Everyman

by Anonymous

On This Page

Description

Western drama, having all but disappeared during the Dark Ages, reemerged spontaneously in the liturgy and life of the medieval church. Vernacular miracle plays of England's Middle Ages were performed by lay people - many by trade guilds - unschooled in church Latin, but familiar with the biblical events upon which the dramas were based. Morality plays provided moral instruction, their principal characters vivid personifications of virtue and vice. The most durable of the morality plays has show more proven to be Everyman, whose central character, summoned by Death, must face final judgment on the strength of his good deeds. This venerable drama is reprinted here along with three other medieval classics: The Second Shepherds' Play, Noah's Flood, and Hickscorner. show less

Tags

Recommendations

Member Reviews

8 reviews
I actually read an online version of this text provided by my teacher as part of my Introduction to Drama course, so this is not the same version I'm writing about, but is the same work. Personally, I found this play to be quite a bit more simple and straightforward than most, while having language that could be very difficult to fully follow at times. It is a great allegorical work, and a good example of a morality play, but I don't think I'll ever count it among my favorite dramatic works. Still, there is quite a serious lesson there to ponder, and anyone interested in seriously studying drama will likely consider this to be an important era of development in the history of the form. Overall, I am kind of glad we had to read it, show more because even if I don't love it, I definitely think it's interesting. show less
No-one cares what I think of this little classic, but there’s one edition per person who want to read it, so…

The 1981 reprint of Cawley’s MUP edition. A cheaply made little paperback that designed to last one term before sitting in your parents’ attic for twenty years. It preserves the original spelling and Cawley clearly tracks any changes that he’s made. Really good introduction and particularly full notes that answer some of the knottier questions but also have enough to help beginners. I think some of the earlier printings might have been better made (?) but reprints from 1977 onwards have corrections and an updated bibliography.
I remember reading this in high school and some Protestant kids got upset because of the message of the importance of good deeds in the afterlife. Read it in the context of the time it was written.
A successful portray of the day judgement with some defects like the incorporation of God in the play as a major character and some old and decayed thoughts.
I read it for college and give it four stars this means I can have a good mark , right ?
I'll keep my fingers crossed :D
An interesting morality play about how to live your life.
i need to start counting the number of plays i read this semester
Everyman is an interesting study of medieval morality plays.

Members

Recently Added By

Lists

Author Information

1 Work 198 Members

Series

Belongs to Publisher Series

Work Relationships

Common Knowledge

Alternate titles
The Summoning of Everyman
Disambiguation notice
Single play. Do not combine with books containing multiple works

Classifications

Genre
Fiction and Literature
DDC/MDS
822.2Literature & rhetoricEnglish & Old English literaturesBritish DramaPre-Elizabethan 1400-1558
LCC
PR1261 .E8Language and LiteratureEnglishEnglish LiteratureCollections of English literature
BISAC

Statistics

Members
198
Popularity
164,763
Reviews
7
Rating
½ (3.26)
Languages
English
Media
Paper, Ebook
ISBNs
18
ASINs
15