Everyman

Everyman is a morality play, a dramatic genre popular in England between the 14th and 15th centuries. As the term implies, a “morality play” sets out to teach a moral lesson, usually one inspired by Christian doctrine. Morality plays typically feature a protagonist who represents humanity or the average human being, alongside supporting characters who take the form of allegorical or personified concepts.

Like other morality plays of the period, Everyman explores themes of sin, repentance, and salvation. The play assumes a Christian perspective, promoting an emphatically Christian message about “our lives and ending” and “how transitory we be all day” (5, 6). As the Messenger explains in the very first lines of the play (which serve as a prologue), the play will illustrate why those worldly goods such as “Fellowship and Jollity, / Both Strength, Pleasure, and Beauty” do nothing to prepare human beings for death and for their final “reckoning” with God (16-17).

God’s lament, which immediately follows the Messenger’s brief speech, further develops these themes of Sin and Repentance,