Everyman

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What is a morality play? Consider other morality plays you may have encountered; if you have never encountered any, what do you think a morality play might be? What are some of the qualities and themes you associate with morality plays? How are morality plays different from other dramatic genres?

Teaching Suggestion: Morality plays were a type of religious play popular in Europe and England in the 15th and 16th centuries. These plays typically used allegory and personification to explore Christian beliefs such as repentance, sin, and salvation. Morality plays are related to “miracle plays” and “mystery plays,” which dramatized religious events. Such religious plays reflected the religious preoccupations of their time. They are thus very different from classical drama (such as tragedy and comedy), which explored character and secular issues in a very different way. By the end of the 16th century, religious plays would lose popularity in Europe to be replaced by a modernized version of classical drama spearheaded by dramatists such as Marlowe, Shakespeare, and Corneille.

• This short video from English teacher Tara Tolzin presents an overview of morality plays.

2. Everyman is believed to have been first produced at the end of the 15th century in England, at the time the country was ruled by the Tudors. What do you know about Tudor England? Consider the politics, ideology, literature, or art of the period.

Teaching Suggestion: The Tudors held power in England from 1485 until the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603. Literature and the arts flourished during this period, and religious plays such as morality plays were very popular in Tudor England. This was also a period that was deeply preoccupied by the religious questions pestering the rest of Europe. The growing corruption of the Catholic Church disturbed many (and would inspire Martin Luther’s 95 Theses—the 1517 challenge to Catholic practices that would launch the Protestant Reformation). In 1534, a little after Everyman first appeared in print, Henry VIII made the Anglican Church independent from the Catholic Church in Rome.

• This article from English Heritage provides a helpful introduction to the social, cultural, and religious issues of Tudor England.
• This video from National Geographic explains the foundations of the Protestant Reformation.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

How are “morals” treated in modern literature? Think about the stories you have encountered growing up and the morals they were meant to impart. How are these morals presented?

Teaching Suggestion: Though morality plays are only rarely encountered today, we are still surrounded by stories meant to impart a “moral,” lesson, or meaningful message. Many children’s stories or fairy tales have a built-in moral (in the fashion of Perrault’s Fairy Tales, for instance). But adult narratives found in literature, cinema, and music also tend to contain lessons, though these are often conveyed in a less direct way.