Transcript Everyman

Everyman
“How transytory we be all daye”
Everyman
Critical Terms
Everyman: history;
form
The Allegorical plot of
Everyman
http://www.theatrehistory.com/medieval/
everyman001.html
Critical Terms
Miracle Play or
Mystery Play
Morality Play
Allegory
Series of images from Hans Holbein’s Dance of Death:
http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/assignments/everyman/everymansg.ht
ml
Miracle Play or Mystery Play
A form of medieval drama which dramatized the
liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church that reached
its height in the 15th century. Written in Latin, the
play was preceded by a prologue or by a herald
who gave a synopsis and was closed by a
herald's salute. When control of the plays passed
from the clergy into the hands of the town guilds in
1210, and various changes ensued: vernacular
language replaced Latin, and scenes were
inserted that were not from the Bible. The acting
became more dramatic as characterization and
detail became more important.
http://www.anglistik.uni-freiburg.de/intranet/englishbasics/DramaTypesofStages01.htm
http://www.wilsonsalmanac.c
om/whitsunday_whitsuntide.
html
http://www.waits.org.uk/festival2.html
http://www.assemblyrooms.org.uk/history/boughton/everyman.html
http://www.miracleplayers.org/everyman/images/everyman_17.j
pg
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/english/everyman.htm
Morality Play
The "moralities" were a fairly rich, late medieval
genre encouraged by the church and civil
authorities because they taught social and moral
values through amusing dramatic actions. Morality
characters are allegorical, and the plot's action must
be interpreted as teaching something about the
human condition. The form was generally static.
The moralities were performed by troupes of actors,
outdoors with rudimentary costumes and scenery,
before an audience of people from all social
classes. They also might have been staged as
travelling shows on a "pageant wagon." They
contributed significantly to the secularization of
The Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven
Cardinal Virtues
The Sins: Envy, Anger,
Sloth, Greed, Gluttony, Lust,
Pride
The Virtues: Love,
Kindness, Zeal, Charity,
Temperance, Self-Control,
Humility
http://www.godecookery.com/macabre/holdod/holdod28.htm
Allegory
A symbolic story that serves as a disguised
representation for meanings other than those
indicated on the surface. The characters in
an allegory often have no individual
personality, but are embodiments of moral
qualities and other abstractions.
Everyman
After 1485
4 printed copies,
different editions,
1508—1537
Regularly performed
Possibly a
translation of a
Dutch play, Elckerlijk
http://www.godecookery.com/macabre/holdod/holdod35.htm
Image over: http://www.kb.nl/galerie/100hoogtepunten/029-en.html
Form
Rhyming verse in irregular meter and rhyme
scheme, but tending toward rhyming couplets
in four- or five-stress lines that often would
be, if smoothed out, reasonable iambic
tetrameter and iambic pentameter.
“Nothing in the play is extraneous to the
central homiletic* purpose.”
*Homily:
A sermon, especially one intended to edify a
congregation on a practical matter and not intended to
be a theological discourse. An inspirational saying or
platitude.
American Heritage Dictionary
The Allegorical Plot of
Everyman
Messenger
God
Death
Death demands the
account book from
Everyman and tells
him to prepare for
his Pilgrimage
http://www.godecookery.com/macabre/holdod/holdod23.htm
Everyman loses his
companions
Fellowship
Kindred and
Cousin
Goods
http://www.godecookery.com/macabre/holdod/holdod39.htm
Everyman's sins, l 486)
Everyman's penance
Confession
Knowledge (or contrition, Knowledge of
sin)
"Scourge of Penance" (l 605)
Everyman's good deeds are liberated (l 619)
Knowledge gives Everyman a "garment of
sorrow" (l 643)
Digression on the priesthood
Everyman's bodily progress toward death: He
loses
Beauty
Strength
Discretion
Five-Wits
Knowledge remains until he sees where
Everyman "shall become" (l 863)
Everyman and Good
Deeds Descend into the
Grave
Knowledge hears the
Angels sing
The angel welcomes
Everyman and tells him
his "reckoning is clear"
Doctor recounts the
Moral
http://www.godecookery.com/macabre/holdod/holdod48.htm