Perceptions and Treatment of Death in ‘Everyman’ Play

Subject: Literature
Type: Critical Analysis Essay
Pages: 1
Word count: 321
Topics: Book, Christianity, Perception, Theology
Text
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Everyman is a play written during the 14th century in England. The authors remain unknown to date, but it is believed to have been written by the ancient monks and priests in their quest to urge humankind conduct their life with morality. Morality plays written by clergymen served a very collaborative role in analyzing the characters of people and helping them evaluate their actions in line with Godliness. One of the most significant message in the play is “Earthly comforts are fleeting”. The play’s theme of death plays in the play as a character that is brought to teach man a life lesson from his inequities.

Death is the main theme in the play, therefore in studying the play, it is important to look into the play’s concepts of Godliness and how He wants human beings to behave. The Godly virtues would include good deeds, care for others, love and having an understanding that Jesus Christ died for their sins.

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This part will require a close analysis of the human characteristic including their sinful lives. Additionally, the paper will try to find out how God uses death as punishment to those who go against His will.

The paper will also gather the views of the author on their own perception of death and its effects to people. There will also be an analysis of the play’s treatment of death and the eminent threats as described by the author and God himself. The paper will also briefly look into the fear humans have towards death, and how they evade it by various means.

Death represents God’s judgment to human sins, therefore, the paper will lay its focus on the causes of death and its consequences in the spiritual trial.

To conclude, the paper will give views on human sins, God’s moral principles and death as a punishment for those who lead a sinful life.

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  1. Potter, R. A. (1975). The English Morality Play: Origins, History, and Influence of a Dramatic Tradition. Routledge.
  2. Cawley, A. C. (Ed.). (1960). Everyman: And Medieval Miracle Plays (Vol. 381).
  3. Goldhamer, A. D. (1973). Everyman: A dramatization of death.
  4. Thiel, G. (1986). The Changing Significance of the Figure of Death in Various Everyman Plays. Literator, 7(1), 21-47.
  5. Farooqui, J. (2015). Transmogrification of the Danse Macabre Image: Capturing the Journey towards Creativity. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Cognitive and Language Sciences, 2(1).
  6. Rowe, M. W. (2011). ‘Aubade’: Death and the Thought of Death. In Philip Larkin: Art and Self (pp. 167-204). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
  7. Grądz, K. M. (2018). Living across Borderlines: Queerness and Death in the Times of Epidemic. Literary Representations of Death in Christopher Coe’s Such Times, David Wojnarowicz’s Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration, and Edmund White’s The Farewell Symphony.
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