Everyman Allegory Analysis

Allegories at this time, specifically around the fifteenth century, were a vital element in the blending of biblical and classical traditions into what would become recognizable as medieval culture. People of the middle ages were aware that they drew from the cultural legacies of the older world in shaping their institutions and ideas, and so allegory in medieval literature and medieval art was a prime mover for the synthesis and transformational flow between the world that they were previously used to and the newer christian world.
Everyman specifically is a personification allegory, and a prime example at that -- its straightforward embodiments of aspects of human nature and abstract concepts, through such characters as Knowledge, Beauty, Strength, and Death, clearly show its purpose as a moral lesson.
Everyman objectively has five main characters, though all play a large part: Everyman, God, Death, Good Deeds, and Knowledge. Each character plays a …show more content…
He was lost in the greed of mundane existence without ever thinking of the day of death and the judgment, he would have to face in front of the heavenly father at the time of death. When Death suddenly comes to take him away, asking him to present an account of his life detailing the good and the bad he has done during his life, Everyman is not prepared for this moment: “Full unready I am such reckoning to give: I know thee not; what messenger art thou?”. Everyman asks Death to wait till tomorrow, so that he could ask for advice and be better prepared for the end. It is Death's nature to come suddenly without warning in advance. Death as a power has no feelings and cannot be stopped or halted; saying that it will not consent and spare nobody, no matter what they offer, and no matter their plea. Whether Everyman is prepared or not, Death does not care, asking Everyman to be ready