In the soliloquy that opens the play, God reflects unhappily upon his creation of humanity, chastising humans for the spiritually impoverished attitudes and conduct that he has observed on Earth:
How that all creatures be to me unkind,
Living without dread in worldly prosperity:
Of ghostly sight the people be so blind,
Drowned in sin, they know me not for their God;
In worldly riches is all their mind,
They fear not my rightwiseness, the sharp rod;
My law that I shewed, when I for them died,
They forget clean, and shedding of my blood red;
I hanged between two, it cannot be denied;
To get them life I suffered to be dead;
I healed their feet, with thorns hurt was my head.
God argues that humans are “unkind” to him, having lost their fear of eternal damnation and therefore failing to uphold his commandments. Because they are distracted by riches, or “worldly prosperity,” they have become “blind” to God and no longer worship him, nor do they even recognize him as their creator. In keeping with the Christian notion of the Trinity (made up of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), God notes that he and Jesus Christ are one in the same, reflecting upon the execution and resurrection of Christ as described in the Bible. “To get them life,” God states, “I suffered to be dead.” In this soliloquy, then, God argues that the painful crucifixion of Christ was a self-sacrifice for humanity that has been forgotten about by those currently living.
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.
