Introduction
A brief description of death and the play: Death is the most feared concept on earth and humans would do anything within their power to avoid it.
A brief summary of “Everyman” play: The play’s protagonist “Everyman” is used by the author to represent people on earth. The author also uses other virtues and vices as the other characters beginning the play with God sending Death to earth.
Thesis Statement: In “Everyman” play "death" is used to portray the way people live on land and when it summons, every individual account for his or her actions in life.
Body Paragraphs
Death as God’s Messenger: According to the author, death was sent by God, and he follows God’s commands and submits to His will.
Death as the end of life: When someone dies, he forgets all he had in life. Once one reaches the final journey, he is abandoned by everyone even his closest friends or relatives.
Death as the reminder of real values: Death makes people realize that things fade with time, and nothing else matters whenever death summons. Everybody, including close friends and relatives, abandons one to the reality of mortality.
Death as a means of repentance and salvation: Everyman becomes sorrowful after realizing death was calling upon him. It makes people achieve their actions on earth and repent.
Death as obligatory: Death is viewed as something that eventually happens to everyone. It is the final journey that all human beings must partake.
Conclusion
God controls death and however dreadful it may seem He uses it to guide people in the right way for a better life in eternity.
Introduction
Death is a dreadful concept in the human life that people search for ways to avoid. Besides its uncertainty and inevitability instills fear. Written in the late 15th century, the morality play “Everyman” is written from the Roman Catholic. It seems like a medieval sermon since it contains some themes and preoccupations that are present in the pulpit (Fletcher, 1985). The play’s protagonist “Everyman” represents humans on earth and he personifies different virtues and vices that he uses to represent the other characters. As noted by Adu-Gyamfi and Schmidt (2011), “Everyman play is shows Christians how they should live to save themselves from the conviction of death. Besides, the perception of death in the play is influenced by the way people live. It is evident in the play that humans struggle to leave the worldly things and instead choose the ultimate spiritual judgment. There is an apparent conflict between the worldly possessions, and spiritual enrichment, virtues, and vices, as well as heaven and hell but the verdict of God seems to take the final stand in the play (Robison, 2011). Furthermore, the play displays life as something transitory with Everyman’s journey that begins from a life full of sins to repentance and ends up in a holy death.
The play is about Everyman, who is summoned by death. He tries to plead with Death to release him from the journey but instead informs him that it is a journey everyone has to go through in life. Everyman then tries to plead with his friends to support him during the trip, but none of them accepted. His close friend Fellowship refuses to go with him, and even his close cousin refuses to accompany him claiming her toe is painful (Adu-Gyamfi & Schmidt, 2011). Ultimately Everyman realizes that he was alone in the journey, and he would go to the grave by himself. Hence, in “Everyman” play, death is used to portray the way people live on earth and when it summons, every individual account for his or her actions in life.
Death as God’s Messenger
Death is perceived as something sent from Heaven by the High Father. The play begins by a treatise of how God sends death to call upon every living creature to account for their lives on earth (Adu-Gyamfi & Schmidt, 2011). It is evident through this treatise that the author perceives death as a messenger of God through which he delivers both good and bad news to the people. Besides, Death is evidently God’s agent since Death carries out His will and follows His commands. Furthermore, Death is indeed God’s messenger since he comes unexpectedly and only does as God wishes and not man’s bidding. Everyman complains to death of how he comes when least expected and even tries to bribe him to give him more time, but as God’s messenger, he does not abide by people’s persuasion and wishes but by God’s willing. Moreover, Death informs Everyman that his loyalty is to God and has no care for people’s emotions and worldly riches (Adu-Gyamfi & Schmidt, 2011). Therefore, death is indeed a messenger sent by God and is controlled by Him, since he has all the power.
Death as the End of Life
When people die, the earthly possessions become of no importance to them. Wealth, knowledge, personal attributes among other worldly things could not help anyone when he or she goes to the journey of death. When Everyman learns that the things he valued the most could not save him from death, he realizes that death is indeed the end of life. Not even his wits could keep him from his destiny.
Death as a Reminder of Real Values
Death as a Means of Repentance and Salvation
Death is the most dreaded thing in life, and since people fear it a lot, they try to do all they can to avoid it. Everyman was a very proud and arrogant man, but when he finds out that he is going to die, he becomes repentant (Paulson, 2007). Everyman's arrogance is noted when Death asks him why he forgot his maker, and he responds curtly asking why he wants to know. But when he finally realizes that there is no other way to escape Death, he becomes sorrowful. When those he cherished abandon him, he realizes that it was wrong to value earthly pleasures more than God. Therefore, it is because of Death that Everyman knew how wrong his actions were and learned about the importance of repentance and good deeds. Furthermore, Death eventually led Everyman to redemption and salvation. For that reason, the author treats death, not with condemnation, but as something that makes people live sinless lives.
Death as Obligatory
The treatment of death in the play is something that is a must for every human being. The author uses Everyman to show people how death affects all people regardless of their financial status. Apparently, Everyman appears to be rich in that when Death first approaches him he appears finely dressed and is evident he spent his life with a lot of pleasures and good things more than he sought God. He even declares how he values his earthly possessions more than anything else and how they made him more alive. But in spite of all that comfort he has to go through the journey of death. Death is mandatory, and it does not consider one’s title, status, social class and even good deeds (Robison, 2011). Despite Good Deeds acceptance to accompany Everyman to the journey of death, Everyman still dies. Additionally, even if his comrades refuse to escort him, they know that they will not escape it.
According to the play, nothing seems important when death summons. As noted by Robison (2011), one cannot depend on anything during that time. There are those that may depend on personal attributes, but they always leave in the end, and it is through death that one notices the insignificance of earthly possessions. Conversely, the author seems to support the play’s central theme that the recognition of mortality forces one to reconsider the personal values and in turn search for salvation (Homan, 1997). Besides, even one’s close friends and family are useless in one’s hour of death. But when one lives a life doing good deeds, people will remember them and is often considered a hero because good deeds never abandon someone. Hence, as noted by Ladd (2007), good deeds are the antidote to evil and the primary route to salvation. Therefore, the author’s perception and treatment of death are that it alienates a person to the point that one cannot even depend on himself for salvation and that people should only depend on God to save them.
Conclusion
“Everyman” is a Christian play that portrays death as something simple and easy to comprehend. It is evident that people live with no fear of death, and indeed the author treats it as something that should not be feared but realize that God controls it and uses it as a messenger not to punish people but to lead them in the right way to live for a better life in eternity. Besides, the author views death as something that leads people to repentance even if it comes unexpectedly. Moreover, death is something compulsory, and every human being has to come face to face with it someday, and they should always remember to do good deeds since it is the only thing that does not forsake someone till the end.
References
Adu-Gyamfi, Y. & Schmidt, M. (2011). Literature and spirituality. Boston: Longman.
Fletcher, A. J. (1985). Everyman An Unrecorded Sermon Analogue. English Studies, 66(4), 296.
Homan, R. L. (1997). The Everyman Movie, Circa 1991. Journal Of Popular Film & Television, 25(1), 21.
Ladd, R. A. (2007). "My condicion is mannes soule to kill"--Everyman's Mercantile Salvation. Comparative Drama,41(1), 57-78.
Paulson, J. (2007). Death’s Arrival And Everyman’s Separation. Theatre Survey, 48(1), 121-141. doi:10.1017/s0040557407000397
Robison, M. (2011). Everyman, A Modern Adaptation, (Or, Number’s Down). Honors Program Projects, 14, 7-60.
