EVERYMAN

Perception and Treatment of Death in “Everyman”

Perception and Treatment of Death in Everyman

Introduction

Everyman is a one-act play written in the late 15th century. The play begins with a messenger calling on the audience to watch the play. The messenger relates to the audience that this play is a moral play about when Everyman is called in front of God. He explains that in the beginning of the Bible, God created man and everything was perfect. However man created sin and for that, Everyman is going to have to have a reckoning with God. The messenger warns that even though now the spectators think that sin is a good thing, when it comes to the end, it will make people sad. Those things which now make you happy will fade and it is then that Everyman will have to answer for his actions.

The play may be light-hearted, but at the same time not forget that its message is the most serious of all, and that if ignored may lead to one's damnation. This brings the importance of Everyman to light. The allegory of the play must speak to a modern audience, relating eternal truths that have the power to show the danger of characters like Fellowship and Goods, and the necessity of characters such as Knowledge and Good Deeds.

Thesis Statement

The perception of the author in everyman was that the people who have died in the past, their life in hereafter will be presented in front of God in accordance with their deeds and personality they had in the world and their treatments will be determined accordingly.

Good and bad both live in society today, since good and bad are equivalent they should coexist for if they did not then nobody would be able to recognize them. But if bad will habitually live then can the human wish of eternal peace actually come true or is that only likely with the end of the world. Since the goodness live and the word God means infinite goodness then He too should live in the world (Vocht, 1970). Since there is bad in the world, good lives then God exists. Could it be because since God or good exist then evil exists or could it be because He is playing the role of the parent and allowing humans to make the decision between doing good or evil to them? Evil will always exist and the only way to reduce it is by the decision that humans make and follow in order to reach the outcome of their life.

However despite this if evil exists always then good must too, this at least leaves some form of hope to the future civilizations of the world. The recognition of betrayal by one earthly value after another creates corresponding momentum in the direction of spiritual gain, and thus the falling line of Everyman's substantial defeat is counterbalanced by a rising action that culminates in the salvation of his soul (Laan & Thomas, ...