Everyman Morality Play

Every time a person indulges in reading literature, if fact, the same literature multiple times, he finds himself understanding the work at a depth greater than his previous experience. Authors know that for their work to reach varied audiences as opposed to a niche group there must be elements to intrigue most people; in the stories of early British Literature, the prevalent element was didacticism. The story would leave the reader with a life lesson or a moral standard to outline what virtues were acceptable in the society. This was much needed seeing that with autonomous regencies, multiple wars, and a crippled middle and lower class, the mass needed literature to distract and entertain them so they could have a moment of escape from their

Most likely drawing on the Dutch(Flemish) morality play Elckerlijc. Everyman warns the audience outright that no physical possessions will ascend with them to heaven so to rely heavily on Good Deeds and be virtuous. The first illusion the play breaks down is that friends are all temporal and to keep only the most trusted ones close. John Conley wrote in his journal, The Doctrine of Friendship in Everyman: One of these commonplaces is that no one should be accounted a friend whose friendship has not been tested. This ancient precept, which has been called 'the first law of friendship," occurs for instance, in Ecclesiasticus vi 7: 'If thou wouldst get a friend, try him before thou takest him, and do not credit him easily"

King Lear, "at least since the Romantic period, has come to be regarded not only as its author's finest literary achievement, but also as one of the most profound and challenging examinations of what it means to be human..." (Shakespeare, Wells and Taylor) The play does not try to wrap up loose ends and deliver the audience a happy ending, nor is the line between good and evil distinct and it is this level of complexity that breathes life into the characters. Every character has faults, for example at I.i.114 King Lear disowns Cordelia because he found her response to his question asking how much she loves him to be, "So young and so untender?" and later says that she is a, " stranger to my heart and me" (Greenblatt and Abrams). With this same scene Sears Jayne points out that: The fault is mainly Lear's. He is old enough to have known better. It is usual to identify his fault with rashness. His own daughters say of him, 'he hath ever but slenderly known himself' and 'tje nest and soundest of his time hath been but rash' (I.i 293-296) It is true that he lacks the serene wisdom and sense of control which we so much admire in some older people, but his fault is lack of love." (Jayne