Piers Plowman Characters

Kind is one of the two main representations of God, along with Truth. He is the representation of God that the Christian community calls out to when Unity is under attack, leading Kind to send down Death and Old Age.

Although God never actually appears in the poem, he is referred to often. He is represented by two characters, Kind and Truth. He is both one part and all three parts of the Trinity (God the Father, Jesus, and Holy Ghost).

Do-Well is both a person and a value that Christians should try to cultivate. Do-Well is described in various ways by Will’s many teachers. However, the common thread is that Do-Well lives an active life and is committed to hard, honest labor.

Like Do-Well, Do-Best takes on several definitions. However, Do-Best tends to be a person (and a value) who leads a morally upright existence and is committed to helping other people.

Similar to Do-Well and Do-Best, Do-Better is both a person and a value and is described in many different ways by Will’s teachers. Do-Better tends to be a high-up Church official—perhaps a pope—who reprimands sinners.

Holy Church is the beautiful, gentle woman who descends from the castle on the hill to teach Will about Truth, one of the representations of God. Holy Church represents the Church in its purest form, unstained by human corruption.

False is Meed’s fiancé and is close companions with Favel, Dread, Guile, and Liar. He is open about wanting to marry Meed only for her money.

Favel is a close friend of False, Liar, Dread, and Guile. Representing greed, Favel is quick to use bribery to get what he wants (in this case, bringing to completing the marriage of Meed and False).

Guile is companions with False, Favel, Dread, and Liar. Like Favel, Guile often resorts to bribery. He later reveals himself to be a follower of Antichrist.

Dread is a friend of False, Favel, Liar, and Guile who overhears King proclaiming to punish False and his followers, and consequently warns the evil group.

Liar is a friend of False, Favel, Dread, and Guile. He is quick, sneaky, and evades punishment.

Clergy is Scripture’s wife, Dame Study’s cousin, and one of Will’s many teachers. Clergy is also one of the dinner guests at Patience’s feast, along with Conscience and a Master of Divinity. Clergy is arrogant, claiming to know more than Patience possibly can.

Civil and his companion, Simony, are the two underhanded men who conduct Meed’s wedding ceremony.

Wisdom serves as Wrong’s lawyer (along with Wit) in the case of Peace vs. Wrong.

Initially, Wit acts as one of Wrong’s lawyers (along with Wisdom) in the case of Peace vs. Wrong. Conscience and the King are suspicious of Wit, as he is known for being close with covetousness. Later, however, Wit is one of Will’s teachers, along with his wife, Dame Study.

Lewte is one of Will’s teachers and is a close companion of Holy Church. Lewte’s teachings are brief, mainly centering on the value of exposing corruption in the Church.

Repentance builds on Reason’s sermon by overseeing the confessions of the Seven Deadly Sins and helping them repent.

Envy, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, gives a lengthy confession to Repentance, who teaches him about contrition—genuine guilt for sin. Envy is so overridden by jealousy that his face is sallow and his lips bleed from biting them in anger.

Wrath is a friar with nasty gossiping tendencies, which he relates almost gleefully to Repentance. Although Repentance commands Wrath to repent, Wrath never voices guilt for his sins, nor does he vow to change his ways.

Glutton is one of the Seven Deadly Sins who confesses to Repentance. Glutton’s primary problem is overindulgence in alcohol—something he even puts before going to Mass. He vows to change his gluttonous ways by fasting until his aunt, Abstinence, lets him eat and drink again.

One of the Seven Deadly Sins, Sloth is a man of status who has been reduced to a beggar because of his idleness and lethargy. During his confession to Repentance, Sloth vows to attend Mass every day for the next seven years.

The Priest asks Piers Plowman to read aloud the pardon from Truth. Upon seeing the pardon’s brevity (it’s only two lines long), the Priest pompously declares that it’s not a real pardon. His words anger Piers Plowman so much that Piers rips the pardon in two.

One of Will’s many allegorical teachers, Thought is a large man who teaches Will about Do-Well, Do-Better, and Do-Best. He later travels with Will for a short while and acts as a mediator between Will and Wit.

Dame Study is Wit’s wife, Scripture and Clergy’s cousin, and one of Will’s teachers. Dame Study is a no-nonsense woman, but her explanation of Do-Well, Do-Better, and Do-Best is so complex and confusing, that it even leaves her own husband speechless.

Imaginative is one of Will’s many teachers. His discussion with Will focuses on whether or not non-Christians can achieve salvation—a lesson that references one of Will’s other teachers, Roman Emperor Trajan.

Scripture is Clergy’s wife, Dame Study’s cousin, and one of Will’s many teachers. Her complicated teachings primarily rest on the dangers of amassing riches.

Reason is a trusted companion of Conscience and later an advisor of the King.

Sir Inwit is the knight who protects Anima with help from his five sons. His sons, who align with each of the five senses, are See-Well, Say-Well, Hear-Well, Work-Well-With-Your-Hands, and Go-Well.

Fortune is an evil woman who, along with her maids, Concupiscentia-Carnis and Covetousness-of-Eyes, tempts Will into pursuing fleshly pleasures for several years. She proves herself to be flighty and untrustworthy, abandoning Will when he needs her the most.

Concupiscentia-Carnis, or Lust of the Flesh, is one of Fortune’s maids. She helps Fortune lead Will astray by tempting him with fleshly pleasures.

Covetousness-of-Eyes is one of Fortune’s maids. She tempts Will into pursuing sinful, earthly pleasures for several years of his life.

Old Age is an ambivalent man, as he looks out for Will—warning Will to resist the temptation of Fortune and her maids—but later physically hits Will, rendering him bald, toothless, sickly, and impotent.

Righteousness is one of the four daughters of God, alongside her sisters, Peace, Mercy, and Truth. Like Truth, Righteousness is pragmatic and initially believes that Hell is a place of permanent damnation, even for the important biblical figures who predated Jesus.

Mercy is one of the four daughters of God, alongside her sisters, Peace, Righteousness, and Truth. She and Peace are joyful and optimistic, believing that Christ’s crucifixion will not only save the prophets and patriarchs in Hell but will also save mankind.

The Fiend is one of the many devils in Hell who were cast out of Heaven for following Lucifer. The Fiend is sometimes referred to as the Devil, but sometimes those two figures act as different entities.

Antichrist is the leader of the evil forces that attack Unity, such as Fortune, Guile, Simony, and many friars. God’s messenger, Grace, explains to the Christian community that Antichrist’s goal is to destroy Conscience and the Church, appointing Pride as the Pope with Covetousness and Unkindness as cardinals.

Contrition is Conscience’s cousin who is wounded by Hypocrisy, then drugged by Friar Flatterer so that he no longer feels remorse for sin.

Need is a man who appears in Will’s waking life and in one of his dreams. Need proves himself to be conniving, as he tries to tempt Will into living his whole life as a beggar and pretending to be needy so that he never has to work hard.

Like Old Age, Death is an ambivalent force. He is originally sent down by Kind (one of the representations of god) to protect the Christian community, but his very presence causes chaos.

Pride is one of the leaders of the evil forces that attack Unity. He is one of Antichrist’s followers and will be named Pope if Antichrist succeeds in destroying Conscience.

Hypocrisy is one of the forces of evil that attacks Unity. He manages to do the most widespread damage, wounding several people in the Christian community—an event that leads to Friar Flatterer‘s admission into Unity, and the Christian community’s further destruction.

Presumption is Pride’s sergeant-at-arms, who goes to Unity with Spoil-Love to announce to the Christian community that they are under attack.

Spoil-Love is Pride’s spy, who visits Unity with Pride’s sergeant-at-arms, Presumption, to tell the Christian community that they are under attack.

Courteous Speech is the person who lets Friar Flatterer into Unity, despite protests from Peace.

Judas is Jesus’ disciple who betrays Jesus by turning him into the authorities in exchange for money.

Mary is the mother of Jesus. She announces to Will and Piers Plowman that Jesus will joust in Jerusalem against the Fiend to win back Piers’ stolen fruit.

Pontius Pilate is the Roman Governor who gives in to the angry crowd and allows Jesus to be crucified.

Longeus is the blind knight who spears Jesus after he dies on the Cross. After doing so, he is overcome by remorse and cries out to Jesus for forgiveness.

The pilgrim is the palmer (professional pilgrim) from whom society asks for directions to Truth. The pilgrim isn’t of real spiritual help, as he is preoccupied with earthly shrines.

Kind Wit represents common sense. With help from an angel, he establishes laws for each of the three estates (social classes) to abide by.

Theology is the man who objects to Meed and False’s wedding, demanding they ask Conscience before a court of law if the marriage is allowed.

Love is another name for Christ.

The pragmatic mouse speaks up at the rats’ court procession and urges them to let go of their plan to tie a bell around the cat’s neck and instead accept the status quo.

The pardoner is the Church official who pretends to be a priest in order to cheat peasants out of their valuables in exchange for absolution from sin.

Piers Plowman’s wife

The daughter of Piers Plowman and Dame-Work-When-It’s-Time-To.

The son of Piers Plowman and Dame-Work-When-It’s-Time-To.

Reason’s servant, alongside Tom-True-Tongue-Tell-Me-No-Tales-Nor-Lies-To-Laugh-At-For-I-Loved-Them-Never.

One of Reason’s servants, alongside Cato.

An allegorical figure that stands for individuals’ ability to make their own decisions. Free will helps to beat off the Devil using one of the three wooden poles.

An allegorical figure with “two broad eyes,” who stands for the two halves of the Bible: the Old Testament and the New Testament.

One of the devils of hell.

One of the cardinals of Antichrist.