6 h 27 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 6 h 27 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What matters when Death interrupts a life absorbed in worldly things?
In Everyman, a figure who represents any human being faces a summons from Death to account for his actions before God. This Christian allegory turns moral questions into a direct encounter: worldly life meets the demand to answer for how it is lived.
Gathered by Ernest Rhys, these early English plays by anonymous dramatists and John Heywood move between spiritual urgency and unruly comedy. The Deluge stages the biblical story of Noah and the flood; Hickscorner sets competing ways of life against each other. In The Pardoner and the Friar, rival claims to spiritual authority become a noisy contest.
What you’ll discover
- A summons from Death Meet Everyman as the demands of worldly life give way to an urgent moral reckoning.
- Noah on the stage See how The Deluge brings the biblical flood story into human speech and action.
- Good and bad collide Follow Hickscorner into a struggle where competing moral qualities take the shape of characters.
- Spiritual rivals clash Encounter the quarrels and competing claims that drive The Pardoner and the Friar.
- Solemn lessons, lively folly Move from religious instruction to tricks and boasts, with human behaviour always at the centre.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy early theatre, Bible stories retold with humour and feeling, or the roots of English drama. Readers of Shakespeare will find the voices of those who came first.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Guilds turned Bible stories into street theatre
- Death arrives with a summons from God
- Friends and riches refuse the journey
- Noah obeys God while his wife resists
- Abraham faces the hardest test of obedience
- A sheep thief hides his loot in a cradle
- The Nativity brings angels, kings and Herod
- Passion and Easter plays stay close to grief
- Bale's God's Promises follows mercy through the ages
- Humour, allegory and plain speech carry the faith
Who’s who
- EverymanAn ordinary man who loves pleasure and money, summoned by Death to bring a full account of his life.
- DeathGod's messenger, who spares no one and cannot be bribed, and tells Everyman the journey has no return.
- Good-DeedsEveryman's neglected virtue, lying weak and bound, who alone accompanies him beyond death.
- NoahThe righteous man told to build the ark, who must also persuade his own family to climb aboard.
- Noah's WifeA sharp-tongued woman who will not leave her gossips behind, and provides the Chester play with its comedy.
- AbrahamA faithful father ordered by God to offer his dearly loved son Isaac on a hill.
- MacA sheep thief of the Wakefield play who tries to fool three poor shepherds with his wife's help.
- HerodA boastful tyrant in the Coventry Nativity, who fears the newborn king and plots to destroy him.
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Ognuno, con altri intermezzi
Death stops Everyman with a summons from God, and his friends soon start making excuses.
Medium level2–5 hours to readItaliano
Learn a language with medium classicsSpagnoloFranceseTedescoItalianoGiapponesePortogheseIngleseHow we measure levels
Excellent
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In short
What would you do if a stranger stopped you in the street and told you your time was up? In Everyman, a man is strolling along, thinking of money and pleasure, when Death steps up with a summons from God.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Guilds turned Bible stories into street theatre
The plays grew out of the church. Short Latin scenes were acted at Christmas and Easter. Around the end of the thirteenth century the drama moved into the churchyard and then into the town. The town guilds took over the daily work.
Each guild owned one pageant, a tall wagon on four wheels with two levels. The actors dressed in the lower room and played in the upper one, open so the crowd could see and hear. At Chester a cycle of twenty-four pageants filled three days at Whitsun.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- Language
- Italiano
- Reading time
- 4 h 10 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Everyman, With Other Interludes. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/everyman-with-other-interludes.
Everyman, with other interludes. (2026). Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/everyman-with-other-interludes
Everyman, With Other Interludes. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/everyman-with-other-interludes.
@book{anonymous2026everyman,
title = {Everyman, With Other Interludes},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/everyman-with-other-interludes}
}
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What is Everyman about?
Everyman is a morality play in which God sends Death to summon an ordinary man to give an account of his life. Friends, family and wealth refuse to go with him, and he must find what can really stand beside him.
What is a miracle play?
A miracle or mystery play is a medieval drama that stages Bible stories, often performed by town guilds on wheeled wagons. Each trade presented one scene, such as Noah's ark or the shepherds at Bethlehem, in front of a street crowd.
What plays are in Everyman, With Other Interludes?
The book holds ten plays: Everyman, the Chester Deluge and the Sacrifice of Isaac, the Coventry Nativity, three Wakefield plays, two Cornish Easter plays and Bale's God's Promises. It adds appendices on the town cycles and a Christmas folk play.
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