Previous
Master of Divinity
Hawkin, also called Activa Vita (Active Life), is one of the characters that Will meets while traveling as a pilgrim with Patience and Conscience. Hawkin’s coat is badly stained, and he complains to his new acquaintances that no matter how hard he tries, he can’t keep the coat clean. Once he explains that his coat is Christendom and the stains are his sins (long-windedly detailing every single one of his sins), Patience provides him with a better method for laundering the coat—contrition (guilt for sin) and the sacrament of penance.
Hawkin Quotes in Piers Plowman
The Piers Plowman quotes below are all either spoken by Hawkin or refer to Hawkin. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Passus XIV Quotes
…Contrition may
be used
To scrape your coat clean of all kinds of filth.
…Do-Well will wash it and wring it with a wise confessor.
…Do-Better will scrub it and scour it…
…And then send you to Satisfaction, to let the sun bleach it.
…Do-Best will keep it clean from unkind deeds.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Here, Conscience explains to Hawkin how he can clean his coat effectively. As Hawkin explicitly states earlier in the poem, his coat represents the Christian life, and the stains are visual reminders of his constant sins. Conscience’s method for cleaning the coat of its stains (that is, cleaning the Christian life of sin) draws on the sacrament of penance, which is comprised of three parts: contrition, confession, and satisfaction. Contrition means genuine guilt for one’s sins, so Hawkin must truly be remorseful for the wrongs he has committed. Contrition is the first step in penance and is the first step Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam con
Get the entire Piers Plowman LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Hawkin Character Timeline in Piers Plowman
The timeline below shows where the character Hawkin appears in Piers Plowman. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Passus XIII
...long after embarking on their journey, Patience, Conscience, and Will come across a wafer-seller named Hawkin, or Activa Vita. Hawkin’s coat is splattered with stains, like a “spot of insolent speech”...
(full context)
Passus XIV
Long-windedly, Hawkin explains that he only has one outfit. Plus, he has a wife and kids, and...
(full context)
Hawkin is skeptical, so Patience explains to him how “…through faith comes contrition… / Which drives...
(full context)
