10/22 Everyman #8B

Human Nature
In Everyman, this sinfulness of man is emphasized. To help him in his reckoning to God, Everyman is shown first not able to rely on people (and things) of this world, and second he cannot rely on physical and intellectual traits. Fellowship, Cousin, Kindred, and Goods all represent things of this world that Everyman hopes can help him reconcile himself to God. They cannot. Knowledge, Good Deeds, Discretion, and Five-Wits all represent traits Everyman has before he does penance and after. It is important to note that the only quality that helped Everyman in his reckoning was Good Deeds, which came to Everyman only after he visited Confession and did penance. Everyman was not able to rely on his things of this world or qualities that were with he could have before penance.
God's monologue at the beginning of the play also reflects his own focus on the sin of man. God reveals that man had scorned God and rejected Christ. He even states, "Verily they will become much worse than beasts..." A very Catholic view is seen here. While God does mention the redeeming blood of Christ, man must still go through a reckoning. During this Reckoning, Everyman achieves a clear ledger not through acceptance of Christ, but through his own actions: confession, penance, and deeds. This view emphasizes not the glory of the Godhead, but the debase nature of men.

"Friends"
The five characters that Everyman encounters towards the second half of the play are Beauty, Strength, Discretion, and Five Wits. They all express the most supreme love and devotion to Everyman at the beginning of their conversation, but when Death's arrival creeps closer, they all progressively abandon him. These four characters all represent physical characteristics than humans possess. The progression of his friends leaving him and the time of Everyman's reckoning with God represent aging and death. As a person ages, good looks fade, skin becomes wrinkled, earlobes elongate, and hair turns white. This parallels Beauty's departure. The next to leave Everyman is Strength. In the life of a regular person, this is true as well. Muscles can grow weaker, bones become brittle, eye sight gets worse, and overall health declines. After this happens, many times mental health also declines for an elderly person. Age and diseases can leave one with fragmented or faulty memory and can impair judgment. Some people just loose their minds and aren't themselves for the rest of their minds when they get to a certain old age. This is represented in Everyman as Discretion leaving him. And the last to leave Everyman is Five-Wits. Clearly, Five-Wits represents the five senses. These become dull over time, but men still is able to perceive sensory data (with or without a lucid mind to comprehend it). Just before death, in both Everyman and real life, the senses are the last to leave a person. All a person has left is what they did in life (Good Deeds). Then man dies and he either goes to Heaven, like in Everyman's case, or Hell.