Written around the end of the 15th century, Everyman was the ‘artistic impression of religious truth’ (Cawley, 1956: 195). Half of the cast was named according to biblical references (God, Angel, priest etc) and the others were named to metaphoric personas. The opening of the play features God, his Messenger, and Death. This immediately draws the audience to a comprehensive religious state of mind. God informs the Messenger (but also us, the audience) that he is unhappy with the human race as they do not fear or appreciate him, ‘How that all creatures be to me unkind, Living without dread in worldly prosperity:’ (God, l23-24). The protagonist of the play is Everyman; he is the metaphor of the specific humans in this play that God despises, and with him, we travel to his eventual death. The Doctor that Everyman meets at the end of the journey, stresses the moral of the foregoing action in a final speech;
‘Before God, he hath no help at all;
None excuse may be there for every man.
Alas, how shall he do then?
For after death amends may no man make,
For then mercy and pity doth him forsake.’
(Doctor, l 909-913)
The message in this speech reveals the moral of the play. As Kinghorn says in Literature in Perspective: Medæval Drama (1968), ‘to forsake Pride, not to trust Beauty, Five Wits, Strength and Discretion who abandon Man at his ending, and to remember that only Good Deeds will go with him to the grave.’ Everyman had wealth and beauty but he was conceited and a coward; we learn this through his acquaintances with ‘people’ in his civilization who infact represents the traits and qualities which he himself owns also. In turn, they all abandon Everyman in his time of need; this reveals for him self a self-discovery of what is ultimately the most important thing in life, good deeds. God decides to send Death to tell Everyman that he has been summoned to see him to give an account of his life and instantaneously, we sense Everyman’s fear and reluctance to abide by his orders. He pleads with Death that he is not ready to die and offers a thousand pounds if Death will acquit him but Death refuses but allows him a friend who will be willing to go on the journey with him. The dialogue is very easy to follow, Everyman is in a state of distress and when queried about why he is like that, he tells them and asks if they would be wiling to share his experiences with him but they refuse to:
Cousin Everyman, farewell now,
For verily I will not go with you.
Also of mine own an unready reckoning
I have to account; therefore I make tarrying.
Now God keep thee, for now I go.
(Cousin, l 373-377)
The quote above teaches us that even our own family will not come with us when we die, this is the harsh reality of life and Everyman learns this the hard way. He thought that having riches may benefit him, but Goods abandons him to literally go to find another ‘victim’, so does, Five Wits, Discretion and Fellowship etc. When watching this play the audience knows instantly the moral of this play, it is very didactic and easy to follow. We feel throughout the whole play that Everyman’s fate is doomed, we know there is no way for him to escape his death and we hope that he will repent his sins and realize the error of his ways.
…the coming of Death, in which prosperity and defiant security abruptly collapse, Man repents and dies in piety….the transitoriness of life and the immediacy of death, portrayed realistically on the stage, they make their lesson immediately and sometimes harshly felt… which makes earthly values ultimately worthless. (Kinghorn, 1968: 113)
The above quote was referred to as being the precise theme of Everyman. We understand that religious moral was at this time waning. These ‘earthly values’ are ultimately the things that will destroy mankind if he does not believe in God. When he repents, we can feel the sins being ‘lifted’ and therefore mankind, or in this case, Everyman, only needs to repent. In a way, we are learning what we should already know. During the period of Everyman, dramas featured heavily on the religious moralities of life and also other aspects such as social status, gender conflicts and politics. Everyman is mainly just steered towards religious issues rather than gender or social conflicts.
Everyman is both didactic and allegorical as it ‘teaches’ but also has the primary/secondary meaning underlying throughout. The allegorical plot of Everyman goes as follows; Death demands the account book from Everyman, but he loses his companions: Fellowship, Kindred, Cousin, Goods and Good Deeds. Good Deeds is bound to the ground by Everyman’s sins ‘Here I lie, cold in the ground; Thy sins hath me sore bound, That I cannot stir.’ (Good Deeds, l 486-488) Everyman makes confession to the priest and his Good Deeds are liberated; ‘Knowledge, give me the scourge of penance; My flesh therewith shall give acquittance:’ (Everyman, l 605-606). ‘I thank God, now I can walk and go,’ (Good Deeds, l 619). Knowledge gives Everyman a ‘garment of sorrow’ and advises him to seek out a priest and receive extreme unction. Everyman’s body progresses towards his grave and he loses Beauty, Strength, Discretion, Five Wits and Knowledge, who remains ma while; ‘Nay, yet I will not from hence depart, Till I see where ye shall become’ (Knowledge, l 862-863). Good Deeds descends into the grave with Everyman whilst Knowledge hears the singing of angels who welcomes Everyman and tells him his ‘reckoning is [crystal] clear’ (Angel, l 898). Finally, the Doctor recounts the Moral. (The Net’s Educational Resource Center, 2002)
Many of the actors in this play pretended to be abstract principles of society and this can be seen as a radically non-realist form of theatre. However, it works really well as these were infact the conventions of the day. The didacticism of the play does not overshadow the entertainment and at the same time, the moral of the play drives to the moral conclusion. The bare medieval stage allowed the audience to appreciate just the language rather than think about the fictional space on stage. Everyman is not just a story about one man but the allegorical level of it looks for a secondary meaning, which is of a religious matter.
Bibliography
Cawley, AC (1998) Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays UK: Everyman 1956
Desmet (16th March 2002) The Allegorical Plot of Everyman http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html
Kinghorn, AM (1968) Literature in Perspective: Medæval Drama London: Evans
Lewis, CS (1966) Studies in Medieval & Renaissance Literature GB: Cambridge University Press
The Net’s Educational Resource Center (16th March 2002) Medieval History http://members.aol.com/TeacherNet/index.html
Wells, S (1975) English Drama (excluding Shakespeare) Select Bibliographical Guides GB: Oxford University Press
Wickham, G (1992) The Medieval Theatre GB: Cambridge University Press 1974
