Similarities Between Beowulf And Everyman

Death always seems to have interested mankind, which does not really surprise anyone since it inevitably is the ultimate end of every man’s journey and it being the very counterpart of life itself. Religion, too, has been depicted for as long as written language has existed. The targets of worships have changed, this is true, but the concept of higher powers never ceases to intrigue us. There is much more to our two chosen texts, Beowulf and Everyman, but we are going to focus on the themes of Christianity, death and how the texts work as allegories. So, through the allegorical themes of death and Christianity how is Everyman’s journey de-picted in comparison to Beowulf’s?

The morality play Everyman was written around the 15th century whereas

At this point, religion and politics were closely tied and by being the only ones to understand the bible, the church held monopoly-like rights to the ‘true’ interpre-tation of the bible. These rights were being challenged worldwide, and more notably by Mar-tin Luther. Due to the pressure the church received from individuals such as Luther, they had to secure their interpretation as the correct one. Therefore, it could be argued that plays such as Everyman were staged to portray rightful Christianity, now what is know as Catholicism. Peasants needed plays in order to worship God in the right manner, since they simply could not understand what was being preached at sermons. Everyman is set in typical Christian settings. Firstly, heaven where God is displeased with Everyman; secondly on earth where Everyman is preparing for death; and lastly when he is with the angel taking him to the afterlife. There is also included biblical quotes in Everyman that relates to death. ‘In manus tu-as, […] commendo spiritum meum’ (Greenblatt, 2012, p. 528, ll. 885-886). This means ‘into thy hands I commit my spirit’ (May, 1977, Lu, p. 1282, 23.46) and is said to be Jesus’ last words while on the cross. This is also Everyman’s last words, giving the audience the idea that they should follow in Jesus’