The Somonyng Of Everyman Essay

An analysis on the treatment of death in The Somonyng of Everyman

When discussing morality plays, it is inevitable to make mention of the sociocultural aspects of the time of their inception as the malleable condition of human trains of thought are the basis of their creation. The Late Middle Ages are characterized by the immense importance of religion in common life and political affairs. Under these circumstances, medieval Europe becomes the birthplace of The Somonyng of Everyman, which is considered one of the most important morality plays of all time. The concept of death takes on a human-like form inside of this play in order to allegorically incentivize the protagonist, Everyman, to pursue the medieval ideal of religious righteousness

Yet, Death takes on a more complex and deep involvement within the entire play as it is not only a character but it also defines the beginning and the end of Everyman’s journey to God’s presence. Death makes itself present throughout every encounter, every one of Everyman’s actions, and above all Death is the symbolic path that Everyman transits. Be it through intimidation, inexpectancy, or example by its unyielding non corruptive attitude, Death motivates Everyman, and every man and woman accordingly, to pursue honest repentance of his sins and to resuscitate those famed Good Dees which he undermined for a long time. The author’s use of the character Death is primordial to the development and allegorical message of this play; the focus of this work will be to discuss the author’s use literary devices to achieve said end and to elaborate on the

The author’s use of a personified and unique concept of death serves to establish Death as the cause for Everyman’s actions and give it a high state of authority before him which motivates his active pursuit of redemption for his wrongdoings and misguided living. The entire play of Everyman revolves around the concept of death, and as demonstrated, it marks its beginning and its end. Without the author’s use of Death as God’s uncorrupted agent on earth, the story and its meaning would lose focus and therefore effectiveness in transmitting its intended message of religious importance, loyalty, and transcendence of our good deeds. Everyman is an allegory to every man on earth, and just as Death comes to Everyman, it shall eventually find every man in this