Three Late Medieval Morality Plays: Everyman, Mankind and Mundus et Infans: A New Mermaids Anthology

(Paperback)

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Description

Morality plays were the main form of theatre in England between about 1400 and 1600. They usually portrayed a representative Christian figure locked in spiritual conflict. They have recently been revived as early examples of living theatre. The three plays offered here are typical stories of sin and repentance. The surprisingly racy "Mankind" shows an honest farmer first resisting then giving way to, and finally being redeemed from, the guileful temptations of the devil. The bleaker "Everyman" focuses on the struggle to die a holy death, while "Mundus et Infans" tells the life story of an arrogant bully, led astray by the personification of Folly, but repenting in old age.

Author Bio

G. A. Lester has taught Medieval Language and Literature in Britain and the U.S.A. and has published books and articles on The Anglo-Saxons, Middle English Manuscripts, Chaucer, Medieval Drama, and Heraldic Literature.