While the rest of the group is waiting for Everyman’s return, Five-wits makes a speech about the superiority of priests, claiming that they are “above angels in degree.” Knowledge reminds him that not all priests are good, but Five-wits argues that one should nevertheless honor priesthood. At Knowledge’s instruction, Everyman sees a priest for the holy sacrament and unction.
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She and Good-Deeds request the presence of Everyman’s friends Discretion, Strength, Beauty, Five-wits, who all agree to help Everyman during his pilgrimage. Knowledge then bestows upon Everyman a “ garment of sorrow,” which allows Everyman to show contrition. To atone for his sins, Everyman prays to God, begging for mercy, and he uses a scourge (a whip) for self-mortification.Īs a result, Good-Deeds is healed and she finds Everyman in order to accompany him on his journey. Knowledge guides Everyman to Confession, who teaches Everyman to repent. Though she cannot accompany him in person, she says that her sister Knowledge can help him to clear his reckoning. Unlike his other friends, Good-Deeds is willing to help him, but she is too weak to do so. He decides to seek out Good-Deeds, though she is so weak from Everyman’s sin and neglect that she cannot stand. Shocked by Goods’ treachery, Everyman is in despair, as he is completely alone, with no one willing to help him. In addition to refusing to join Everyman, Goods also informs Everyman that he has been damaging Everyman’s reckoning all along: because Everyman loved Goods so much instead of loving God, Everyman will be condemned to hell. Though Goods (like Fellowship, Kindred, and Cousin) promises to help Everyman, he immediately reneges on his promise after learning of Everyman’s predicament. He decides to ask for the assistance of his friend Goods, whom he has long loved. Alone, Everyman bemoans this abandonment by his friends and family and wonders whom he can turn to next for help. However, while Kindred and Cousin promise to stand by him in “wealth and woe,” they also forsake him, as they too are afraid of death. Fellowship leaves, and Everyman seeks the help of his relatives Kindred and Cousin instead, thinking that blood will be thicker than water. However, when Fellowship learns that accompanying Everyman on the journey means that Fellowship, too, will die, he refuses to help his friend. Death refuses, but he allows Everyman to seek a companion for his “pilgrimage,” provided that he can find someone willing to accompany him to the afterlife.Ī disconsolate Everyman seeks out his friend Fellowship for comfort and counsel, and Fellowship appears, promising his undying loyalty.
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Clinging to the life he had, Everyman begs Death for more time. However, when Death approaches Everyman on earth, Everyman is unwilling to die and unprepared for his reckoning.
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Deciding to make people account for their sins, God orders Death to summon Everyman so that he can be judged by his “ reckoning,” a ledger of his good and ill deeds. Next God appears, lamenting the unworthiness of humans, who no longer revere him and who sinfully indulge in greed and lust.
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The play opens with a messenger calling for the audience’s attention to this “moral play,” which will demonstrate the transitory nature of human life.