Alfred Nobel University Journal of Philology (Jun 2019)
INTERPRETING THE RELIGIOUS MOTIVE OF THE HARROWING OF HELL IN W. LANGLAND’S “PIERS PLOWMAN”
Abstract
The article researches into W. Langland’s poetic version of the motive popular in the medieval culture – Christ’s Harrowing of Hell, i.e. His descent into hell, triumph over it and bringing salvation to its captives. This motive had several sources: first of all, the Bible, but it contains only vague mentions and some details perceived by its early Christian readers as prophecies of the Harrowing of Hell. A detailed account of the Harrowing of Hell is found in several apocrypha, especially in “The Gospel of Nicodemus”. Researchers agree that W. Langland must have drawn on this apocryphal text because the poet’s narration follows its plot closely but W. Langland redesigned it according to his artistic tasks. W. Langland’s allegorical poem “Piers Plowman” written in the XIV century and deeply rooted in the religious tradition concentrates on the problem of the salvation of the soul. The Harrowing of Hell scene is one of the poem’s crucial moments because its action visualizes the doctrine of the atonement. The narrator in W. Langland’s poem is the dreamer who tells the reader about his intellectual and spiritual search in a series of dreams. The dream form enables the poet to introduce different allegorical figures and characters, move freely from one time and space dimension to another. The Harrowing of Hell scene is witnessed by the dreamer himself whose position in this respect is close to the one of the witnesses in “The Gospel of Nicodemus” – Leucius and Charinus raised from the dead. The author of “Piers Plowman” borrowed from “The Gospel of Nicodemus” the device of citing from Psalm 24 as the speakers’ lines. But in contrast to the apocryphal text W. Langland moves the monologues and dialogues to the foreground leaving the action mostly in the background. A prominent place belongs to Christ’s monologue in which He explains the act of salvation. Here the poet combines two medieval points of view on the atonement known as the ransom theory (Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine) and the satisfaction theory (Anselm of Canterbury). W. Langland addresses the issue in legal terms and at the same time emphasizes Christ’s humanity. Christ is depicted as a merciful king who is willing to save and protect His homagers, He also speaks about people as His brothers in blood. The poet makes Christ’s monologue rich in antitheses and repetitions, introduces vivid imagery drawn from the Bible.
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