Christian elements in the play
since this play is a moral play, it must contain many Christian elements and have many Christian lessons to teach audiences. Let*s just take a look at some of them.
Christian elements in the play
since
this play is a moral play, it must contain many Christian elements and
have many Christian lessons to teach audiences. Let*s just take a look
at some of them.
First is about human*s sin. From the most beginning, God mentions how human beings forget His grace of creation and salvation and turn to worship those evil things---seven deadly sins, including envy, gluttony, sloth, pride, lechery, wrath, and avarice. He can*t stand for seeing this and feels very angry, so He decides to have a judgment on Everyman (every man). Here, human beings* sin and God*s mighty power are very much emphasized. It reminds the audiences that every one of them is sinned and has to receive the final judgment held by God.
Then, Death
shows up. He represents God*s messenger and is going to fulfill God*s commandment
(p366 line64, 65). He seems to be another god, but only that his power
and position is much lower than God, the greatest one. It is very similar
to the situation in Greek mythology that Zeus can command other gods to
do things for him. However, it is very different from Christianity nowadays.
Today*s Christianity doesn*t have Death or any other god but just one---almighty
God. The religion in Everyman*s age might mix with some mythological colors.
In addition to this, the play also points out Death*s two qualities: unexpectedness
( it gives no warning) and inevitability ( it will happen to every person
in the world) (p367 line133; p368 line183, 184). These remind audiences
the transience of life. All living people should seize their time to do
things meaningful, for death comes silently. Once they are dead, they will
receive their final judgment right away; God will make a judgment according
to how they use their lives. Do they make a good use of their lives or
just waste them easily? Here, another important element of Christianity
comes out---that everything one owns, including his life is borrowed from
God. All the world is God*s creation, and human beings are, too. Therefore,
it is very natural that all the things in the world belong to God, including
human beings* lives. It once again emphasizes the powerfulness of God and
the slightness of human beings. Most of people in the world are like Everyman
who thinks that everything he owns belongs to himself; therefore, the play
tries to correct this kind of wrong attitude through Death*s conversation
to Everyman (p368 lines161~166). It tries to rebuild the idea that actually
everything in the world belongs to God, to remind people that it is not
worthy to spend all their life on gaining more goods, earning more money,
for after all these are not theirs at all; what really worth for them to
do is to cherish their life to do things meaningful and good, for
in that way God will be glad when making a judgment on them, and they will
be able to go to heaven to live a wonderful life forever. Earthly life
isn*t worth seeking; life in heaven is important and worth expecting.
Besides the above points, the importance of confession and priests is very
much emphasized here, too. Confession plays the key point in this play.
On page376, Knowledge tells Everyman to go to Confession who lives in the
House of Salvation. Our group think that the House of Salvation represents
church. After Everyman makes his confession in the church, he becomes a
completely different person. His sins are washed away so that his Good
Deeds is able to stand up to walk again. And his other qualities, such
as Beauty, Five Wits, Strength*etc., come out automatically to companion
him. It is very different from the situation before he confessed. Before
confessing, he needed to beg others to be his companions, and none of them
wanted to go with him. He was very much afraid of death at that time. However,
after confessing, he gets many companions so that he doesn*t feel afraid
anymore. It seems that the play wants to deliver an idea that although
death is cruel and the final judgment is inevitable, as long as we confess,
we admit our sins and beg sincerely for God*s forgiveness, we will not
need to fear anymore. Confession*s importance is very much emphasized here.
Priests are also essential in Christianity. In this play, there is a large paragraph of messages mentioning the importance of priests (p379 line706~ p381 line771). On page375, Knowledge says "Everyman (every man, every audience in front of the stage), hearken what I say: go to Priesthood (go to your local clergyman), I you advise, and recceive of him in any wise, the holy sacrament and ointment togither*etc.." Here, the play seems to give a real sermon to the audiences through Knowledge. And Five-Wits continues explaining the importance of the priest. He says that in the world priests are the ones who are worth respecting most, for God gives greatest power and dignity to them. Their power even is much more than angels*. The ruling classes in the earth, such as emperors, kings, dukes*etc., also need to listen to the priests. Priests hold seven blessed sacraments: Baptism, confirmation, ordination, marriage, the holy extreme unction, and penance; they also teach people Holy Scripture and converteth man from sin. It could be said that all God*s blessing come from priests; there is no remedy under God but only from priesthood.
The last is about the final judgment. When Everyman is going to receive the final judgment, only his good deeds (virtues) stays with him, which means that when God makes a final judgment on a person, what He really cares about (what really counts ) is the person*s good deeds, is that whether the man makes a good use of his life or not, how the person spend his life. Any other thing, like friends, relations, worldly things, physical characters, knowledge, five- wits can*t win God*s favor.
Conclusion
This
play reminds us that death is what we must face and it comes unexpectedly.
When we are dead, only our virtues (good deeds) will be remembered and
counted. We can carry nothing, including our own quality and knowledge,
from this world. Therefore, we should try our best to do things meaningful
through our short life time, and in that way, we will feel no regret and
fear when we face death.
