Introduction to Everyman
Everyman is the best surviving example of the type of Medieval drama known as the morality play. Moralities evolved side by side with the mystery plays, although they were composed individually and not in cycles. The moralities employed allegory to dramatize the moral struggle Christianity envisions universal in every individual.
Everyman, a short play of some 900 lines, portrays a complacent Everyman who is informed by Death of his approaching end. The play shows the hero's progression from despair and fear of death to a "Christian resignation that is the prelude to redemption." First, Everyman is deserted by his false friends: his casual companions, his kin, and his wealth. He falls back on his Good Deeds, his Strength, his Beauty, his Intelligence, and his Knowledge. These assist him in making his Book of Accounts, but at the end, when he must go to the grave, all desert him save his Good Deeds alone. The play makes its grim point that we can take with us from this world nothing that we have received, only what we have given.
The play was written near the end of the fifteenth century. It is probably a translation from a Flemish play, Elckerlijk (or Elckerlyc) first printed in 1495, although there is a possibility that Everyman is the original, the Flemish play the translation. There are four surviving versions ofEveryman, two of them fragmentary.
Everyman, a short play of some 900 lines, portrays a complacent Everyman who is informed by Death of his approaching end. The play shows the hero's progression from despair and fear of death to a "Christian resignation that is the prelude to redemption." First, Everyman is deserted by his false friends: his casual companions, his kin, and his wealth. He falls back on his Good Deeds, his Strength, his Beauty, his Intelligence, and his Knowledge. These assist him in making his Book of Accounts, but at the end, when he must go to the grave, all desert him save his Good Deeds alone. The play makes its grim point that we can take with us from this world nothing that we have received, only what we have given.
The play was written near the end of the fifteenth century. It is probably a translation from a Flemish play, Elckerlijk (or Elckerlyc) first printed in 1495, although there is a possibility that Everyman is the original, the Flemish play the translation. There are four surviving versions ofEveryman, two of them fragmentary.
Morality Plays
A morality play is a type of theater common in medieval Europe. It uses allegorical characters to teach the audience moral lessons, typically of a Christian nature. The morality play can be considered an intermediate step between the Biblical mystery plays of the medieval period and the secular theater of the later Renaissance, such as the plays of William Shakespeare. The morality play has remained a cultural influence to some degree, though it has greatly waned in popularity. The basic premise of the morality play, however, in which an "everyman" character who is easy to relate to makes a journey and is influenced by characters along the way, eventually gaining some kind of personal integrity, is still common in many works of theater and film.
One of the most salient characteristics of the morality play is the way that characters are named. Instead of normal names, they are called by the quality they represent. In Everyman some of the characters include Fellowship, Knowledge, Goods, and Kindred. Eventually, all of these characters abandon the play's hero, Everyman, during his journey with Death, and only Good-Deeds stays with him. The moral of this play is therefore that only good deeds can help one get into Heaven, and that no other earthly things are truly lasting.
Characteristics of a morality play
One of the most salient characteristics of the morality play is the way that characters are named. Instead of normal names, they are called by the quality they represent. In Everyman some of the characters include Fellowship, Knowledge, Goods, and Kindred. Eventually, all of these characters abandon the play's hero, Everyman, during his journey with Death, and only Good-Deeds stays with him. The moral of this play is therefore that only good deeds can help one get into Heaven, and that no other earthly things are truly lasting.
Characteristics of a morality play
- characters are abstractions
- characters represent all people
- audience identifies with central character
- purpose is to teach a moral lesson
Allegory
Allegory, in literature, is a symbolic story that serves as a disguised representation for meanings other than those indicated on the surface. The characters in an allegory often have no individual personality, but are embodiments of moral qualities and other abstractions. The allegory is closely related to the parable, fable, and metaphor, differing from them largely in intricacy and length. A great variety of literary forms have been used for allegories. The medieval morality play Everyman, personifying such abstractions as Fellowship and Good Deeds, recounts the death journey of Everyman. John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, a prose narrative, is an allegory of man's spiritual salvation. Spenser's poem The Faerie Queene, besides being a chivalric romance, is a commentary on morals and manners in 16th-century England as well as a national epic. Although allegory is still used by some authors, its popularity as a literary form has declined in favor of a more personal form of symbolic expression
Characteristics of an Allegory
Characteristics of an Allegory
- characters have no individual personality
- embodies moral qualities and other abstractions
- related to parable, fable - teaches a lesson