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Everyman As A Morality Play Essay

Decent Essays

A morality play is described by Miffin (2011:1) “A drama in the 1400’s and 1500’s using allegorical characters to portray the soul’s struggle to achieve salvation”. In this essay I will be analysing the morality play called everyman. Nobody knows the author of this play. Bradford (2012:1) points out that “historians have noted that priests and monks often wrote these types of drama”. A Flemish work entitled Elecykerjic with same story and topic was composed about 1445’s by Peter Van Diest. The presence of that work has advanced theory that: Everyman was in light of Elecykerjic or Elecykerjic was in view of everyman or both of these plays were in light of a same story originating before both works (Broos, Davison and Walsh 2015:1). I will be discussing eleven aspects of the play which are, setting (place), setting (time), protagonist, …show more content…

The principal scene happens in paradise with a flag-bearer setting up the path before God, who after an opening contemplation orders death to search out everyman and caution him that God sits in judgment of everyman’s spirit. In this way the play may be re-enacted anywhere on earth (Cummings 2010:1).
This takes us to the major conflict because everyman is not ready to die that’s why he even asks death to give him a few weeks so he can perform a bit of good deeds for God to allow him in the kingdom of heaven.
The protagonist who can also be referred to as the agent of “everyman” is the main character. When all is said and done, it appears that everyman has driven a wild and wicked life. Over the span of the play, he is informed that he is going to bite the dust and subsequently be judged, he also experiences a journey which himself of sin, he is left by the greater part of his companions separated from good deeds and passes on (everyman character list 2015:1). This is when the climax of the play takes place (good deeds agrees to enter the afterlife with everyman) (Westwood

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