In the play Everyman, death is personified and treated as an agent of God that goes to visit the plays protagonist, Everyman. The unknown author of the play uses Death as a character to present a very real truth that all people will meet death. Death is an antagonist in the play and represents physical death. The word “death” grabs people’s attention because it is a strong word. It is a loaded, often offensive, intense word and it reflects a reality every human will one day have to realize. The author understands death’s implications and uses it to draw the reader in. In the play Everyman, the character Death is presented by the author as an allegorical representation of physical death and the reader finds that Death is under God’s control, brings conviction, and will visit everyone.
In Everyman the character Death is viewed as submissive to God’s will and under His command. Since the play is a morality play, the characteristics of Death are viewed as the same as a human’s physical death. In the Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800, the author brings to attention that “[t]he themes in Everyman are strongly reflected in the allegorical characters which populate the work.” The play opens up with “[h]ere beginneth a treatise how the High Father of Heaven sendeth Death to summon every creature to come and give an account of their lives in this world, and is in manner of a moral play.” In Everyman, Death is merely a carrier and transporter for God. From the beginning of the play, it is known that Death is set beneath God.
God uses Death as His messenger to tell Everyman that his time is up on earth and that he must give an account of his life. From the beginning God is seen in the play as in control and as the lone authority. God sees that Everyman is not living righteously and calls on Death to give Everyman the news of his summoning. During Death and God’s brief conversation, God is seen as the authority and Death as His subordinate. Death is portrayed as just a simple messenger to the almighty God in Heaven. Even though God is in control, people often fear death. In The Risen Jesus & Future Hope, Habermas points out that “[t]he ultimate fear is probably the dread of death”(173). The unknown author of the play understands Habermas’ point and from the beginning lets the reader know that God is still in control and in control of death. Except for three instances (Enoch, Elijah, Jesus), God has used death to usher people into eternity. In the hands of an almighty Judge and in an imperfect world, death is a tool of God to usher His creation into His presence due to mankind’s rebellion against Him.
Everyman is troubled when he meets death and is convicted by Death’s presence. Everyman is startled by Death and realizes that he needs more time because he is not ready to give an account of his life before God. In the play, Everyman says, “This blind matter troubleth my wit” and that Death has come when “I least expected you”(Everyman). Death is portrayed as unexpected and abrupt. Everyman was surprised when Death showed up and in Everyman: A Structural Analysis, “Death’s visit troubles him (Everyman)” (Van Laan). John Garvey writes that the situation Everyman finds himself in is relevant to mankind because it is “obvious and scary; we want to avoid it”(Death becomes him). Everyman even weeps but Death will not let him go. The Gale Online Encyclopedia notes that while Death is telling Everyman about his fate, “Everyman weeps… [and] continues to bemoan his fate”(Overview: Everyman). Death eventually allows Everyman to find a friend, but Everyman still has to go and give an account to God. According to Material economy, spiritual economy, and social critique in Everyman, “Death knows that this information hits Everyman where it hurts the most” (Harper & Mize). Just like the people of today, the thought of death is troubling to Everyman. The author disperses the lofty ideas about death throughout the play and helps make the concept of death easier to think about for the reader to understand where Everyman is coming from.
The author brings Death into the story to carry out God’s will and conviction. Everyman had been living his life according to his own plan and desires. God needed him to realize and see His plan so He calls in Death to carry out His will. Death reminds Everyman “death waits for no man. All living creatures must die for Adam’s sin” (Everyman). Habermas says, “Death limits or even ends our dreams and plans. It crushes our fondest hopes”(174). Everyman is brought under conviction and proclaims, “Oh God in Heaven, have mercy on me”(Everyman)! The unknown author uses Death to give a personality or personification of human death. This is evident to the reader and allows the one to grasp death in a way only literature can bring about. The author of Everyman uses Death in often unthought-of ways, i.e. as a carrier of his will and conviction. When Death is seen, Everyman realizes that he cannot run from him and that there is nothing he can do. The author uses death as God’s convicting messenger.
Death visits everyone and will spare no one. In Everyman: A Structural Analysis, one of the main focuses of the play is “the inevitability of death”(Van Laan). Death says that “everyman I arrest and no man spare, for it is God’s commandment that all to me should be obedient.” The author portrays a biblical truth because in Hebrews 9:27 it says, “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (English Standard Version). Year after year the world death rate has held steady at one hundred percent but Everyman pleads and even tries to bribe Death. Death is relentless and even rebukes Everyman for trying to bribe his way out of death. Death will not pass over those God has called. Van Lann writes that even though “Death has left the stage, his continued authority asserts itself”(Everyman: A Structural Analysis) in the words of Everyman’s friends. Death may be gone, but the characters in the play know that he will be back. In the play, Death “bloweth his blast.” Final judgment awaits all human beings. Death is informed by God that the day is coming when all people will undertake a final journey and must give the Lord and account of their life. Death will be the visitor that takes all people to this day of reckoning. Death does not wait for anyone and comes to all.
The Bible says it is appointed to man to die once and that Christ is our hope in death. While people have no control over death, people can trust in Christ to deliver them from death. The author of the play makes sure that it is understood that Christianity offers an eternal option. Authors Elizabeth Harper and Britt Mize state,”Conception of the soul’s encounter with God after death is so fundamental to Christian thought that it scarcely needs emphasizing in the language of the play to have been present in the minds of audiences”(Critique in Everyman). John Garvey writes that although, “Humans find something terribly unfair about the fact of death,” it is a consequence of sin but Christ has overcome(Death becomes him). Death is never the will of God because Jesus came to not only give life, but life in abundance. John 5:24-26 states, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself”(ESV). Since Christ has been raised from the grave, mankind can see that God has placed His seal of approval on Jesus and that people can place their full trust in Jesus Christ.
In conclusion, the author of Everyman perceives death as undeniable while treating it as something we can and should expect. The unknown author uses Death as an allegory of physical death to be able visualize an invisible idea. This idea that often traps humans in fear and causes a great deal of concern to humanity. While the fear of death is common, the author shows God ultimately has control over death and uses it to bring people to Him. Death is a part of the human condition but not apart of His eternal plan. Repeatedly, one can see the allegories of the human condition and how God is not the god of deism but a God that is actively working in His creation. There are many truths to be found in the play Everyman. The author, through the use of allegorical representation, presents death throughout the play of Everyman and uses it to stir the reader’s heart and bring about a closer understanding of the Christian faith.
Works Cited
“Everyman.” Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800. Ed. Michael L. LaBlanc. Vol. 87. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Mar. 2011.
“Everyman.” Pearson Media. Pearson Education, Inc., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2011.
Garvey, John. “Death becomes him.” Commonweal 133.13 (2006): 20+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Mar. 2011.
Habermas, Gary R. The Risen Jesus & Future Hope. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Pub, 2003. Print.
Harper, Elizabeth, and Britt Mize. “Material economy, spiritual economy, and social critique in Everyman.” Comparative Drama 40.3 (2006): 263+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Mar. 2011.
“Overview: Everyman.” Gale Online Encyclopedia. Detroit: Gale, 2011. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Mar. 2011.
The English Standard Version Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2007. Print
Van Laan, Thomas F. “Everyman: A Structural Analysis.” Publications of the Modern Language Association 78.5 (Dec. 1963): 465-475. Rpt. in Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800. Ed. Michael L. LaBlanc. Vol. 87. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Mar. 2011.
