The Somonyng of Everyman (
The Summoning of Everyman), usually referred to simply as
Everyman, is a late 15th-century
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
morality playThe morality play is a genre of Medieval and early Tudor theatrical entertainment. In their own time, these plays were known as "interludes", a broader term given to dramas with or without a moral theme. Morality plays are a type of allegory in which the protagonist is met by personifications of...
. Like John Bunyan's novel
Pilgrim's Progress,
Everyman examines the question of Christian salvation by use of allegorical characters, and what Man must do to attain it. The premise is that the good and evil deeds of one's life will be tallied by God after death, as in a ledger book. The play is the allegorical accounting of the life of Everyman, who represents all mankind. In the course of the action, Everyman tries to convince other characters to accompany him in the hope of improving his account. All the characters are also allegorical, each personifying an abstract idea such as Fellowship, (material) Goods, and Knowledge. The conflict between good and evil is dramatized by the interactions between characters.
Sources
Nothing is known of the author. Although the play was apparently produced with some frequency in the seventy-five years following its composition, no production records survive.
There is a similar
DutchDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
(Flemish) morality play of the same period called
ElckerlijcElckerlijc is a Dutch morality play which was written somewhere around the year 1470 and was originally printed in 1495. It was extremely successful and may have been the original source for the English play Everyman, as well as many other translations for other countries...
. Scholars have yet to reach an agreement on whether
Everyman is a translation of this play, or derived independently from a
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
work named
Homulus.
Setting
Like the characters, the setting is allegorical: God speaks from heaven, then sends Death to earth to seek Everyman, who ascends to heaven in the final scene. Figuratively, the setting is anywhere on earth.
The cultural setting is based on the Roman Catholicism of the era. Everyman attains afterlife in heaven by means of good works and the Catholic Sacraments, in particular
ConfessionThis article is for the religious practice of confessing one's sins.Confession is the acknowledgment of sin or wrongs...
,
PenancePenance is repentance of sins as well as the proper name of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and Anglican Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation/Confession. It also plays a part in non-sacramental confession among Lutherans and other Protestants...
, Unction,
ViaticumViaticum is a term used especially in the Roman Catholic Church for the Eucharist administered, with or without anointing of the sick, to a person who is dying, and is thus a part of the last rites...
and receiving the Holy Eucharist.
Synopsis
The oldest surviving example of the script begins with this paragraph on the first page (reproduced below):
"Here begynneth a treatyse how þe hye Fader of Heven sendeth Dethe to somon every creature to come and gyve acounte of theyr lyves in this worlde, and is in maner of a morall playe."
[Here begins a treatise how the high Father of Heaven sends Death to summon every creature to come and give account of their lives in this world, and is in the manner of a moral play.]
The play opens with a
prologueA prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. The Greek prologos included the modern meaning of prologue, but was of wider significance...
, which takes the form of a messenger telling the audience to attend to the action to come, and to heed its lesson.
Then God speaks, lamenting that humans have become too absorbed in material wealth and riches to follow Him. He feels taken for granted, because He receives no appreciation from mankind for all that He has given them.
"Of ghostly sight the people be so blind,
Drowned in sin, they know me not for their God;
In worldly riches is all their mind,
They fear not my rightwiseness, the sharp rod..."
So God commands Death, His messenger, to go to Everyman and summon him to heaven to make his reckoning. Death arrives at Everyman's side and informs him it is time for him to die and face judgment.
"On thee thou must take a long journey:
Therefore thy book of count with thee thou bring;
For turn again thou can not by no way,
And look thou be sure of thy reckoning..."
Upon hearing this, Everyman is distressed as he does not have a proper account of his life prepared. So Everyman tries to bribe Death, and begs for more time. Death denies Everyman's requests, but will allow him to find a companion for his journey, someone to speak for his good virtues.
"Yea, if any be so hardy
That would go with thee and bear thee company.
Hie thee that you were gone to God’s magnificence,
Thy reckoning to give before his presence."
Fellowship, representing Everyman's friends, enters and promises to go anywhere with him. However, when Fellowship hears of the true nature of Everyman's journey, he refuses to go, saying that he would stay with Everyman to enjoy life but will not accompany him on a journey to death.
"If Death were the messenger,
For no man that is living to-day
I will not go that loath journey...
yet if thou wilt eat, and drink, and make good cheer,
Or haunt to women, the lusty companion,
I would not forsake you, while the day is clear...
Everyman then calls on Kindred and Cousin, who represent family, and asks them to go with him. Kindred refuses outright:
"Ah, sir; what, ye be a merry man!
Take good heart to you, and make no moan.
But as one thing I warn you, by Saint Anne,
As for me, ye shall go alone."
Cousin also refuses but makes excuses:
"No by our Lady; I have the cramp in my toe.
Trust not to me, for, so God me speed,
I will deceive you in your most need.
But Cousin also explains a fundamental reason why no people will accompany Everyman: they have their own accounts to write as well.
"For verily I will not go with you;
Also of mine an unready reckoning
I have to account; therefore I make tarrying.
Now, God keep thee, for now I go."
Everyman realizes that he has put much love in material Goods, so Goods will surely come with him on his journey with Death. But Goods will not come, saying that since Everyman was so devoted to gathering Goods during his life, but never shared them with the less fortunate, Goods' presence would only make God's judgment of Everyman more severe.
"Nay, Everyman, I sing another song,
I follow no man in such voyages;
For and I went with thee
Thou shouldst fare much the worse for me..."
Everyman then turns to Good Deeds. Good Deeds says she would go with him, but she is too weak as Everyman has not loved her in his life.
"If ye had perfectly cheered me,
Your book of account now full ready had be.
Look, the books of your works and deeds eke;
Oh, see how they lie under the feet,
To your soul’s heaviness."
Good Deeds summons her sister Knowledge to accompany them, and together they go to see Confession.
"Now we go together lovingly,
To Confession, that cleansing river."
Confession offers Everyman a "jewel" called
PenancePenance is repentance of sins as well as the proper name of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and Anglican Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation/Confession. It also plays a part in non-sacramental confession among Lutherans and other Protestants...
if he repents his sins to God and suffers pain to make amends:
"I will you comfort as well as I can,
And a precious jewel I will give thee,
Called penance, wise voider of adversity;
Therewith shall your body chastised be..."
In the presence of Confession, Everyman begs God for forgiveness and
repents his sins, punishing himself with a
scourgeA scourge is a whip or lash, especially a multi-thong type used to inflict severe corporal punishment or self-mortification on the back.-Description:...
:
"My body sore punished shall be:
Take this body for the sin of the flesh;
Also though delightest to go gay and fresh;
And in the way of damnation thou did me brine;
Therefore suffer now strokes and punishing!"
After his scourging, Confession declares that Everyman is absolved of his sins, and as a result, Good Deeds becomes strong enough to accompany Everyman on his journey with Death.
"Everyman, pilgrim, my special friend,
Blessed by thou without end;
For thee is prepared the eternal glory,
Ye gave me made whole and sound,
Therefore I will bid by thee in every stound."
Knowledge gifts Everyman with "a garment of sorrow" made from his own tears, then Good Deeds summons Beauty, Strength, Discretion and Five Wits (i.e. the five senses) to join them. They all agree to accompany Everyman as he goes to a priest to take sacrament.
"Everyman, hearken what I say;
Go to priesthood, I you advise,
And receive of him in any wise
The holy sacrament and ointment together..."
But after taking the sacrament, Everyman tells them where his journey ends, and again they all abandon him – except for Good Deeds.
"O all thing faileth, save God alone;
Beauty, Strength, and Discretion;
For when Death bloweth his blast,
They all run from me full fast."
Beauty, Strength, Discretion, and the Five Wits are all qualities that fade as a person gets older. Knowledge cannot accompany him after he leaves his physical body, but will stay with him until the end.
"Nay, yet I will not depart from hence depart,
Till I see where ye shall be come."
Content at last, Everyman climbs into his grave with Good Deeds at his side and dies, after which they ascend together into heaven, where they are welcomed by an
AngelAngels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
.
"Now the soul is taken the body fro;
Thy reckoning is crystal-clear.
Now shalt thou into the heavenly sphere,
Unto the which all ye shall come
That liveth well before the day of doom."
The play closes as the Doctor, representing a scholar, enters and provides an epilogue, explaining to the audience the moral of the story: that in the end, a man will only have his Good Deeds to accompany him beyond the grave.
"And he that hath his account whole and sound,
High in heaven he shall be crowned;
Unto which place God bring us all thither
That we may live body and soul together.
Thereto help the Trinity,
Amen, say ye, for saint Charity."
Adaptations
Another well-known version of the play is
Jedermann by the
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n playwright
Hugo von HofmannsthalHugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal ; , was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist.-Early life:...
, which has been performed annually at the
Salzburg FestivalThe Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
since 1920. The play was made into
a filmEveryman is a 1961 Austrian drama film directed by Gottfried Reinhardt, based on the play written by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The film was selected as the Austrian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 34th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.-Cast:* Ewald Balser as Die...
in 1961.
Frederick FranckFrederick Franck was a painter, sculptor, and author of more than 30 books on Buddhism and other subjects who was known for his interest in human spirituality. He was a native of The Netherlands and became a US citizen in 1945. He was a dental surgeon by trade, and worked with Dr...
published a modernized version of the tale entitled "Everyone", drawing on Buddhist influence.
A direct-to-video movie version of Everyman was made in 2002, directed by John Farrell, which updated the setting to the early 21st century, including Death as a businessman in dark glasses with a briefcase, and Goods being played by a talking
personal computerA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
.
The play has been translated into the
Filipino languageThis move has drawn much criticism from other regional groups.In 1987, a new constitution introduced many provisions for the language.Article XIV, Section 6, omits any mention of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and states that:...
by Ronan Capinding and the translation has had numerous stagings in the
PhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
.
In popular culture
The word "everyman" has come to be a common noun, defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as, "n. An ordinary person, representative of the human race." It is not known if the definition preceded the play in usage, or the common definition was coined by the play.
External links