Everyman's Path to Righteousness (as told by the Christian Church)

     The idea of a morality play, such as ‘Everyman’, is to act as a sermon repurposed into a dramatic play. Because of this fusion of ideas, the characters and their actions are often wholly symbolic reflections of the deeds and thoughts associated with the church. One of the prominent ideas of the story is that man cannot save himself in the eyes of God by ‘Good Deeds’ alone. First, he must lose the unimportant and false friend he finds in his pride and ‘Goods’- and follows with Christianity’s ideals of moderation concerning material things. This initial abandonment is to be expected- for as taught by the church we assume pride and greed to be sins, and therefore inherently bad, or untrustworthy. Only with the ‘Knowledge’ of his own sins and the eventual ‘Confession’ of such, is Everyman truly seen as one who has been saved. At this point in the story, Everyman is shown his true friends; Discretion, Strength, Five-Wits and Beauty. However, even these will leave him in the end. It’s this second wave of loneliness that seems to take a toll on the reader- because we do not expect the good aspects of ourselves to abandon us in the face of death. The intention here seems to be leading the reader to conclude that morality and righteousness can only be achieved when one relies wholly on God, and not themselves. “They all at the last do Everyman forsake, / Save his Good Deeds there doth he take- / But beware, for and they be small, / Before God he hath no help at all” (905-908). 

     All in all, this is a pilgrimage taken by Everyman upon their call to Death. The Christian morals behind the actions of the characters are quite clear- they are a warning against the seven deadly sins, as well as a lesson in the true path to being saved in the eyes of the church.