ABSTRACT
The search for charity is one of the major themes in Piers Plowman, and is closely linked to the theme of the restoration of the image.Piers the Plowman, after whom the poem is named, moves constantly from one time sequence to the other, living sometimes in the fourteenth century and sometimes in the world of Biblical history. Sacred history reveals the development of God’s plan for the world; the church made its effects available to man. The restoration of the divine image in history and in the individual soul is the unifying theme of Piers Plozvman. To the pilgrims in the Visio Piers talked of natural justice, to be realized in society; to the Dreamer he speaks of inner qualities, the three theological virtues mentioned earlier by Imaginatyf, or recollection. In the scene at Conscience’s house Langland reveals the intimate and necessary connexion between Will and Piers.
