‘The Summoning/Somonyng of Everyman,’ simply referred to as ‘Everyman’ is a play that was written based on Christian Morality (Hadfield, 2012). In this play, God teaches everyman a lesson day by day. It is natural that Everyman has to be obsessed with both material possession and wealth. Therefore, God is the chief and has power over everything. The structure of the play seems unusual because it talks about the sentence of death and actual death at which the game revolves around. He teaches us that every man must realize the importance of charity as they live at their pleasure. On the overall play, God summons us to take every pilgrimage to Him.
Death occurs every day and allows us to learn from our day to day life, what God does not like. It makes us realize the need to call upon the Grim Reaper in one’s life. It is a privilege that Everyman must go before God. Death teaches us that one can take long to benefit from spiritual trials. On the other side of the family, the play shows us that death prepares Everyman for the day of reckoning, which is the judgment day. Everyman needs to approach the fellowship of character which is supported by Everyman’s Friends. The play notes that the association helps everyman to learn especially when in trouble. Therefore, the game summons Everyman against death to stand before God.
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According to Bruster & Rasmussen, (2011), two characters here represent family relationships. These are Cousin and Kindred who makes similar promises. Kindred makes the promise in woes of wealth. Once both realize Everyman’s destination, it becomes the funniest moment which makes Cousin refuse to go because he had a cramp in his toe. The play also displays some aspects of good and good deeds. For instance, one can be rejected by fellow humans and may, therefore, turn their hopes to objects. Good characters will represent Everyman’s wealth. A character with good deeds symbolizes good acts such as kindness and being generous which most of the times may not be performed by Everyman. Everyman is bound to sin, however, the author of the play shows us good deeds after Everyman does sins.
Bruster & Rasmussen, (2011), says knowledge may not be referred to wisdom, even though both may appear almost to means the same thing. From most of the characters here, experience serves as one of the significant guides for Everyman. If a man does well, the deeds introduce himself to other people such as one’s sister. Everyman lives by confessing. In this play I expected the main character to ask for forgiveness whereas seeing if he could apologize for sins committed. Confession means a lot especially when Everyman asks to be wiped clean.
Bradford (2019) says after everyone completes their task, Everyman is ready to meet his maker. Everyman will be required to present their human deeds and experiences. Everyman’s character will define them, for instance, your strength, whereas your beauty. By this time, everyone shall be relying on themselves. Most of the Everyman character shall remain to be remembered forever when their bodies physically die. Everyman shall be left with their good deeds. The author shows us aspects of human nature from their natural characters such as knowledge strength and beauty. The play is basically based on allegorical drama and has a moral character that plays their role well. In addition, the narrator tells us Everyman’s good deeds will accompany them after they die. She reminds us that good deed summons and gives us the knowledge to see the importance of confession and repentance to God ( Bruster & Rasmussen, 2011).
Our knowledge tells us God will not be going with us into the Heavenly sphere but instead will stay with us until we depart from our physical states. Similarly, the knowledge we have also told us that the soul shall not retain its Earthly knowledge. Finally, Everyman shall be required to commend their soul to God. The play indicates that angels shall come and announce that Everyman’s soul has been taken from their body and shall be presented before God, ( Murakami 2011). The play ends with the narrator telling us that all we need to do is to learn from Everyman’s lesson to us.
In a different perspective, the play represents key moments of ideas innovation. The game reveals the character of the battle between what is right and what is evil. The narrator displays social practices made in the Christian faith. As well, she has not forgotten to define the political consciousness, which rises from institutional forms of authorities ( Murakami 2011). Alternately we can base this play in accordance to the affirmative lived before death. It will represent the reality of death, and I think the author’s central point was vivid to the audience.
In conclusion, I think the narrator or the writer of the play has passed the message. She has delivered the message from the beginning, the middle of the game up to the end. In summary, the narrators try to tell us earthly comforts are one time and passing whereas good deeds come from God who is also the provider of salvation. Also, the narrator has tried to explain the critical roles played by the priest when she highlights the Five-Wits. The narrator emphasizes knowledge as she mentions priests to have committed egregious sins. The narrator finally gives the path we can be sure of towards salvation.
References
Bradford, Wade. "Everyman Study Guide." ThoughtCo, Jan. 15, 2019, thoughtco.com/everyman-a-medieval-morality-play-2713422. Bradford, Wade. (2019,
Bruster, D., & Rasmussen, E. (Eds.). (2011). Everyman and Mankind . A&C Black.
Murakami, I. (2011). Moral Play and Counterpublic . Routledge.
Hadfield, A. (2012). The Summoning of Everyman. In The Oxford Handbook of Tudor Drama
