Piers Plowman Lesson Plan

Why is the figure of Jesus Christ represented by Piers the Plowman later in the book? What is the significance of this?

This seeming antithesis is anything but: in fact, it highlights precisely those sorts of traits which have engendered so much artistic, philosophical and religious fascination with Jesus Christ over the centuries.

In the New Testament, the beatific prophecies of Christ invert the metaphysical and moral order of the classical world, promising that the "meek shall inherit the earth" in place of the powerful (cf. Matthew 5:5). In "Step XIX", Will's vision arguably achieves a similar inversion, by embodying Christ the King in one of England's lowliest sons....