Running head: EVERYMAN AND THE FINAL JOURNEY
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Crystal Renaud
Liberty University
Research Paper:
Everyman and the Final Journey
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Thesis Statement: In Everyman, death is portrayed as the great equalizer for all of humanity, but
it is only those bearing good deeds that will truly enter into eternal peace and happiness with
God in paradise.
I. Introduction
a. Origin and History of the Play
▪Written in the fifteenth century by an unknown author.
b. Play Genre and Significance/Theme
▪Morality Play/Allegory/Death
II. Character Analysis
a. Who is Everyman?
▪Everyman represents all of humanity.
b. Who is the Messenger?
▪The messenger appears at the beginning of the play (prologue). This
character introduces the audience to the morality play and asks the
audience to evaluate their own life in light of death’s inevitable arrival.
III. Death as the Great Equalizer
a. How is death portrayed?
▪Death is portrayed as an event that will come to every person, but it is also
portrayed as something that can be delayed.
b. Is how death portrayed accurate?
▪Death cannot be delayed.
c. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 2 Cor. 15:55
IV. Conclusion
Everyman and the Unavoidable Journey
Everyman is a morality play and allegory written in the fifteenth century by an unknown
author. It is categorized as a morality play because it is a play based on a biblical subject
through its message of salvation through good works, judgment, mortality, and eternal life. In
addition, an allegory is when "characters and other elements often stand for other definite
meanings, which are often abstractions" (Kennedy & Gioia, 2016, p. 65). Everyman is an
allegory because each of the characters within represents personal characteristics of the
protagonist or is representative of an experience, such as death. Like many allegorical morality
plays of its time,
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Everyman has a strong Catholic message where good deeds are the requirement for salvation and
life eternal in Heaven. “Studies have successfully placed Everyman within the medieval
theological outlook on death and is commonly regarded as the finest morality plays and one of
the greatest medieval dramas" (Goldhamer, 1973, p. 87). In Everyman, death is portrayed as the
great equalizer for all of humanity, but it also shows that only those bearing good deeds will
enter into eternal peace and happiness with God in paradise.
Principal Character Analysis
Allegorical plays use various characters to provide a fuller representation of the play’s
protagonist and other principal characters. These characters often represent personal
characteristics of a main character. The use of these characters in Everyman are particularly
important as they directly interact with the protagonist from the moment Death introduces
himself and the protagonist is then forced to face their impending demise. "The author of
Everyman presents the [protagonist’s] changing attitudes towards death and toward himself as a
result of encounters with other characters" (Goldhamer, 1973, p. 88). Each character is
significant and plays an important role in the life of our protagonist.
Everyman
Everyman is the allegorical character that represents all of us and is also the protagonist
in the play. The author describes Everyman as self-centered, greedy, “fashionably dressed and
insouciant” (Harper & Mike, 2006, p. 267). When we are introduced to Everyman “his mind is
on fleshly lusts and his treasure” (Everyman as cited in Adu-Gyamfi & Schmidt, 2011, line
82). God
The character of God is meant to represent the God of the presumptive medieval Catholic
Church. At the beginning of the play, He has looked down upon the world and sees that
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Everyman has turned away from Him and without regret: “I perceive, here in my majesty, How
that all creatures be to me unkind, living without dread in worldly prosperity: Of ghostly sight
the people be so blind, drowned in sin, they know me not for their God” (Everyman as cited in
Adu-Gyamfi & Schmidt, 2011, lines 22-26). As a result of this, God declares it is time for His
judgment to be on Everyman. It can be compared to God’s judgment on the earth during the
time of Noah in scripture when all but Noah and his family were killed.
Death
The character Death could be interpreted as the Angel of Death by the way in which this
character is summoned by God to collect souls for judgment to speak. “In response to God's
orders, Death says that he will search out every person who lives beastly and does not fear God”
(Harper & Mize, 2006, p. 267). Even though death is a natural part of life, the character of Death
has been summoned earlier than expected for Everyman due to Everyman’s worldly living.
Fellowship and Kindred
Fellowship represents the friendships in the protagonist’s life. This character is both
unable and unwilling to go with the protagonist to the end for it would also mean his or her own
untimely demise. The character of Fellowship is made to represent the idea that no one is able to
take the journey of death with us. The character of Kindred was much like Fellowship, but is a
blood tie representative such as family. Everyman thought Kindred would certainly come with
him to the end, but again, once they heard what the journey was, they turned Everyman away by
saying “as for me, ye shall go alone” (Everyman as cited in Adu-Gyamfi & Schmidt, 2011, line
354).
Good Deeds, Knowledge and Confession
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Good Deeds, Knowledge, and Confession are the only companions that go on the journey
with Everyman. Good Deeds is the only one who is able to complete the journey with him and
represents the things Everyman did who bettered the world and honored God. For Everyman,
Good Deeds were futile and not enough to save him on their own. Knowledge is the sister of
Good Deeds and agrees to go on the journey to help Everyman find Confession. Confession
represents Everyman’s opportunity to repent for a life lived without Good Deeds. With the
assistance of Knowledge and Confession, the act of repentance provided Everyman with the
grace for the rest of the journey.
Beauty, Strength, Discretion, and Five Wits
The characters of Beauty, Strength, Discretion, and Five Wits serve to represent more of
the protagonist’s personal characteristics. The most telling aspect of these characters is how they
are one by one stripped away as Everyman draws closer to death. This is representative of while
looks fade, a person’s character lasts.
Messenger and Doctor
The messenger appears at the beginning of the play in the prologue to usher in audience
into the events on stage. When he says “ye think sin in the beginning full sweet / which in the
end causeth the soul to weep / when the body lieth in clay” he is causing the audience to reflect
on their own relationship with sin (Everyman as cited in Adu-Gyamfi & Schmidt, 2011, lines 13-
15). The character of the doctor doesn’t appear until the end of the play and serves as reminder
to Everyman (presumably the audience) that everything but our Good Deeds will be forsaken in
the end.
Death as the Great Equalizer
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There is an old saying that describes the act of death as the great equalizer for all of
humanity. This saying stems from the fact that all living things, will eventually meet their
ultimate demise. Death originated as a result of original sin. Before original sin, there was no
pain, sickness, nor death. In the play, we’re witnessing a time when Everyman has been living
selfishly and without regard for God and His commandments. As a result of this, God has
summoned the character of Death to bring judgment on Everyman. There is no stopping death
as God commanded it for all. However, like most who are faced with death, it comes at a most
inopportune time. In the play, Everyman is surprised by Death’s arrival and insists that they are
not ready for reckoning. Everyman even goes as far as trying to Death in order for the reckoning
day to be delayed. “When Death informs him that he must bring before God an account of his
good and bad deeds, Everyman, terrified, turns to his earthly friends, begging them to
accompany him” (Paulson, 2007, p. 122).
Death and All His Friends
When Everyman is faced with the realization that death is knocking and there’s no way
out, he implores Death the opportunity to bring companions along for the journey. “Death
informs Everyman that he is God's messenger and that Everyman must make a journey to give
God a reckoning" (Goldhamer, 1973, p. 87). Like most, Everyman didn’t want to face such a
thing alone. At first, Everyman approached characters that he thought would be make the
journey easier such as Goods. This confirms Everyman’s consumerist nature in believing that
bringing Goods along would help, but Goods immediately refused to make the journey. Once
Everyman understood that it would take more than stuff to make it on the journey, he finally
reaches out to Good Deeds and Knowledge for their assistance. Good Deeds represents the acts
of kindness Everyman exhibited in life and Knowledge represents wisdom. This is an excellent
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representation of Proverbs 13:20 which states, “Walk with the wise and become wise; associate
with fools and get in trouble.”
O Death Where is Your Sting?
While death is inevitable and the audience knows it, it is the obvious way in which the
author of the play places works over faith is where it strays from a truly biblical adaptation. “In
the theology of the play, salvation obviously cannot come by faith alone, since it is imperative
that Everyman be accompanied to judgment by Good Deeds (Magill, 1989, p. 278+). Good deeds
no doubt play a role in our final judgment, it is not by works alone that man is saved and
welcomed into Heaven. Scripture is clear that we have redemption through Jesus Christ where
death no longer has a place. This promise is found in 2 Corinthians 15:55-57 which states, “O
death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? For sin is the sting that results in
death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death
through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The author of the play placed far too much emphasis on works
and not on the saving power of Jesus Christ that is available to call who call on His name.
Conclusion
There are many things that come along with us on the journey from life through
death, such as our friends and family, Fellowship and our personal attributes, Beauty,
Strength, Discretion, and Five Wits. We all have these personal characteristics in our lives
in one way or another. However, in Everyman, it is only those characteristics that have
benefited others and glorified God (Good Deeds) that can come all the way through to end
with us. “Everyman engages its audience in the triumph over temptation [by] the things of
the stage (like the things of this world) are steadily stripped away" (Garner, 1987, p. 275).
At the end of the play, the protagonist Everyman faces judgment with only Good Deeds by
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their side as everything else had faded and was left behind. Anything else could not face
the holiness and majesty of God. It was Confession and Good Deeds that made Everyman
worthy of grace and through them Everyman ultimately received redemption in God.
References
Adu-Gyamfi & Schmidt. (2011). Life, redemption, death, and afterlife in context of
spirituality.
In Literature and Spirituality. Longman: Liberty University.
Everyman. (1989). In F. N. Magill (Ed.), Masterpieces of world literature (p. 278+). New York:
HarperCollins.
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Garner, S. B. (1987). Theatricality in "mankind" and "everyman". Studies in Philology,
84(3), 272-285.
Goldhamer, A. D. (1973). 'Everyman': A dramatization of death. Quarterly Journal of Speech,
59(1), 87-98.
Harper, E., & Mize, B. (2006). Material economy, spiritual economy, and social critique in
everyman. Comparative Drama, 40(3), 263–311. doi:10.1353/cdr.2006.0033
Kennedy & Gioia. (2016). Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing.
Custom 8th ed. Boston: Pearson.
Paulson, J. (2007). Death’s arrival and everyman’s separation. Theatre Survey, 48(01), 121.
