Everyman by Anonymous

• How does everyman match with morality drama characterization?
• How does personification play a great role in this play?

Fellysia:
The play Everyman matches with the morality drama characterization for it is a dramatic allegory that teaches lessons about how humans should live morally by using personifications as its characters. These personified characters are applied to represent humanity as a whole, not specific individuals who have to deal with personified sin of all kinds, and finally find salvation or peace in God. In addition, God and angels may appear as characters in morality plays and they also should take a common subject matter to be made simply so that everyone is able to enjoy it without needing special settings or costumes. Thus, because Everyman is a story about how the entire humankind (everyman) should live to save his soul by acting out his virtues (good deeds), doing religious rituals (confession) against the temptation of sins in worldly splendours (material goods, beauty), and has God and angels as its characters, this play is indeed a morality play.
Because personifications are a pivotal part of morality plays, Everyman’s characters and story rely greatly on them to convey its message of morality to the audience. Everyman represents the typical human being who has neglected religious life but atones for his sins in time to be saved by God. When Death comes to Everyman, Knowledge tells him that he should obtain salvation, which he can only get through penance in Confession. His other friend Good Deeds is the only one who is willing to accompany him in the afterlife after personalities and characteristics such as Discretion, Strength, Everyman’s Five Wits, and Beauty all neglect him in the end. Even his supposed families, friends, and riches of the world in Fellowship, Kindred, Cousin, and Material Goods can not save him. Thus, by using these personifications, audience can immediately find moral teachings imbedded within it.

Aswin:
Because Everyman directly deals with the moral of humanity in that era, which is a very serious issue. The play also has a character which gives a picture about all the characteristics on a human being. Personification make the "human characteristic" alive. The "human characteristic" are alive in this play and give a clear picture about what they are.


Veronica:
In my opinion, Everyman shows great morality aspects to the readers. It shows the readers about how to be a good person (or it can be said how to be a good Christian). I'm mentioning the word "Christian" because during that era, plays mostly happened in church. Moreover, during that era, most of the works tried to talk about morality. It will more into teaching us how human should live morally in this world.
Also, the play has many personification. It plays a great role in the play because it helps the readers to have a clear understanding about the play itself, which is also teaching morality. For example, when Good Deeds wants to follow Everyman to the afterlife, Good Deeds suggests that knowledge, which is knowledge about his own sins, and his repetance of sins, will lead Everyman to find salvation.

Juanta:
The journey to seek salvation is the main idea of everyman, and during the journey we can see moral messages in it. For example, it reminds us that we cannot avoid death, not all of our friends are good friends, we cannot trust or depend with our relatives to seek salvation, and there are parts of ourselves that cannot guarantee our salvation (beauty, knowledge, etc)
Personification plays a great role since it represents everything that actually around or inside human's life and smartly make an appearance as a human. Example, knowledge and beauty that actually lay inside human or human characteristic are presented as a separate part that make relation but later betray everyman for their disability to help everyman avoid the death

Kharis:
Each of the characters represent a symbol of something. An allegory of an aspect such as good deeds, fellowship etc. The play mathes with morality drama characterization because it teaches people to aware with their behaviors and deeds and its conscequences. The personification makes all of the aspects of the allegory come into the play. As the everyman journeys to the valley, every allegories abandoned him except good deeds and knowledge. This shows to us that in the end, only those two aspects in life that will remain with us when we die, we will leave everything behind and everything will leave us too, but only those two that will stay to guide us to salvation.

Lusiana:
I think Everyman teaches us many lesson about morality. It teaches us a lesson about how Christians should live according to their faith and Jesus way and it also teaches us what a person should do to save his soul. The characters of a typical morality play include personification of virtues (such as hope and charity), vices (such as pride and slot) or other qualities as well as personifications of activities (such as death or fellowship). God and angels may appear as characters as they do in Everyman. However, we also learn that one thing that we will bring until we die is goodness in our life. everything will be gone and be forgotten by all people, but kindness or goodness in our life will stay alive and follow us until the death come.