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Updated on: December 19, 2019

"Everyman" as a morality play.

"Everyman", written in about 1490, is written by an anonymous author who wants to deliver a moral message to the audience of his play. "Everyman" is a mediaval morality play which was probably translation of the the dash play, "Eleckerlijc". Like most of the the other morality plays such as, " The Castle of Perseverance Wisdom", "Mankind"; "Everyman" is of single didactic intention. It has a Christian audience and is based upon orthodox Christian dogma.

In order to describe every man as a morality play, we have to know what are the distinguished features of the morality play. First of all, morality play does not owe its theme from the Bible or any scripture. In "Everyman" we also see that, it is a morality with which Death confronts Everyman. The hero of the play goes to grave accompanied only by good deeds that he had done on this earth and not by Beauty, Strength, Discretion, the five Wits and Knowledge. The story is simple, but very serious in nature and it confronts a message in it.

The moralities are also the acts of presentation rather than acts of illusion. Freely acknowledging the audience's presence, the plays customarily begin with a prologue where the author or playwright clearly elaborate his point. In "Everyman" the Messanger acts as a prologue. He tells the audience that they are about to witness a moral play titled "The Summoning of Everyman":

"I pray you all give your audience/ And hear yhis matter with reverence / By figure a morsl play:/ The Summoning of Everyman called it is....."

On the other hand , the morality plays are the dramatised sermon which concern itself with the question, "How can you seek salvation?" "Everyman" also makes a spiritual quest --- the hero of the play achieved salvation through some good deeds.

The morality play is also characterised by a definite object or purpose. It is didactic or religious in tone and obviously with a moral purpose. "Everyman" is not an exception. Its moralization is obvious. The moral of this play is that earthly pleasure which creates prejudices in the path of salvation of man's soul. The terror of death can be taken only by pursuance of higher ideal in life.

The morality play is also concerned about its art and development of characters. According to Albert, "In such plays, virtues and vices are presented on the stage as allegorical creations, often of much liveliness. Abstractions such as Justice, Mercy, Gluttony and Vice were among the commonest characters." In "Everyman", the characters are also sheer abstractions rather than 'real' people. They represent types. But unlike many other moralities these characters represent human gifts.

The moralities are often defined as dramatized allegory. David M. Zermer in his " Guide to English Literature" says that a morality play is "a dramatized allegory best exemplified in Everyman." "Everyman" is a allegory of human preparation for death. The characters here represent forces in the work affecting the human soul. By using the allegorical method the playwright id able to convey his didactic message i.e. only good deeds can redeem a person from eternal damnation to the audience.

Though "Everyman" is a typical morality play in its construction and characterization, it has overcome the limitations of a morality play. T. S. Eliot claims in "Four Elizabethan Dramatists" that "Everyman" is perhaps the one play in which "we have a drama within the limitations of art." What Eliot wants to mean is that nothing in the play is extraneous to the central homiletic purpose, that all elements of style, structure and theme are teamed together.