In Part 16 of the Pearl poem, the Dreamer asks the Pearl-Maiden to show him the way to Jerusalem, but the Pearl-Maiden tells him the difference between the worldly and heavenly Jerusalems. This section is about the spots of man which keep him trapped in the worldly Jerusalem away from the heavenly one, and the Dreamer’s demands show he is not ready, but he receives a vision as a favor. The poem’s concatenation word and its rhyme scheme emphasize this theme. It is a central part of the Dreamer’s journey throughout the poem, and advances it to the final part, the vision of heaven.
The poem starts off with the Dreamer asking the Pearl-Maiden to direct him to her castle, telling her to “not ever reject my rueful request” (Pearl line 916). He is essentially demanding that she bring him to her home. He believes that “by these woods it [Jerusalem] cannot be situated / For it is in Judea, that noble state” (Pearl lines 921-922). The Dreamer is ignoring the idea of the heavenly city of New Jerusalem and is fixated on the worldly city in Judea (Pearl page 133n2). This shows that he is still grounded in the world, and full of doubt. He is like Doubting Thomas in that he cannot see anything that is beyond his eyes. That is one of his spots. He tells the Pearl-Maiden that “as you are spotless under the moon / Your dwelling place should be without spot” (Pearl lines 923-924). The moon symbolized fickleness, as it is always waxing and waning (Pearl page 133n3). Sometimes the moon will be full, other times half-full. It also has spots all over it. So, it can be seen as a symbol of the blemishes of the Dreamer and humanity. The Pearl-Maiden is “spotless” because she is in heaven where she is free of sin and blemish.
However, perhaps the Dreamer is saying that she is “spotless under the moon” because he is looking at her from his vantage point: despite being in a dream of Paradise, he is still in the world physically, under the moon. The concatenating Middle English word of this part of the poem is “mote”. In all instances it means “spot”, except in the 2nd stanza, in which it actually means “moat”. The beginning line of every stanza except the first one has this word too. The spot connects all the stanzas of the poem. The Dreamer again asks the Pearl-Maiden to “direct me to that merry moat” (Pearl line 936). The word “mote” rhymes with “gote” or “stream” at the end of line 934 in the Middle English. The rhyme scheme of this poem has the final words of both the third last and last lines of each stanza rhyming. The concatenating word in the second stanza is different and means “moat” rather than “spot” because the poet wanted to divide the dialogue of the Dreamer from the Pearl-Maiden’s response. A moat divides the physical, imperfect world from the perfect world of heaven and the heavenly city. The “gote” or stream does the same, so the Poet had added meaning to his rhyme-scheme. On the other side of the stream, the Pearl-Maiden gives her response.
The Pearl-Maiden starts off with a clarification “that moat you mean in the land of Judea” (Pearl line 937). The Dreamer is fixated on the worldly city in Judea. This also once again affirms the respective positions of the two people: from the other side of the stream in heaven, the Pearl-Maiden sees the Dreamer in the physical world. But she explains that there are two Jerusalems: the old earthly Jerusalem and the new heavenly one. In the first one Jesus ended the guilt of man through his death. However, the new city is one of light, where the Lamb is without the black spots which represented not just his wounds, but also the sin of all humanity that he was forced to bear.
About the two Jerusalems, the Pearl-Maiden continues:
To speak clearly of the two walled-cities
And both called Jerusalem nevertheless-
That is nothing to you, no more than to mean
Except just ‘city of God’ or ‘vision of peace’ –
In that one our peace was made more certain
With pain to suffer the Lamb chose it;
In the other, there is nothing but peace to be gleaned
That always shall endure without release. (Pearl lines 949-956)
Once again, the word “mote” is used, this time to mean walled cities. Just like the moat, the walls of Jerusalem are boundaries. In the earthly city they were meant to protect the city from worldly threats such as foreign armies. In heaven the walls divide the heavenly city from the earthly one. Jerusalem means “city of peace” in Hebrew (Pearl page 135n2). While the worldly city has not exactly been a city of peace throughout the centuries, and Jesus suffered and died there, through that act Jesus secured peace in the heavenly city. That is why Jerusalem is a holy city. The cities are opposites of each other. The Dreamer is still in the world of the first city of suffering, which is why he is thinking about it. The Pearl-Maiden says that the destination is the heavenly city: “For though our flesh be laid out to rot / There glory and bliss shall ever increase / To the company that is without spot” (Pearl lines 958-960). Once again the Middle English word “rote” rhymes with “mote”, because on earth it is the spots of humans which make their flesh rot. However, those in heaven have no blemishes. The Pearl-Maiden contrasts the problems of the earth to the ones in heaven. In the world flesh rots with time, but time is meaningless in heaven. This is a major theme of the poem, but the Dreamer cannot see that because he still worried about time.
The Dreamer continues his request:
“Spotless maid, so meek and mild,”
I said then to that lovely flower,
“Bring me to that enormous building,
And let me see your blissful bower.” (Pearl lines 961-964)
Here the Dreamer may be attempting to use flattery to win the Pearl-Maiden over through these beautiful descriptions. It sounds less demanding than his previous request, but that’s only because he is attempting to win her over. It is kind of a sexual request because the Dreamer wants to have an intimate relationship with her (Pearl page 135n5). This shows that he has still not accepted her death and departure, and also that he thinks he owns her, which he has echoed previously in the poem. However, she replies: “That God will shield / You may not enter within his tower” (Pearl lines 965-966). It is interesting that aggressive words related to battle have been chosen: the city is described as a “tower” and God is said to be shielding the Pearl-Maiden from the advances of the Dreamer. This also shows that the Dreamer is still not morally in the right. However, she adds that
From the lamb I have for you acquired
A sight thereof through great favor.
To see that clean cloister from the outside,
You may, but inside, not a foot
To stretch in that street have you any strength,
Unless you become clean, without spot. (Pearl lines 967-972)
The word “aquylde” means both “obtain and “flush, track, pursue” in Middle English. The latter connotations add to the hunting metaphors of the poem in lines 184 and 345 (Pearl page 137n1). In the former the Dreamer describes himself as a tamed hawk (Pearl line 184). In the latter the Pearl-Maiden compared him to a wild doe (Pearl line 345). The Pearl-Maiden can be said to be trying to tame the Dreamer through her moral lessons and taking this vision of heaven to him. Because the Pearl-Maiden is now God’s bride groom, she has been able to obtain the favor of a vision for the Dreamer. Strength is another metaphor for cleanliness: the Dreamer’s covetousness and sins are making him weak, but when he is clean, he will be strong enough to enter into heaven. There is a reference to the Trinity in lines 965-68, with God as the father, the Lamb as the son, and the favor as the Holy Spirit (Pearl page 137 n2). These lines may be said to reflect the different natures of the Trinity: God the Father is stricter and harsher in the Old Testament, yet his soft side is seen with His sending of His son to the world to die for humanity’s sins, and the Holy Spirit is known for bestowing gifts. The Dreamer’s dream reflects the Trinity: he started in the earthly garden which is like the Garden of Eden where the Pearl-Maiden has been “clat” in “clot”, in the dream he discovers that the Pearl-Maiden is the bride-groom of God the Son, and he will end in this gift vision of New Jerusalem from the Holy Spirit (Pearl page 137 n2). The Dreamer cannot truly become free of his grief until he has been given the gift. Only once his Trinity journey is complete can the poet wake up, accept his grief and move on with his life, although in the end nothing but death can allow him into heaven.
The poet’s requests to enter Jerusalem show he is not ready. The Pearl-Maiden enlightens him to the nature of the different earthly cities of Jerusalem, and how the spots of the Dreamer and all mortals prevent them from getting into the heavenly city. Despite the unreadiness of the Dreamer, he gains a favor to receive a vision of the heavenly city, thus moving the poem to its final part. This is the importance of this transition section that also includes many key ideas of the poem. It is a journey of faith and character for the Dreamer.
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