes up, and his first question is “Where is the bowl?” After being reprimanded by Repentance for this behavior, Glutton promises to fast until his much-hated aunt, Abstinence, tells him he can eat and drink again.

Sloth, “beslobbered with two slimy eyes,” enters, claiming that he must sit down to give his confession or else he will fall asleep. He only speaks a few words before he begins to snore—consequently receiving a sharp wake-up call from Repentance. Continuing his confession, Sloth admits, “What I tell with my tongue is two miles from my heart.” His life is comprised of “idle tales over ale,” lying in bed instead of going to Mass, and being suspicious of any man who is kind toward him. Repentance teaches Sloth how to repent, and Sloth promises to attend Mass every morning for the next seven years.

Weeping, a Robber named Robert also confesses his sins. Repentance pities the entire group of sinners and has them all kneel. As Repentance prays to God to forgive all of the sinners, the group multiplies, and “A thousand men then thronged together.” Seeking Truth, the massive crowd “blunder[s] forth like beasts over banks and hills.” The crowd soon comes across a pilgrim, adorned with souvenirs from his many travels. The crowd asks the pilgrim if he has ever met a saint called Truth and where the crowd might find him, but the pilgrim is clueless.

A peasant named Piers Plowman suddenly appears, claiming to know Truth intimately. As Truth’s follower, Piers works in Truth’s fields, “sow[ing] his seed and oversee[ing] his cattle.” He says that Truth is a good master and always pays his workers on time. When Piers offers to show the crowd how to get to Truth’s palace, the crowd offers to pay him for directions. Piers quickly declines payment, exclaiming that if he took their money, “Truth would love me the less a long time after.”

Piers Plowman gives the crowd an overview of the directions to Truth. The crowd must first go through Meekness until they know to love God and love others—this means they’ve arrived at Conscience (here, Conscience is a place, not a person). Then, the crowd must then follow the riverbank, called Be-Modest-Of-Speech, until they reach a crossing called Do-Your-Fathers-Honor. After wading into the stream and bathing themselves, the group will enter Swear-Not-Unless-It-Is-For-Need-And-Namely-Never-Take-In-Vain-The-Name-Of-God-Almighty. Then, they are to journey alongside a field called Covet-Not-Men’s-Cattle-Nor-Their-Wives-And-None-Of-Your-Neighbor’s-Serving-Men-So-As-To-Harm-Them. At this point, the crowd should see two statues on their left, Steal-Not and Slay-Not. Once the crowd passes by a burial ground called Bear-No-False-Witness, they will see Speak-The-Truth-So-It-Must-Be-Done-And-Not-In-Any-Other-Way-Nor-For-Any-Man’s-Asking.

Finally, the group will arrive at a castle surrounded by a moat of mercy. The castle itself is composed of several structural elements, including a buttress called Believe-So-Or-You-Won’t-Be-Saved and a roof made of Love-And-Lowness-As-Brothers-Of-One-Womb. The gatekeeper is a man named Grace, and his assistant is Amend-Yourself. Piers Plowman tells the crowd that to enter the gates, they must recite a specific sentence of repentance to Amend-Yourself. If the crowd does so correctly, Amend-Yourself will ask Grace to open the gate. Inside the gate, says Piers, “You shall see in yourself Truth sitting in your heart.”

Piers Plowman warns the people to be on the lookout for Anger, who may try to ambush them. Piers says that besides Grace and Amend-Yourself, there are also seven sisters who guard the gates: Abstinence, Humility, Charity, Chastity, Patience, Peace, and Largesse. If the crowd can “claim kinship” with the sisters, they will be allowed past the gates.

A pickpocket, ape-trainer, cake-seller, pardoner, and common woman all object to Piers Plowman’s complicated directions. The pardoner and common woman run off in search of a papal bull with bishop’s letters, but Will never sees them again.