Everyman

Anonymous · c. 1495 CE · Play · English · Medieval

Death arrives without warning to summon a prosperous man to account before God, and one by one Fellowship, Kindred, Goods and Knowledge weigh whether to make the journey with him. Each abstraction argues its case in plain verse, so the audience watches a life audited in real time. Closely adapted from the Dutch Elckerlijc, it is the best known of the English moralities and the shape behind Faustus's last hour.

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Lineage

• ↓ Murder in the Cathedral
  T. S. Eliot · 1935 CE · Play — modeled on this

Attributes

Closest analogues

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