Piers Plowman Lesson Plan

How does Piers Plowman depict the probity and flaws of mediæval people?

The people depicted in Piers Plowman are neither perfectly good nor perfectly evil. Indeed, one of the more surprising qualities of Piers Plowman is precisely the nuance and vividness with which it portrays the vicissitudes of the human character. It would be easy, for example, for the author of the text to extoll the commons as the most virtuous of England's mediæval estates – and yet, Will also highlights and criticizes the slothfulness and intemperance of the country's peasants. In Piers Plowman, just as all people can be righteous in various degrees, so too may all people can fall into sin.

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