Death and taxes are two things that every person will experience at some point during their life. In Everyman, there were no taxes, but definitely death. Depicting any sort of emotion as a person can be dangerous, but in Everyman, it seemed to work. He appeared at the beginning and at the request of God, went to everyman and informed him about life. It was impressive how death exited and did not really return until the end, when the everyman actually died.
However, everyman did have some visitors throughout the play. Fellowship, beauty, goods, knowledge, confession, good deeds, discretion and five wits all appeared to the everyman. The visits in Everyman reminded me very much of the visits from The Christmas Carol and the spirits of Christmas past, present and future. The spirits would come visit and leave. In this situation though, the concepts stayed to almost illustrate their importance to everyman’s life, which symbolizes all of our lives.
Throughout the play, there was a pacing to the play that gave me the feeling it was following everyman throughout his life. For example, each of the spirits showed up at a certain point and told you that they would be there forever. Both good and bad spirits showed up. Goods were bad, while good deeds were depicted as being positive and beneficial to humanity. Then each one started to leave, much like what happens on a daily basis. Some qualities you were happy left, like goods, others, like Beauty, you were not. Much like in real life, everyman had no control over when they left. They just did. This continued on until everyman died.
This progression was a sign from the author that these things that we tend to take for granted are fleeting and can be gone very quickly from us. A single thing can rob anyone of those qualities. A birth defect, a car accident, Parkinson’s disease, old age and several more situations would quickly take those qualities. They are not permanent.
These are things that you always want to be with you, but people forget that these things are never guaranteed. I think that was the author’s message. They can be gone in a second or take a lifetime to slip away. We need to be more cognizant and recognize how lucky we are to have these certain qualities, while some people in the world just don’t.
Death, taxes and the fact that nothing is permanent are the three things in life that are permanent. While we might be going somewhere, these three things aren’t.
However, everyman did have some visitors throughout the play. Fellowship, beauty, goods, knowledge, confession, good deeds, discretion and five wits all appeared to the everyman. The visits in Everyman reminded me very much of the visits from The Christmas Carol and the spirits of Christmas past, present and future. The spirits would come visit and leave. In this situation though, the concepts stayed to almost illustrate their importance to everyman’s life, which symbolizes all of our lives.
Throughout the play, there was a pacing to the play that gave me the feeling it was following everyman throughout his life. For example, each of the spirits showed up at a certain point and told you that they would be there forever. Both good and bad spirits showed up. Goods were bad, while good deeds were depicted as being positive and beneficial to humanity. Then each one started to leave, much like what happens on a daily basis. Some qualities you were happy left, like goods, others, like Beauty, you were not. Much like in real life, everyman had no control over when they left. They just did. This continued on until everyman died.
This progression was a sign from the author that these things that we tend to take for granted are fleeting and can be gone very quickly from us. A single thing can rob anyone of those qualities. A birth defect, a car accident, Parkinson’s disease, old age and several more situations would quickly take those qualities. They are not permanent.
These are things that you always want to be with you, but people forget that these things are never guaranteed. I think that was the author’s message. They can be gone in a second or take a lifetime to slip away. We need to be more cognizant and recognize how lucky we are to have these certain qualities, while some people in the world just don’t.
Death, taxes and the fact that nothing is permanent are the three things in life that are permanent. While we might be going somewhere, these three things aren’t.