Lines 5027-5155 Summary

Reason continues her moral debate, this time touching on the morals of giving and receiving gifts as love-tokens. She concludes with a stern warning to the narrator, which he rejects.

Lines 5027-5155 Analysis

Reason first returns to her discussion of the role of sexual pleasure and procreation, commending those who enjoy bearing and begetting children as part of the "joye and mirthe" of love. Reason then condemns those (especially women) who consider children a burden and pregnancy something to be hidden. This presumably refers to those taking part in an adulterous affair or who have premarital sex.

Reason's arguments about giving gifts as love-tokens has two main parts. In the first part, she condemns prostitution, and damns both the men and the women involved in this transaction. Reason mentions that such women may refer to the men who give them gifts...