Both Everyman and Doctor Faustus are plays. They are written within different time
Periods, with Everyman written in the medieval era and Doctor Faustus written in the
Renaissance.
Everyman and Doctor Faustus are both Morality Plays, these are specifically plays that
existed within the Medieval period. They were popular during this period as they were
intended to instruct the audience in the Christian way and attitudes to life. The morality
play is essentially an allegory written in dramatic form. In the fourteenth Century,
morality plays were mainly based on the seven deadly sins as in Everyman with each
character representing each sin. Everyman centers around allegory. It focuses on the
allegorical representations of moral issues with the inclusion of figures that represent
abstractions of the issues that are confronted.
Doctor Faustus follows the general five-act structure of an Elizabethan
Romantic Tragedy. However Christopher Marlowe used the structure of an older
Medieval form of English Drama, the morality play as a model.
Title page of a late edition of Christopher Marlow...
Doctor Faustus (comics)
Everyman Bistro 02Morality plays tended to
show the moral struggle of mans soul and the conflict of good and evil. This is evident in
the play of Doctor Faustus who is embroiled in a battle between the temptation of the
devil and God. You could argue that Doctor Faustus is not classed as a
morality play. Because in the tradition of a morality play God and the devil are external
forces that affect the individual. However, in Doctor Faustus it is far more of an internal
drama inside Faustus' own mind. Both are entirely didactic in nature, they were made
with the intent to educate their audience in one respect or another. There was a moral to
each that conveyed similar messages. Therefore the term 'morality play' correctly
defines each one.
The medieval time period in which Everyman was written...