Allegory+-+Everyman

Everyman [|Medieval Allegory] Allegory, in literature, symbolic story that serves as a disguised representation for meanings other than those indicated on the surface. The characters in an allegory often have no individual personality, but are embodiments of moral qualities and other abstractions. The allegory is closely related to the parable, fable, and metaphor, differing from them largely in intricacy and length. A great variety of literary forms have been used for allegories. The medieval morality play //Everyman,// personifying such abstractions as Fellowship and Good Deeds, recounts the death journey of Everyman.

John Bunyan's //Pilgrim's Progress,// a prose narrative, is an allegory of man's spiritual salvation. Spenser's poem //The Faerie Queene,// besides being a chivalric romance, is a commentary on morals and manners in 16th-century England as well as a national epic. Although allegory is still used by some authors, its popularity as a literary form has declined in favor of a more personal form of symbolic expression (see [|symbolists] ). See C. S. Lewis, The Allegory of Love (1936); P. de Man, Allegories of Reading (1979); M. Quilligan, The Language of Allegory (1979) The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. Read more: [|allegory | Infoplease.com] [|http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/entertainment/allegory.html#ixzz3HqAOnNYm]

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This 1st-century Roman mosaic is one of the oldest and one of the best examples of the [|Mors Omnia Aequat] concept in a complex pictorial allegory. The allegory refers to the highest and lowest members of society (via [|merism], the actual audience is Everyman), and the social leveling aspect of death, as well as containing allusions to Fortune and the fate of the Soul, depicted as a butterfly.

Allegory is used throughout the play: 1. The names of the characters 2. Sins are bonds that tie Good Deeds to the ground 3. Confession is a river as well as a Holy Man 4. Contrition is a garment 5. Death is a literal hole in the ground

Setting The action begins in heaven when God sends Death to summon the main character, Everyman. Thereafter, the action takes place on earth. Since the author intended the main character to represent every human being, the action on earth could take place anywhere.

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 [|Confession], [|Penance] , [|Unction] , [|Viaticum] and receiving the [|Holy Eucharist].

How is [|allegory] used in //Everyman//? How many different categories of allegory do you find? (personal characteristics of Everyman; other people/things in his worldly life; supernatural forces, etc.) What is the interplay of these various sorts of allegorical figure? // Everyman // is a one-act play that begins with a Messenger announcing the play's purpose. It relates through allegory the tale of a dying Everyman and the items and qualities he most values, which attend to him in his death.

When we view this story as an allegory, we understand that the character of Everyman is, of course, every human being. We see beyond the literal characters of Fellowship, Goods, etc. and understand them to be symbolic of what every man faces in life: the search for true meaning and fulfillment in things that will last. The moral of the story becomes clear in that we need to examine now what in the end will truly prove to be of value.

Everyman should represent exactly that, all of us. The literal characters (like friendship) become extensions of common personality traits or traits we look for in life. The question then becomes, what do we value and why? The Allegory of using value/traits as characters enables the story to make certain conclusions about what we value most and why we value it.
 * Aslan2 years ago on 1/08/2013 5:23 PM **

The ideology of the play Everyman was intended to help reinforce the importance of God and religion in people’s lives during this time period. In this play, God represents salvation, but it is religion that provides the means to achieve that salvation. This particular drama of the medieval period focus is how religion and a belief in God will help man overcome any travail, including death. Although God appears as a character only at the beginning of the play, his presence is felt throughout as Everyman begins to recognize his need for help beyond the earthly realm. Now, sin is the motivation for this play. It is sin that angers God in the play. It is Everymen’s sins that force his final judgment. He has sinned much in his life, and the audience is told that his sins are so great that Good Deeds is at a standstill. Only when he can be aware of and abandon his sins can Everyman be saved. http://www.ukessays.com/essays/religion/the-morality-play-everyman-is-an-allegory-religion-essay.php