Condemnation+of+Banquets

The most famous French morality play, composed around 1500, was //The Condemnation of Banquets// (//La Condamnation de Banquet//). In the play a group of revelers, whose names include Gluttony (//Gourmandise//), Drinking Toast ( Je-bois-à-vous), Treat (//Friandise//), Good Company (//Bonne Compagnie//), and Leisure (//Pass-Temps//), enjoy the good hospitality of two characters, Lunch (//DÎner//) and Dinner (//Souper//), before being enticed by a third character, Feast (//Banquet//), who leads them all into a trap. Feast delivers the revelers to a nasty group of thugs: Gout, Jaundice, Paralysis, Epilepsy, Tonsillitis, and Edema. Many revelers die and in the end the queen of this fictitious land (Queen Experience, of course!) puts Feast to death. She almost kills Dinner too but lets him go so long as he stays at least 6 hours away from Lunch. The morality play in medieval Europe was meant to convey a clear moral message to a very broad audience. While the topics differed depending on the place and culture, one message was always clear: everything you do will come under cosmic moral judgment. For example, in //The Condemnation of Banquets//, not every reveler dies, only the ones associated with the cardinal sins of gluttony or sloth.