Three Late Medieval Morality Plays: Mankind, Everyman, Mundus et Infans

by G.A. Lester

"Take example, all ye that this do hear or see..."





The Morality Play was popular in England between 1400 and 1600. It offers moral instruction and spiritual teaching with personal abstractions representing good and evil. Surviving plays from that period number about sixty and the three in this edition were among the first ten.




Mankind is a plain, honest farming man who struggles against worldly and spiritual temptation. The bawdy humour and violent action in the play serve to make the moral point and instruct by example.




Everyman portrays a man's struggles in the face of death to raise himself to a state of grace so that he may experience everlasting life. It is exceptional among the Moralities for this narrow focus on the last phase of life, and conveys its message with awe-inspiring seriousness.




Mundus et Infans is more typical of the Morality genre. It shows an arrogant, bullying protagonist led astray by a single evildoer into a life of debauchery, before the inevitable conversion to virtue. In showing the whole of man's life it is the antithesis of Everyman , the action of which seems to take place in a single day.

Genres: Plays, Medieval, Drama, Classics, Theatre

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first glance, "Late Medieval Morality Plays" is not an especially enticing theme for a collection; and the titles of the three plays in this volume - Mankind, Everyman, and Mundus et Infans - are similarly serviceable rather than eye-catching. But, as with the plays themselves, their simplicity is an integral part of their appeal, which turns out to be considerable. Exemplary, didactic, and abstract in comparison with the drama that would be produced on English stages in the succeeding centuries, each of these three plays is at least passably entertaining; but that is not their primary goal. Rather than simply being "instructive", they aim to enlighten and encourage, and succeed through clarity and a sustained spiritual conviction that is occasionally beautiful, and sometimes even rather moving. "Everyman, I will go with thee and be thy guide, in thy most need to go by thy side," Knowledge tells Everyman; although I am far removed from the world of their medieval audience, I found this surprisingly uplifting, and enjoyed all three plays thoroughly.

[Declan Wiseman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mankind: a morality play that is actually funny!

[Jackie]

read everyman and mankind for class. logging them just because.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

This would be one of those books that you absolutely should judge by its cover. Well, by its title at least, because it's exactly what it says it is. The three plays are indeed very medieval and very preachy. They're interesting for their historical context, but beyond that they're pretty dull.

[Elly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I groaned when I saw that this was assigned for class... but it actually turned out better than expected! Great translations with lots of helpful footnotes.

[Jonathan Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not exactly non-stop thrills and laughs, but interesting historically.

[Lulu]

Mankind 1470
Mundus et infans 1508
Everyman 1510