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From: Lisa Entwistle
T1: lisamari@webtv.net
Date: 4/4/98
Time: 10:12:25 PM
Remote Name: 207.79.35.27
It seems horrible to treat the peasants and laborers as if they are worthless people who only want to loaf around and do nothing. Many people, myself included, look at the kings and aristocrats as evil people who took advantage of the poor, trying to get away with paying as little as possible and taking as much as they could. The first reading describes all of the payments and ways of keeping the laymen under control. Langland, however, gives a different perspective on the matter. In book VI he seems to be saying that the kings are right to treat the peasants like garbage, because they act that way. He portrays them differently than many others who see them as impoverished people being kept that way by the rich. Langland makes them look like lazy, drunken bums trying to get away with doing nothing and only being willing to work when it is absolutely necessary. It seems like a pretty harsh viewpoint to take on the çommoners.