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XII.—The Influence of Piers Plowman on the Macro Play of Mankind
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
In the Macro play of Mankind the central motive is the tilling of a piece of ground “To eschew ydulness,” a motive, as Dr. Brandl points out, foreign to all the other morality plays. According to him it is introduced from the “Ackerfeld motive” of Lydgate's Assembly of the Gods. “Für die Quellenfrage sind die Uebereinstimmungen zwischen ‘Mankind’ und Lydgate's ‘Assembly of Gods’ wichtig. Auch in dieser allegorischen Erzählung ist der Mensch (Freewill) auf einem Felde (Mikrokosmos) gedacht. Virtue eilt dahin um Gnade zu predigen. Aber auch Vice stellt sich ein und schickt zunächst drei Gesellen (Temptation, Folly, Sensuality) voraus, von denen einer das Feld mit Unkraut besät (nach Matthäus 13, 24 ff.). In Folge dessen muss in der Schlacht um den Menschen Virtue zurückweichen, Freewill neigt sich zu Vice und wird nur dadurch gerettet, dass Virtue verstärkt zurückkehrt, worauf er mit Gewissen, Vice aber mit Verzweiflung zusammenkommt (Triggs' Ausgabe, S. 28-34).”
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1911
References
page 339 note 1 Early English Text Society, Extra Series xci, 1904, pp. 1-34.
page 339 note 2 Quellen und Forschungen, lxxx, p. xxx.
page 339 note 3 Piers the Plowman, Ed. W. W. Skeat, Oxford, 1886. A Text, Passus vii (B Text, viii). I am indebted to Professor Carleton P. Brown for the suggestion that this might be the case, and for the great interest which he has taken in this paper.
page 341 note 1 A Text, Passus vi; B V.
page 341 note 2 Cf. B vi.
page 341 note 3 A vii, ll. 4-6; cf. B vi, ll. 4-6.
page 341 note 4 A vii, l. 96.
page 341 note 5 B vi, l. 105.
page 341 note 6 A vii, l. 205; B vi, l. 219.
page 342 note 1 A viii, l. 2; B vii, l. 2.
page 342 note 2 A viii, l. 3; B vii, l. 3.
page 342 note 3 A viii, after l. 95; B vii, after l. 287.
page 342 note 4 A viii, ll, 100-103; B vii, ll. 116-118.
page 343 note 1 Mankind, l. 293.
page 343 note 2 Ibid., l. 301.
page 343 note 3 Ibid., ll. 321-322.
page 343 note 4 Ibid., l. 359.
page 343 note 5 Ibid., l. 361.
page 343 note 6 Ibid l. 458.
page 343 note 7 Ibid., l. 530.
page 344 note 1 Ibid., l. 539.
page 344 note 2 Ibid., ll. 540-543.
page 344 note 3 Of course Piers uses a plough, Manynde, a spade, but the limitations of the stage obviously necessitate the change to something less wieldy. Moreover, the spade is not altogether an innovation on the part of the author. Cf. Piers Plowman, B vi, 11, 190-193 (cf. A vii, ll. 177-178):
An heep of heremites · henten hem spades,
And ketten here copes · and courtpies hem made,
And wenten as werkemen · with spades and with shoueles,
And doluen and dykeden · to dryue aweye hunger.
page 344 note 4 Piers Plowman, A vii, ll. 108-09; B vi, ll. 122-23.
page 345 note 1 Ibid., A vii, ll. 161-166; cf. B vi, ll. 171-176.
page 345 note 2 Mankind, ll. 345-47.
page 346 note 1 Ibid., ll. 349-50.
page 346 note 2 Ibid., ll. 354-56.
page 346 note 3 Ibid., 371-ff.
page 346 note 4 Mankind, ll. 374 ff.
page 346 note 5 Mankind, ll. 381 ff.
page 346 note 6 Ibid., ll. 390.
page 346 note 7 Ibid., ll. 391-93.
page 347 note 1 Ibid., ll. 394-5.
page 347 note 2 This episode with the spade recalls forcibly the similar episode in Lucian's Timon the Misanthrope (called to my attention by Professor Brown). When Zeus sends Plutus and Hermes to relieve Timon from Poverty, he threatens Plutus with his spade, but finally has to accept the gift of the Gods. Then, as in Mankind, his spade stands him in good stead and turns up a mighty treasure of gold. Almost instantly those friends who had shunned him in Poverty swarm up the hill to the corner where he is working in smock-frock to earn his six-pence a day, only to be met each in turn by Timon's spade. This plays even a more prominent part here than it did in the stirring scene of Mankind. Timon's reception of his visitors parallels very closely Mankynde's reception of New-Gyse, Now-a-days, and Nought, and the resulting confusion in both cases has much the same comic effect on the reader. I give one or two of the similar bits of repartee:
Timon—It will be a funeral march, and a very touching one, with spade obbligato. (Cf. Nought's “Spadibus,” l. 391).
Gnathonides—Oh, My God! My God! … I'll have you before the Areopagus for assault and battery … Mercy, Mercy!
Timon—What! you won't go, won't you?
Then to Philiades:
Come near, will you not, and receive my—spade!
Philiades—Help! help! this thankless brute has broken my head. …“
To Demeas:
I doubt whether you will feel like marrying, my man, when I have given you—this!
Demeas—Oh, Lord! What is that for? …
Timon—Well, here is another for you …
Demeas—Oh! oh! my back!
and to Thrasycles, who bargains for a scripful of his treasure:
Instead of a mere scripful, pray take a whole headful of clouts, standard measure by the spade.
Thras.—Land of liberty, equality, legality! protect me against this ruffian!
Timon—What is your grievance, my good man? is the measure short? Here is a pint or two extra then, to put it right.
The similarity of incident, though obvious and most interesting, does not for a moment warrant the conclusion that Mankind was under the influence of Timon: the parallelism between the two lies only in the fact that the spade is used as a foil against the Vice Idleness, as in Timon it is the foil against Poverty and Ingratitude, and the weapon by which the heroes get the better of their tormentors—taunting on the one hand, cringeing on the other. Had there been any direct influence, there would, I think, have been some appearance of the numerous allegorical figures, spoken of as actual persons (Wisdom, Endurance, Hunger, Courage, Folly, Arrogance, Deceit, Toil), although Poverty is the only one with a speaking part. If the author did know the dialogue, he probably merely remembered what a good bit of stage business the spade produced, and made no further use of it than to let it weigh somewhat in recasting the Piers Plowman episode on his own lines.
page 348 note 1 Piers the Plowman, A vii, l. 4.
page 348 note 2 Mankind, l. 353.
page 349 note 1 Mankind ll. 308 ff.
page 349 note 2 Piers the Plowman, A vii, l. 79, B vi, l. 88. Note that at A vii, l. 59 Piers Plowman says “ I wol souwen hit [bred-corn] myself · and seththen with ou wende,” and at line 79 “In dei nomine, amen · I make hit [his testament] mi-seluen.” Now Mankynde, when he takes up his spade, says, “Thys erth, with my spade, I xall assay to delffe; To eschew ydullness, I do yt myn own selffe.” (ll. 321-322), lines that strongly recall Piers Plowman's. Of course the first instance cited may be caused by the exigencies of alliterative verse, but the recurrence of the words so close together makes them almost a catch phrase, which might unconsciously re-appear in the writing of the later author.
page 349 note 3 Mankind, l. 537.
page 349 note 4 Piers Plowman, B vi, ll. 158-160, cf. A vii, ll. 144-146.
page 350 note 1 Mankind, ll. 358-60.
page 350 note 2 See above, p. 342.
page 350 note 3 Piers Plowman A viii, ll. 96-105, cf. B vii, ll. 112-120.
page 351 note 1 Mankind, ll. 538 ff.
page 351 note 2 See above, p. 340.
page 352 note 1 A vii, ll. 9-12, cf. B vi, ll. 9 ff.
page 352 note 2 A vii, ll. 60 ff., cf. B vi, ll. 67 ff.
page 352 note 3 Piers Plowman, A vii, ll. 127 ff. Cf. B vi, ll. 136 ff.
page 353 note 1 Mankind, l. 158.
page 353 note 2 Ibid., l. 169.
page 353 note 3 Ibid., l. 176.
page 353 note 4 Ibid., l. 228.
page 353 note 5 Ibid., l. 301.
page 353 note 6 Piers Plowman, A vii, ll. 138-39.
page 353 note 7 Piers Plowman, A vii, ll. 246 ff.; cf. B vi, ll. 261 ff.
page 354 note 1 Mankind, ll. 229-233.
page 354 note 2 Mankind, ll. 234 ff.
page 354 note 3 ll. 773-788.
page 354 note 4 Piers Plowman, A xi, ll. 301 ff.; B x ll. 460-461.
page 355 note 1 Mankind, ll. 550 ff.