Everyman is an allegorical work featuring a primarily metaphorical narrative. In this allegory, Everyman represents "every man"—or, in other words, all of humanity—in his reluctant journey towards death. A conversation between God and the allegorical figure of Death, a human-like figure who represents the abstract concept of death, introduces the play’s allegorical story:
God
They be so cumbered with worldly riches,
That needs on them I must do justice,
On Everyman living without fear.
Where art thou, Death, thou mighty messenger?Death.
Almighty God, I am here at your will,
Your commandment to fulfil.God.
Go thou to Everyman,
And show him in my name
A pilgrimage he must on him take,
Which he in no wise may escape;
And that he bring with him a sure reckoning
Without delay or any tarrying.
God argues that humans have become “cumbered” (or “encumbered” in modern English) with “worldly riches” and no longer “fear” God as they should. Instead of judging the souls of every individual person, God decides to focus on Everyman, one individual who represents all of humanity. He summons Death, his “mighty messenger,” to take Everyman on a “pilgrimage” in order to test his faith and virtue. In the allegory of the play, this is not a literal pilgrimage, but rather a spiritual journey towards death, a state that no man can “escape.”
After Death announces that Everyman must undertake a journey in order to be judged by God, he receives permission to bring a companion with him on his journey, though Death seems skeptical that anyone will be willing to follow Everyman. He turns to Cousin, Kindred, and Fellowship, but they all turn down his request despite their earlier promises of loyalty. Afterward, a dejected Everyman reflects upon these personal betrayals in a soliloquy that clarifies the allegorical status of these characters, all of whom are personified versions of various human qualities, virtues, or vices:
First Fellowship said he would with me gone;
His words were very pleasant and gay,
But afterward he left me alone.
Then spake I to my kinsmen all in despair,
And also they gave me words fair,
They lacked no fair speaking,
But all forsake me in the ending.
Then went I to my Goods that I loved best,
In hope to have comfort, but there had I least;
For my Goods sharply did me tell
That he bringeth many into hell.
Fellowship, Everyman notes, spoke to him with words that were “very pleasant and gay,” and yet his close friend was unwilling to back up his promises with action. Shocked by this rejection, Everyman turns to his family members, Kindred and Cousin, who also soothed him with promises of loyalty but then similarly turned down his request. Even Goods, whom he “loved best,” confesses to have been sabotaging him. This soliloquy, then, provides an outline for the play’s central allegory. Friends, family, and riches, the play argues, are “worldly” pleasures that are left behind at death.
After Everyman is rejected by his friends and family, who express reluctance and fear at the prospect of accompanying him to his death, he tries to think of someone else who might be willing to keep him company on his journey. Suddenly, he remembers two individuals whom he has “loved” all of his life and who might be able to make his “heart full light” in this difficult time: Goods and Riches. The scene in which these symbolic figures are introduced further develops the spiritual allegory central to the play:
Yet in my mind a thing there is;—
All my life I have loved riches;
If that my good now help me might,
He would make my heart full light.
I will speak to him in this distress. —
Where art thou, my Goods and riches?Goods
Who calleth me? Everyman? what haste thou hast!Riches
Who calleth me? Everyman? what haste thou hast!
I lie here in corners, trussed and piled so high,
And in chests I am locked so fast,
Also sacked in bags, thou mayst see with thine eye,
I cannot stir; in packs low I lie.
Goods and Riches are presented as human figures, longtime friends of Everyman. However, these figures are primarily allegorical, representing the material possessions that Everyman has accumulated throughout his life. Ultimately, Everyman discovers that he is not able to bring these possessions with him to the afterlife, as they are “worldly” rather than “heavenly.”
