Information about Everyman (play)

Everyman
Written by	Anonymous
Characters	Everyman Messenger God Death Fellowship Kindred Cousin Goods Good Deeds Knowledge Confession Beauty Strength Discretion Five Wits Angel Doctor
Date of premiere	Unknown
Country of origin	Possibly The Netherlands
Original language	Middle Dutch or Middle English
Genre	Morality play
Setting	Heaven, Earth

Everyman is a 16th century English morality play, with origins in a late 15th century Dutch morality play called Elckerlijc.

The play

Everyman is generally agreed to be a translation of a 921 line long Dutch morality play called Elckerlijc written by Peter van Diest, first printed in 1495, and a later version in 1518. There has been considerable controversy surrounding the relationship between these two plays, with some literary historians arguing for the priority of the Dutch, and others the English version. Most of the arguments rely on the superiority of one play or another in quality, and thus the assumption goes, the better quality play must be the original, since most translations are never as good as the original.^[] A pro-Dutch argument is that the near-total absence of humor in the play is atypical of an English morality drama. E.R. Tigg's found many of Elckerlijc rhymes were copied and the lines were translated closely, strongly suggesting Everyman is the derivative translation.^[1] However, it is also perfectly credible that an English translator should have added a rhyming tag to each of a pair of words that rhyme in Dutch but not in English.^[0] Although there is no irrefutable factual evidence, based on the balance of evidence, it is generally agreed the Dutch is the original.

The two earliest complete copies of Everyman were printed in London by John Scot in the 1520s. The Dutch schoolmaster and playwright Georgius Macropedius (1487 – 1558) had his Latin version published in 1539 in Antwerp and was a huge success, his play was printed and performed in Danish, Dutch, German, Latin, and Swedish. Numerous performances mainly in 16th and 17th century Germany are known.

Everyman, an allegorical figure of the every man, is summoned by the allegorical figure of death to journey to God to account for the life he has been lent. He discovers that his friends Fellowship, Kindred, Cousin, Goods, and Knowledge will not go with him. It is Good Deeds (or Virtue), whom he previously neglected, who finally supports him and who offers to justify him before the throne of God. Lines from this play provided the inspiration for the name of the popular literature series Everyman's Library.

Synopsis

Satan speaks to God about the world's population and the way they sin without thought of consequence. God tells Death to go to Everyman and Death agrees, as he is God's servant. Death will make Everyman understand that by his sinning he has gone against God's wishes. Everyman tries to bribe Death and asks for more time. Death denies this request but tells Everyman he may find a companion for his journey, someone to speak for his good virtues. Fellowship happens along and promises to do anything to help sad Everyman; when Fellowship hears Everyman's request he denies him. Fellowship offers to play and have fun, but refuses to accompany Everyman. Everyman then sees Kindred and Cousin and asks them to go with him. Kindred flat out refuses, saying he'd rather go to parties and Cousin says he has a cramp in his toe, so he can't go either. Everyman realizes he has put much love towards Goods and so Goods will surely come with him on his journey with Death. Goods will not come with Everyman; he says it is to Everyman's damnation that he put so much effort of his life to Goods and therefore Goods would make Everyman's case even worse. Good-Deeds says she would go with him, but she is too weak as Everyman has not loved her. Her sister, Knowledge will help her onto her feet and Knowledge tells Everyman he must also see Confession. Confession gives Everyman penance. This penance makes Good-Deeds strong enough to walk and she will now go forward with Everyman and help him make his case. Good-Deeds and Knowledge tell Everyman he must also call forward Discretion, Strength, Five-Wits and Beauty. They all agree to go with him, after he goes to a priest to take sacrament. Again, when Everyman tells them where his journey ends, all but Good-Deeds forsake him. A messenger then comes and tells the audience without good deeds every man would be punished eternally.

Another well-known version of the play is Jedermann by the Austrian playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal, which has been performed annually at the Salzburg Festival since 1920.

References

• Complete Text of Everyman
• E. R. Tigg. "Is Elckerlyc prior to Everyman?", Journal of English and Germanic Philosophy, 38, 1939, pp. 568-96.
• Cawley, A. C. (1989). "Everyman". Dictionary of the Middle Ages. ISBN 0-684-17024-8
• Cawley, A. C. (1961). Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays, Everyman's Library. ISBN 046087280X (one of many reprints)
• Meijer, Reinder. Literature of the Low Countries: A Short History of Dutch Literature in the Netherlands and Belgium. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1971, pp. 55-57, 62.
• Takahashi, Genji (1953). A Study of "Everyman" with Special Reference to the Source of its Plot. pp. 33-39