Everyman-Introduction

 I got a research paper for English 102: Composition and Literature coming up. Because of this, I thought I'd show my paper here piece by piece to get suggestions from friends to add any helpful corrections so as to further help in raising my score. I've talked of analyzing Everyman for a while, so here is my opportunity to do so.  

For many years, the use of the theatre has inspired and bewildered readers. Like the ancient Greeks, who used drama to convey their religious faith, the Medieval Church used it to teach doctrines of the Christian faith. In the Middle Ages, it was fairly common to see plays performed just outside the walls of parishes. While Christian plays were originally taken only from the Bible, Christian drama came to include stories with allegorical themes not found in the scriptures. What now is called Morality plays, refers to those works of literature that taught theological themes without being explicitly based on Biblical stories. The use of Christian drama as a literature to inspire the faithful to think of God's mercy and judgement was in many ways a form of entertainment to people in the Post-classical world as are movies and television to those in the modern world today. In the late fifteenth century, one such work of Medieval drama was written: The Somonyng of Everyman. The play, a true classic of the Medieval theatre, was probably written around AD 1485 and has been performed since at least 1510. Like many other works of the time, the author of Everyman, as it is commonly referred to, remains anonymous. The reason for this was because many medieval writers did not want credit for their work. Everyman remains one of the greatest works of English Literature as seen in its evaluation of various literary themes. The play demonstrates the Christian faith through its sheer allegory, and by demonstrating the great influence of death upon all of creation because of man's sinful desires and actions. Death, one of the lead characters in Everyman, is personified as the cold nature that he represents. Of all the characters that give influence in this drama, perhaps Death is the most significant. The fact that Everyman personifies the character Death as the doorway to eternal life or damnation is demonstrated in its understanding of Death as a universality, the treatment of Death within its literary themes and poetic devices, and its view of organized religion with regard to Death.