The Morality Play Everyman

Sin is what every man does, beauty is what they care about and knowledge is what they strive to attain. Death is never on their minds so good deeds fall behind. In this essay I will be discussing the morality play Everyman set during the Medieval period where ‘ Church leaders such as bishops and arch bishops sat in the King’s council and played leading roles in government’ (What was it really like to live in the Middle Ages?2015). Britanica.com, the online reference dictionary defines the Medieval (Also known as the middle ages) as a period between the 5th Century CE to 15th Century. Introduced by renowned Italian humanists, the term arose out of unpleasant motives; it was a period when Italian humanists were engaged in attempts to revive …show more content…
Our protagonist Everyman has been living his life unbothered when suddenly Death approaches him with a message from God saying that he must go on a journey(‘book of count…which contains his good and bad deeds’) (Everyman: Morality play summary 2015). This is what Everyman had to say about the pilgrimage: ‘Full unready I am such reckoning to give I know thee not: what messenger art thou?’
Everyman’s ordeal with death still persist in societies today; like Everyman, we daily go through life oblivious of the fact that death is nearer than we actually think. Out of the blues, death comes knocking and every man is unprepared. A major conflict is emerged from this as Everyman is not ready to take on the pilgrimage and wants to find someone to accompany him. He embarks on the journey and through his search he manages to find Good- Deeds who is ailing because he had not been paid attention to all his life and had been un-kept, this was one of the most important aspects Everyman should have submitted to; however, Good Deeds does not manage to escort him but from the goodness of his heart he submits his sister called Knowledge to support Everyman. Good-Deeds seems to be certain about Knowledge at this point the audience probably feels the same. In this event rising action occurs, according to Brocket (2003:2) rising action is ‘the basic conflict complied is by the introduction of related secondary conflicts, including various obstacles that frustrates …show more content…
Later on Everyman recognises that all his life he had forgotten the most important source of it, this is the falling action. He spent his life concentrating on materialistic and luxury features unaware that he won’t take them with when he dies and would have to face would have to face judgment day one day and answer to God about what he did to serve him. The theme of the play indicates how Christians should live their lives and releases the results of an ungodly life. Even though Everyman knew the pilgrimage was from God he still wasn’t willing to submit himself instead he reaches out to other people hoping they would help him which a symbol of lack of trust in God his creator and ignorance. The writer experiments with grasping character names such as Goods, Everyman , Beauty , Death, Knowledge and Fellowship these are part of the symbols that reflect back to our main character; these are the things that Everyman had given his heart to but they ended up being the cause of his Death . The name Everyman which literally means every man is the result of his life outcome the foreshadowing truth is found