What is a Morality Play?

by mimi cici Thu May 24, 2012 5:16 pm

A morality play is a type of theater common in medieval Europe. It uses allegorical characters to teach the audience moral lessons, typically of a Christian nature. The morality play can be considered an intermediate step between the Biblical mystery plays of the medieval period and the secular theater of the later Renaissance, such as the plays of William Shakespeare. The morality play has remained a cultural influence to some degree, though it has greatly waned in popularity. The basic premise of the morality play, however, in which an "everyman" character who is easy to relate to makes a journey and is influenced by characters along the way, eventually gaining some kind of personal integrity, is still common in many works of theater and film.

One of the most salient characteristics of the morality play is the way that characters are named. Instead of normal names, they are called by the quality they represent. In Everyman, one of the most famous morality plays, some of the characters include Fellowship, Knowledge, Goods, and Kindred. Eventually, all of these characters abandon the play's hero, Everyman, during his journey with Death, and only Good-Deeds stays with him. The moral of this play is therefore that only good deeds can help one get into Heaven, and that no other earthly things are truly lasting.

jouliya