Mankind

by Charles Atlas (Editor)

"The goal of the Middle English Texts Series is to make available to teachers and students texts which occupy an important place in the literary and cultural canon but which have not been readily available in student editions." "The focus is upon literature adjacent to that normally in print, which teachers need in compiling the syllabuses they wish to teach. The editions maintain the linguistic integrity of the original work but within the parameters of modern reading conventions." The project is sponsored by the Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages (TEAMS) and is affiliated with the Medieval Institute of Western Michigan University at Kalamazoo.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Medieval, Classics, Theatre, School

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1479

About the author

Charles Atlas (born Angelo Siciliano) was an Italian-American bodybuilder best remembered as the developer of a bodybuilding method and its associated exercise program which spawned a landmark advertising campaign featuring his name and likeness; it has been described as one of the longest-lasting and most memorable ad campaigns of all time.

Atlas trained himself to develop his body from that of a "scrawny weakling", eventually becoming the most popular bodybuilder of his day. He took the name "Charles Atlas" after a friend told him that he resembled the statue of Atlas on top of a hotel in Coney Island and legally changed his name in 1922. He marketed his first bodybuilding course with health and fitness writer Dr. Frederick Tilney in November 1922. The duo ran the company out of Tilney's home for the first six months. In 1929, Tilney sold his half of the business to advertising man Charles P. Roman and moved to Florida. Charles Atlas Ltd. was founded in 1929 and, as of 2020, continues to market a fitness program for the "97-pound weakling" (44 kg). The company is now owned by Jeffrey C. Hogue.

Reviews

[Jared · Rating 5 out of 5]

NOWADAYS: I prey yow hertyly, worschyppull clerke,
To have this Englysch mad in Laten:
“I have etun a dyschfull of curdys,
Ande I have schetun yowr mowth full of turdys.”
Now opyn yowr sachell wyth Laten wordys
Ande sey me this in clerycall manere!

[Fin · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the livelier and more involving medieval texts I've read: genuinely had me pissing myself and emotional in the library. A twentieth-century scholar, surveying the state of medieval drama, wrote with clear disdain that "obviously this is a very degraded type of morality. The language...is extremely coarse. The monk Hyngham ought to have been ashamed of claiming ownership." Looove that. Wonderful that people are still offended by a fifteenth century moral allegory because it uses the word 'bepiss', though I also think it shows the degree of vitality and genuine questioning/playing with doctrine and received dramatic language that make this work so striking. As much as the poetry can be poor and the construction of the drama slipshod, the very same reasons so many earlier medievalists wrote it off as "degraded" and "vulgar" (i.e. for the poor) make it interesting as a transgressive, exciting work of art. So much to talk about with latinity/class, staging, duality, identity, audience sympathies etc, so I might come back and expand these thoughts if I have the time.

What surprised me most was just how much this read like a Beckettian tragicomedy: farce and slapstick, existential dread and chronic irresolution abound, all filtered through a cast of floating human signifiers at turns miserable and hysterical. Newguise, Nowadays, and Nought (high fashion, YOLO, and literal nothingness respectively) are to my mind incisive masterstrokes of personifying the human condition; and their constant mocking of language was one of the most interesting (and modern) preoccupations of the play. I got to perform some of Newguise's role in my college chapel as part of a class on middle english drama, and I've never had more academic fun than when I got to loudly cry "my Jewels! I shall be shent of my wife!" (in a faintly Borat accent ofc).

Mankind is noteworthy among morality plays primarily for the amount that it engages in low humour and transgressive mockery (much of which involves bringing the audience in step with the apparent villains), but what made this play truly absorbing was the uncertain, existential undercurrent to it all. In the final scene, Mankind lies prostrate and inarticulate in front of Mercy, a noose around his neck, unable to lift his gaze: terrified of Hell but, more powerfully, deeply ashamed of his weakness and inability to cope with the demands of Christian morality. When Mercy compels him to repent, he replies with what were for me some of the most affecting lines about the nature of existence and repentance that I've heard in a while:

"What, aske mercy 3et onys agayn? Alas, yt were a wyle petycyun.
Ewyr to offend and euer to aske mercy, yt ys a puerilite.
Yt ys so abhominabyll to rehers my iterat transgrescion,
I am not worthy to hawe mercy be no possibilite."

What, ask mercy yet once again? Alas, it were a vile petition.
Ever to offend and ever to ask mercy, it is a puerility.
It is so abominable to rehearse my iterat transgression;
I am not worthy to have mercy, by no possibility.

[Sam Zucca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really surprised to have enjoyed this - especially since my expectations sadly weren't that high for a 15th century religious play.

It's telling that this play didn't get played much after the first few decades until the 20th century. It's very Chaucerian and very Miller's Tale with how frank it is about the human body, vulgarity, and yes, shitting.

This play is scathing in how it how it makes the audience pay cash in order to see the play's villain, Titivillus (the devil's minion), and also how they get them to sing along with the very dirty 'Christmas Song'.

I had fun just reading this play, which is always a good sign. It's full of puns and wordplay and dirty jokes that put modern day Christian cinema to shame. And really, if American evangelists wanted to get people's attention in a positive way, they'd be better putting on something like this, than whatever 'God's Not Dead' was.

[Nick Ziegler · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazingly effective work of literature. Hilarious, moving, witty and convincing.

[Niamh Anne King · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite morality plays.

[Clara · Rating 1 out of 5]

se me ha hecho bola

[Chloe Bright · Rating 2 out of 5]

boring

[Jennifer Lazareck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was "reading" for my new Masters Degree...

[Marlan Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

For class.

[finalgirlbea · Rating 4 out of 5]

thought it was silly

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the best surviving medieval morality plays, from the mid-late fifteenth century. It's an allegory about the temptation of a character named Mankind, who abandons the pious teachings of Mercy when he's drawn aside by the scribal demon Titivillus, who delivers Mankind into the service of Mischief, New Guise, Nowadays and Nought. These dissolute figures draw mankind into laziness, lust, gluttony, and criminality. At the end of the play, Marcy returns to try and reclaim Mankind, but initially Mankind believes that he's so sinful that he can't be redeemed. However, Mercy manages to convince him that what God wants is genuine repentance more than anything else.
https://youtu.be/e2ln8RakNm4

[Juliaap2010 · Rating 4 out of 5]

If anyone says that medieval drama is boring make them read this.

[Beth Bauman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had me at times choking on laughter, blushing, and tearing up. A wild blend of inappropriate bathroom humour, deep theological truths, and highly entertaining character dialogue. Way to go medieval folks! So much fun to read out loud.

[Mandy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not a big fan of allegory, so morality plays like Everyman and Mankind are not my cup of tea, especially when I'm not reading them in translation. Gah! Middle English is hard!