Title: Everyman and Other Miracle and Morality Plays
Work includes: Noah's Flood, The Second Shepherd's Play, Everyman, and Hickscorner
(Originally written in Middle English)
Playwright(s): UnknownOriginally written: ~1350s-1510s
Page count: 117
Dates read: 1/1/19 - 1/3/19
2019 book goal progress: 4 out of 41
Back to the Classics category: Play
Read my other book reviews from the challenge HERE.
Description on back of book:
Western drama, having all but disappeared during the Dark Ages, reemerged spontaneously in the liturgy and life of the medieval church. Vernacular miracle plays (Noah's Flood and The Second Shepherd's Play) 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 (Everyman and Hickscorner) were allegorical and provided moral instruction, their principal characters vivid personification of virtue and vice.
Everyman intro: (The central character, Everyman, is summoned by Death and must face final judgment on the strength of his good deeds.) Here beginneth a treatise how the high father of heaven sendeth Death to summon Every Creature to come and give an account of their lives in this world and is in the manner of a moral play.
First sentence(s):
Noah's Flood
God: I, God, that all the world have wrought
Heaven and Earth, and all of nought,
I see my people, in deed and thought,
Are foully set in sin.
The Second Shepherd's Play
1st Shepherd: Lord, but this weather is cold, and I am ill wrapped!
Everyman
Messenger: I pray you all give your audience,
And hear this matter with reverence,
By figure a moral play –
The Summoning of Everyman called it is,
That of our lives and ending shows
How transitory we be all day.
Hickscorner
Pity: Now Jesu the gentle, that brought Adam fro hell,
Save you all, sovereigns, and solace you send:
And, of this matter that I begin to tell,
I pray you of audience, till I have made an end;
For I say to you, my name is Pity,
That ever yet hath been man’s friend.
Review:
Noah's Flood is a retelling of the story of Noah's Ark. It was pretty bland. There was a point where Noah's Wife slaps him and threatens to not join him on the boat, but, really, it's kind of boring.
The Second Shepherd's Play is about the birth of Christ, though it really is a small part of the play. The first 5/6 of the play is about 3 shepherd's that get one of their lambs stolen. When they confront the thief, his wife wraps it like baby and lies it in the crib to try to hide the lamb. In the last 1/6 of the play, the 3 shepherds are visited by an angel and then go visit Jesus in the stable. So, in the same night, the shepherds saw a real lamb pretending to be a baby AND a real baby who is also the Lamb of God. I don't know if this play is supposed to be taken seriously or not, but I found it quite humorous.
Everyman is a wonderful introspective allegory. Death sends Everyman on a journey (of which, there is no return) to meet God and give a reckoning for his life. Before leaving, Everyman sees if anyone will go on the journey with him. Fellowship (friends) is willing to murder and do all sorts of bad things but refuses to go on the journey with Everyman. Neither Kindred nor Cousin will join in the journey. Goods (riches) won't go on the journey and, if he did, he would make it worse for Everyman. Goods is a thief and killer of souls when anyone loves Goods more than God. Beauty, Strength, Discretion, and Five-Wits will also not go on the journey. Knowledge will follow Everyman to his death, but will not journey further. Only Good-Deeds, strengthened by Confession, will go with Everyman to the end of his journey. The story is insightful despite being incredibly short.
Hickscorner was a bit confusing and I think most of it went over my head. The moral I took away was that God will always forgive sins. Pity, Contemplation, and Perseverance are all good. Freewill, Imagination, and Hickscorner are all bad. Eventually, Contemplation helps turn the heart of Freewill and he asks for forgiveness of his sins. Perseverance then helps turn the heart of Imagination and, after he asks for forgiveness, his name is changed to Good Remembrance.
I enjoyed reading these four plays. I don't read much in verse, so this was a nice change up for me - it also was a little distracting sometimes, but I did like the rhyming. If you're only going to read one of them, I highly recommend that everyone read Everyman at least once. (Yes, I think I'm clever. Thank you.)
Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will close with a quote from Everyman:
Goods: My love is contrary to the love everlasting.
But if thou had me loved moderately during,
As, to the poor give part of me,
Then shouldst thou not in this dolour be.
As for a while I was lent thee,
A season thou hast had me in prosperity;
My condition is man's soul to kill;
If I save one, a thousand I do spill.
