Teachings of Terror and Optimism in The Theatrical Performance The Second Shepherds and Everyman

Fear in Morality Plays and Hope in Mystery Plays

Both morality plays and mystery plays had important messages that the church hoped to teach the people. One of the most well-known mystery plays was The Second Shepherds’ Play while the most infamous moral play was Everyman. Both plays relate to everyday people, but The Second Shepherds’ Play focuses more one engaging people with the story while Everyman’s intention is to encourage people to prepare for the afterlife. Overall, Everyman has a darker and more urgent tone to get people to change, while The Second Shepherds’ Play is more uplifting.

The character Everyman is relatable as he strives to live for material and earthly pleasures. He does admit this, when it might be too late (Everyman, Author Unknown 309-308). Nonetheless, a flawed character is used so that the audience may have someone to relate to. Everyman also comments on how he had no warning that death would be coming soon (Author Unknown 302).

The audience can learn from Everyman’s mistake. Death does not choose you if you are rich or poor, healthy or sick, nor does it come with a warning. Death only does as it is told. This is seen in the beginning when God commands death to take Everyman on his journey to death (Author Unknown 300-301). This is a warning to the audience that they never know when to expect death, so they should be preparing for it while they have the chance to. Everyman’s name can also be seen as symbolism. Everyman has a play on words within the first few lines of the show. God states, “Every man liveth so after his own pleasure” (Author Unknown 300).

Not only can one conclude from this statement that the character everyman lives for himself, but that everyone lives for himself. This idea is further explored in an article that also studies social critique in Everyman. “When these generalizations about humanity take body and voice in the character of Everyman, signs immediately begin to appear that immoderate concern for wealth is indeed his own chief moral failing” (Harper and Mize, Material Economy, Social Economy and Social Critique in Everyman 266). Everyman literally and figuratively represents every man (and women) on earth.

Meanwhile, The Second Shepherds’ Play opens up with all the shepherds (common people) complaining about various issues. Coll complains about the weather and his low social status, Gib complains about the weather and his wife, and Daw complains about the weather and his low pay (The Second Shepherd’s Play, The Wakefield Master 266-271). The complaints allow the audience to have main characters to relate to which makes them more inclined to listen. The idea of relatable common characters is verified from an analysis essay on The Second Shepherds’ Play:

“Much of the dialogue in the plays, for example, relates to the working conditions of the peasants who were experiencing newly emerging relationships both to the land . . . and to the animals that were so important to the people involved in England's developing wool trade” (Kiser, Sheep and Humans in the Pastoral Ecology of the Towneley First and Second Shepherds' Plays 1).

Conclusion

Both plays relate characters to the audience, but The Second Shepherds’ play uses more than one character to do so. The use of multiple characters enables the playwright to write about different issues which results in more people relating to the play.

These two plays use symbolism to represent darkness in different ways, one being self-destructive and the other destroying other people. Everyman shows that darkness is rooted in greed. When Everyman tells Goods that he “thee loved and had great pleasure”, Goods responds by saying “that is to thy damnation, without leasing” (Author Unknown 308).

Everyman’s greed led to his ultimate destruction, death. Goods is a curse in disguise, leading to darkness. The fact that Goods so openly admits that he destroys many men even suggests that he enjoys doing so, which adds to his dark qualities even more. This is yet another warning to the audience to stay away from goods and greed. On the contrary, The Second Shepherds’ Play symbolizes darkness through one character, Mak. Mak is first introduced wearing a cloak. The cloak alludes that he his mysterious and trying to hide something. The devil is often described in the bible as being a thief in the night. This is exactly what Mak does. He comes in the middle of the night and talks to the shepherds until they go to sleep in his presence (Author Unknown 274-379).

The bible also constantly refers to followers of Christ being like sheep. Therefore, Mak symbolizes the thief stealing away one of God’s children. The Second Shepherds’ Play warns the audience about how sneaky darkness can be by showing that darkness (or Mak) comes when you least expect it. While Everyman shows darkness as actions, The Second Shepherds’ Play represents darkness as a person. The main difference between people and actions is that you are responsible for your own actions. If you choose darkness, it will lead you to death. Whereas if someone influences you, you have an opportunity for redemption.

As one can see, the plays Everyman and The Second Shepherds’ Play both teach lessons to the common people by relating to them through common characters and how darkness affects their lives. However, the darkness that is described in Everyman may create more fear than the darkness in The Second Shepherds’ Play because the darkness in Everyman cannot be escaped once it is too late.