Both Everyman and Doctor Faustus are versions of the type of morality play common in medieval England. Everyman is a straightforward example of the form. All of its characters serve as allegories for specific virtues and vices, with the eponymous Everyman representing the individual human soul caught in the battle of good and evil.
Doctor Faustus is not exactly a morality play, as Faustus himself is far more individualized as a protagonist than Everyman is, but it does play on the conventions and archetypes present in medieval morality plays. Mephistophilis represents vice and evil, tempting the human soul to damnation much like the traditional Vice character in morality plays, but even he is not a mere allegorical stand-in: he shows signs of pity for Faustus, early on betraying his misery at being a fallen angel and warning Faustus against falling prey to sin. This is a far cry from the more simplistic figures in Everyman.
Saturday, July 21, 2018
List the ceremonies or cultural practices that Everyman relies upon, then do the same for Doctor Faustus. Write a paragraph comparing the play’s use of it to an earlier cultural practice.
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