Mankind - An interpretation of a medieval morality play
Chapter page1. Basic facts about Mankind 21.1 Characters in the Morality Plays 21.2 The Author of Mankind 41.3 Sources and Analogues 51.4 The Staging of Mankind 52. A Summary of the Plot 73. The Significance of Mankind 10 3.1 An Interpretation of the "Court Scene" 104. The genesis of Shakespeare's theatre in Mankind 12Works Cited 141.1 Characters in the Morality PlaysThere are some obvious differences between the morality and the miracle plays. The latter did stress moral truths besides teaching facts
The humour is bawdy and irreverent, as Shakespeare's often was; and, although some of the play is aimed at the more educated patron who sat at the back of the courtyard, the considerations of the common people were also considered. A good example in this case is the life of Maria Magdalen, before she was converted. Since these allegorical personages were not characters but walking abstractions, they provided the playwright only very limited opportunities for development. In many interpretations of the play it is said that the actors were a professional group due to the 'passing round of the hat' - scene. Mercy laments Mankind's condition, which ends this particular section of the play. The time - setting is winter (lines 54 - 323), but it is not clear wether it is Christmas, as implied by the 'Christmas Song' (line 333), or the pre - Lenten period of merry - making, when the playing of football (cf. But nevertheless a few suppositions, as far as the author is concerned, may be made. At this point a leaf from the manuscript is missing, but probably in this part Mischief persistantly tries to win man for sin by boasting of his power. Stealthily Titivillus puts obstacles in Mankind's way, stealing his grain, placing a board in the ground to make digging almost impossible, diverting him from prayers, to mention only a short number of his nasty tricks (Lines 541 - 554). The only character who exhibits any good qualities at all is Mercy and he is made fun of due to his ponderous Latin. According to Mercy's advice, Mankind starts farming the land and manages to beat the three vices Newguise, Nowadays and Nought who want to distract him off with his spade: "With my spade I will depart, my worshipful sovereigns, And live ever with labour, to correct my insolence" (Lines 409 - 410). Titivillus tells him that his real supporters are the representatives of the modern way of life. By these late medieval dramas the transition from medieval to modern drama may be seen, also due to the fact that for instance in Mankind the actors collected money for their performance during the play itself.
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1968 p116,
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