Everyman Stands For Every Man
Stories
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry! (Isaiah 5:1-7)
We’re probably all aware that in books, plays, television shows, and movies, a character may stand for something more than themselves. That makes them a symbol. Or maybe they do something symbolic. But the character is not always a symbol, or perhaps not always the same symbol.
Sometimes everything is symbolic, and the the symbolism is consistent from begining to end of the story. That’s called an allegory.
One of the best examples of an allegory is the Christian medieval play called “Everyman.” It is about Every Man. It’s written in Middle English, so it requires translation into modern English. It was first printed in 1510, but by then it had probably been performed for decades. There also seems to be a Dutch language Everyman of the play that may be the source of the English version.
What makes “Everyman” an easy to understand allegory is that the characters are named for what they represent. The title character, Everyman, stands for every man, and we presume, every woman too. God sends a character named Death, who of course stands for death, to bring Everyman to stand before God in judgement.
When Death arrives to lead him to judgement, Everyman attempts to plead and then bribe Death to give him more time. Death refuses, but will allow Everyman to take along with him anyone who will join him on the journey. At first Fellowship, who has always enjoyed Everyman’s company, agrees to go, but when he realizes how serious this journey will be, and that there is no returning, Fellowship begs off. The same with the characters Cousin and Kindred.
Goods, representing material possessions, has no intention of traveling with Everyman on this fateful journey. Everyman believes he has been abandoned. But there’s a glimmer of hope in this story -- Good Deeds will go, but there’s a problem. Everyman has neglected her until now, and she is very weak. Fortunately Knowledge agrees to go along as well. She says, “Everyman, I will go with thee, and be thy guide. In thy most need to go by thy side.”
Things start to look a little better. Good Deeds and Knowledge lead him to Confession, where after suffering he is strengthened and ready to go farther. Other characters, Beauty, Discretion, Strength, and Five Wits help him further along the road, leading him to a priest where he receives communion. However, in the end only Good Deeds goes with him into the grave, from where the two ascend into heaven. Enter a Doctor, who represents scholarship, to assure the audience that only our Good Deeds will go with us when we are called to judgement.
Of course within only a few years the Reformation would begin the process of changing the perception for Christians of just how they were saved. Perhaps a modern version would have a character named Grace. Even so, one would think the worldly characters would still abandon Everyman.
As we see, this allegory was meant both to entertain and intrigue, and ultimately to tell a truth.
Which is just like Isaiah’s allegory. The present scripture passage looks like its a story about a vineyard, but it’s not really about any of that. Isaiah shares a divine allegory about a vineyard which is first called a love song, but is really an allegory about Judah’s and Israel’s disobedience. The gardener, who is God, talks about the effort put into making the vineyard fertile and productive, but the vineyard rebels and produces wild grapes. And then, just so we get that this is a lament over the disobedience and injustice of God’s people, Isaiah tells us the owner of the vineyard is the Lord, Israel and Judah are the vineyard and “his pleasant planting,” and the reason the gardener will lay waste to the vineyard is because there is no justice or righteousness.
We’re probably all aware that in books, plays, television shows, and movies, a character may stand for something more than themselves. That makes them a symbol. Or maybe they do something symbolic. But the character is not always a symbol, or perhaps not always the same symbol.
Sometimes everything is symbolic, and the the symbolism is consistent from begining to end of the story. That’s called an allegory.
One of the best examples of an allegory is the Christian medieval play called “Everyman.” It is about Every Man. It’s written in Middle English, so it requires translation into modern English. It was first printed in 1510, but by then it had probably been performed for decades. There also seems to be a Dutch language Everyman of the play that may be the source of the English version.
What makes “Everyman” an easy to understand allegory is that the characters are named for what they represent. The title character, Everyman, stands for every man, and we presume, every woman too. God sends a character named Death, who of course stands for death, to bring Everyman to stand before God in judgement.
When Death arrives to lead him to judgement, Everyman attempts to plead and then bribe Death to give him more time. Death refuses, but will allow Everyman to take along with him anyone who will join him on the journey. At first Fellowship, who has always enjoyed Everyman’s company, agrees to go, but when he realizes how serious this journey will be, and that there is no returning, Fellowship begs off. The same with the characters Cousin and Kindred.
Goods, representing material possessions, has no intention of traveling with Everyman on this fateful journey. Everyman believes he has been abandoned. But there’s a glimmer of hope in this story -- Good Deeds will go, but there’s a problem. Everyman has neglected her until now, and she is very weak. Fortunately Knowledge agrees to go along as well. She says, “Everyman, I will go with thee, and be thy guide. In thy most need to go by thy side.”
Things start to look a little better. Good Deeds and Knowledge lead him to Confession, where after suffering he is strengthened and ready to go farther. Other characters, Beauty, Discretion, Strength, and Five Wits help him further along the road, leading him to a priest where he receives communion. However, in the end only Good Deeds goes with him into the grave, from where the two ascend into heaven. Enter a Doctor, who represents scholarship, to assure the audience that only our Good Deeds will go with us when we are called to judgement.
Of course within only a few years the Reformation would begin the process of changing the perception for Christians of just how they were saved. Perhaps a modern version would have a character named Grace. Even so, one would think the worldly characters would still abandon Everyman.
As we see, this allegory was meant both to entertain and intrigue, and ultimately to tell a truth.
Which is just like Isaiah’s allegory. The present scripture passage looks like its a story about a vineyard, but it’s not really about any of that. Isaiah shares a divine allegory about a vineyard which is first called a love song, but is really an allegory about Judah’s and Israel’s disobedience. The gardener, who is God, talks about the effort put into making the vineyard fertile and productive, but the vineyard rebels and produces wild grapes. And then, just so we get that this is a lament over the disobedience and injustice of God’s people, Isaiah tells us the owner of the vineyard is the Lord, Israel and Judah are the vineyard and “his pleasant planting,” and the reason the gardener will lay waste to the vineyard is because there is no justice or righteousness.
