The central theme to the medieval morality play Everyman is that on the fnal journey on

the road of life, all companions of Everyman forsake him and only Good Deeds avail at the
fnal judgment.In the beginning of the play God is upset with Everyman for embracing the
seven deadly sins, so he calls for Death to seek out and punish every man who has
sinned.When faced with this accosting, Everyman begs for company on the journey to the
grave and Death allows Everyman to bring any companions who would be willing to
go.Everyman then seeks out Fellowship, Kindred, and Goods, however, all three refuse to
make the dangerous voyage to the grave with him.When Everyman calls upon Good
Deeds, he answers weakly, for he is tied down by Ropes of Sin and is unable to help.
Everyman then seeks out Good Deeds' sister, Knowledge, who leads Everyman to
Confession. Confession then frees Good Deeds from Ropes of Sin and the three journey
together to the grave.Other companions such as Strength, Beauty, and the Five Wits join
the three on the road of life, however only Good Deeds is able to enter darkness with
Everyman at the end.
The title page of Everyman announces the play as a treatise of how the High Father
of Heaven sendeth death to summon every creature to come and give account of their
lives in this world, as well as informing the reader that this treatise is in manner of a
moral play. The first two characters to enter are God, in a high place on the stage or
performance space, and a Messenger, who delivers a prologue. The Messengers
prologue ass the audience to give their attention and listen to the matter !the
content" of this moral play. The Messenger then announces the purpose of the play#
That of our lives and ending shows
How transitory we be all day. (l.5-6)
The play will show us our lives as well as our deaths !our ending" and how we
humans are always !all day" transitory# changing from one state into another.
$learly, from the very %eginning, the play is clear that it is to %e a play a%out the
human e&perience, as well as one with an a%solute focus on morals.
The Messenger continues to tell the audience that, though sin initially might seem
sweet, it will cause the soul to weep eventually, when you are dead and the %ody
lieth in clay. He also informs us that Fellowship, 'ollity, (trength, )leasure
and *eauty will fade away from us as flower in May.
God speas ne&t, and he immediately launches into a criticism of the way that all
creatures are unind to him !unind, in this conte&t, means undutiful + not
serving God properly". )eople are living without dread !fear" in the world without any
thought of heaven or hell, or the ,udgment that will eventually come to them. -n
worldly riches is all their mind, God says. )eople are not mindful of Gods law, or his
prohi%ition of the seven deadly sins !and, God reminds us, they are damna%le + they
send you to hell".
.veryone is living purely for their own pleasure, God tells the audience, %ut yet they
are not at all secure in their lives !nothing sure ". God sees everything decaying ,
and getting worse fro year to year !from year to year" and so has decided to have a
reconing of every mans person. This reconing is a counting up, an audit, of
peoples souls. /re they guilty or are they godly + should they %e going to heaven or
hell0
God, disappointed in humanind, calls in 1eath, his mighty messenger. 1eath says
that he will travel throughout the world and cruelly outsearch %oth great and small.
He is going to %eset !perhaps meaning 2attac2 or 2deal with2" every man who liveth
%eastly !lives in a %eastly way". )eople who love wealth and worldly goods will %e
struc %y 1eaths dart and will %e sent to dwell in hell eternally + unless, that is, /lms
%e his good friend. /lms means good deeds, and it is an important clue even at
this stage that good deeds can save a sinner from eternal damnation.
God e&its, and 1eath sees .veryman waling along. The te&t specifies that .veryman
is finely dressed. 1eath approaches .veryman, touches him with his dart, and ass
him where he is going, and whether he has forgotten his maer !the one who made
him". .veryman ass 1eath who he is, %ut 1eath replies that he is sent to .veryman
%y God. 1eath then tells .veryman that he must tae a long ,ourney upon him, and
%ring with him his %oo of count !his account %oo as per Gods reconing, a%ove"
which contains his good and %ad deeds. .veryman must %egin his ,ourney towards
death.
.veryman says that he is unready to mae such a reconing, and it is then that 1eath
reveals to .veryman who he really is. .veryman is horrified# 3 1eath, he says, thou
comest when - had thee least in mind. .veryman then offers to give 1eath a
thousand pound if he will postpone this whole matter till another day. 1eath,
though, says that he places no value on gold, silver or riches, and ass .veryman to
come with him.
.veryman pleads with 1eath# his %oo of reconing, he says, is not ready. He %egs for
Gods mercy, and ass 1eath to spare him until he has a way of sorting it out. -f, he
says, he can have ,ust twelve years, he can mae his %oo of reconing so clear that
he would have no need to fear. 1eath refuses.
.veryman then ass 1eath whether he will have any company to go on the ,ourney
from life into death. 1eath tells him he could have company, if anyone was %rave
enough to go along with him. 1eath then ass .veryman if he %elieves that his life and
his worldly goods are given to him. 4hen .veryman says he thought they were,
1eath tells him that they were only lent to him. .veryman cannot tae things with
him once he has died. /fter refusing once more to grant .veryman more time, 1eath
e&its.
The play immediately foregrounds its purpose, and introduces a ey theme# 5how
transitory we %e all day. The transience of mans life + how short lived we are + is a
central theme of .veryman# focusing our minds not on the soon6finished concerns of
our worldly life, %ut the eternal afterlife which will follow. There is also no dramatic
tension esta%lished# the Messenger tells us that Fellowship, 'ollity, (trength, )leasure
and *eauty will all fade from us as flower in May + in other words, all these things,
which in the world are considered valua%le, are transitory and will merely fade away
when you die. 7ou cant tae them with you. The ending of the play, then, is
announced at the very %eginning + there is no mystery a%out whether or not
.verymans so6called friends will desert him. Thus, the Messengers opening speech
also %egins the plays concern with %eginnings and endings# the play shows of our
ending as well as our lives, and warns us in the %eginning to tae good heed to
the ending. (o at the %eginning of the play, we are invited to thin a%out the end8 ,ust
as, as the Messenger continues to e&plain, sin seems fantastic in the %eginning, %ut
in the end causes the soul to weep. There is a natural rhythm, then, in the play + and
a recurring theme + of the relationship %etween %eginning and ending# and the
importance of planning ahead, of thining a%out where the end point might %e, of
considering the conse9uences of any particular action.
-t is fascinating to a modern audience that God %egins %y e&pressing his
disappointment in a superficial world, o%sessed with worldly riches and renown and not
paying enough !if any" respect to the spiritual things of real worth# a charge that could
%e levelled at our own modern world as much as the world in c.:;<< when the play
was originally written. .veryman + whose name provides us with the clue that he
represents all of manind# every man + is clearly no e&ception to this rule. He clearly
cares a%out e&pensive, fine clothing !he is finely dressed upon entering" and, when
he wants 1eath to postpone his day of reconing, his immediate recourse is to money,
offering 1eath a thousand pounds as a %ri%e.
Transitoriness
=ife is transitory, and the very opening of the play announces that it will show us 2how
transitory we %e all day2 in our lives. The play documents .veryman>s ,ourney from
sinful life to sin6free, holy death 6 and its ey theme is how we can>t tae things with
us %eyond the grave. =ife is transitory 6 always changing, always in transition, always
moving towards death. 3nly heaven or hell is eternal. Goods, of course, arrives
personified in the play, and lie Fellowship, deserts .veryman, refusing to accompany
him on his pilgrimage. The structure of this part of the play, is, in effect, a list of the
things that you cant tae with you when you die, and it is interesting that the
playwright chose to start with the concrete e&amples of other peoples friendship and
your %elongings.
Sin
3ne way of looing at the play and .veryman>s forsaing friends is %y grouping them
according to the seven deadly sins. -t>s certainly true that each sin could %e found in
the play, %ut sin itself is a wider theme in the play# .veryman has to a%solve himself of
sin to go to heaven. .veryman, remem%er, represents manind generally + and clearly
the sins that Fellowship suggests committing are precisely the ones that God outlined
at the %eginning of the play. These sins are, perhaps, more serious than simply the
emphasis laid upon worldly goods in the first part of the play# though, significantly,
Fellowship would not even accompany .veryman, he says, for a new gown +
developing the theme of rich clothing and its association with worldly rather than
spiritual value. .veryman has to face up to and repent for his own actions. -t is
interesting that we do not really see .veryman commit sin8 his sins, of course, have
%een committed %efore the play %egins, which is the reason that God calls1eath to visit
.veryman in the first place. the seven deadly sins, and it is certainly true that all of
those sins seem to %e underlined in either .veryman or one of his friends at some
point during the play. 4e have already seen how Fellowship wants to feast, drin and
consort with women !gluttony and lechery" and the odd mention of murder as a form
of entertainment !wrath". .verymans fine clothes and his lofty offer to %ri%e 1eath
with a thousand pounds might %e seen as representing pride and covetousness. /ll of
.verymans friends, as G./. =ester has noted, %y their unwillingness to go on the
,ourney could %e said to e&emplify sloth, and Goods shows a recogni?ed form of
envy in showing such delight in .verymans %ad fortunes.
Death
That the play is a%out death is foregrounded when, early in the play, a personified
1eath appears at God>s summons. 1eath>s role is to %ring people to ,udgment. Though
the play doesn>t particularly e&plore our emotional response to 1eath, it is important to
note that .veryman>s pilgrimage is to the grave 6 and that the whole play is a
consideration of what man must do %efore death.
Pilgrimage
/ pilgrimage is a ,ourney taen to a sacred or religious place, and it has often %een
noted that .veryman>s ,ourney through the play is in some sense itself a pilgrimage# a
religious ,ourney taen, ultimately, to heaven. Medieval writers often compared life to a
pilgrimage# a transitory ,ourney to an ultimately spiritual goal. $omparisons might also
%e made with those in holy orders, who, lie .veryman, must learn to live without
%elongings and let go of the things they are attached to in order to progress on a
spiritual ,ourney. The pilgrimage itself, of course, is an important trope in medieval
literature, providing the %ase for, among many others, $haucers The Canterbury Tales.
-t is an interesting metaphor# life is a ,ourney towards God. Here, though, the
emphasis is 9uite firmly laid on the fact that it is a ,ourney that you ultimately mae
alone. -t is nota%le that the first friend to forsae .veryman is the only one to
represent humans + Fellowship 6 and the forsaing friends who come later in the play
are allegorical personifications of a%stract 9ualities lie strength or goods. The
message is %lea, %ut clear# other people will immediately desert you. -t also provides
an interesting connection with religious orders !mons and nuns" who swear a vow of
poverty + lie .veryman, they must lay aside their worldly goods. The pilgrimage itself,
of course, is an important trope in medieval literature, providing the %ase for, among
many others, $haucers The Canterbury Tales. -t is an interesting metaphor# life is a
,ourney towards God. Here, though, the emphasis is 9uite firmly laid on the fact that it
is a ,ourney that you ultimately mae alone. -t is nota%le that the first friend to forsae
.veryman is the only one to represent humans + Fellowship 6 and the forsaing friends
who come later in the play are allegorical personifications of a%stract 9ualities lie
strength or goods. The message is %lea, %ut clear# other people will immediately
desert you. -t also provides an interesting connection with religious orders !mons and
nuns" who swear a vow of poverty + lie .veryman, they must lay aside their worldly
goods.
Worldly Goods
.veryman is 6 nota%ly 6 deserted %y his Goods a%out halfway through the play, and
told that love of Goods is opposite to love of God. For .veryman, who is finely dressed,
and whose friend, Fellowship, holds a new ro%e in high esteem, part of the progression
of the play is learning not to %e attached to worldly goods, and to focus his attention
instead on things with spiritual value.
Reckoning and judgement
.veryman has to clear his %oo of reconing %efore he can progress to heaven, and
one of the things the play considers is how humans will %e ,udged after they have died.
God is furious that humans are living a superficial life on earth, focusing on wealth and
riches, without worrying a%out the greater ,udgment that is to come 6 and, nota%ly,
.veryman>s own ,udgment 6 his a%ility to understand his life 6 %ecomes gradually more
and more enlightened on his pilgrimage towards his heavenly reward.
Earthly versus spiritual
/t the %eginning of the play, God is furious that humans are concerning themselves
with worldly things and not with their ultimate spiritual ,udgment 6 and whether they
will dwell in heaven or hell. )eople are 2living without dread in worldly prosperity2. The
play constantly e&plores the conflict %etween worldly concerns, riches, clothes and
relationships, and the need to focus on spiritual welfare, heaven and hell and God>s
,udgment. (tylistically, it is also worth noting the continual use of prover%s %y the
writer of .veryman. .veryman himself speas two in this section. Firstly, after the
departure of Fellowship, he comments that Fair words maeth fools fain !@ice words
only mae idiots happy" as he has realised that he cannot trust promises that people
mae. -nterestingly, though, he also ruminates that he has heard the prover% Money
maeth all right that is wrong !Money rights every wrong + money solves every
pro%lem" which leads him to turn to his goods. -t might %e a true dictum of our earthly
world that you can %uy your way out of any pro%lem8 %ut it is certainly not true at all
of the $hristian spiritual world which .veryman will travel to after his death. The ironic
use of this prover% reiterates the plays emphasis on spiritual value over worldly goods.