Dual Roles In many stories, it is often noticed that the writers use an allegorical figure to demonstrate abstract qualities as actual people. In these stories the allegorical figure holds a name that will tell you what his character is supposed to be representing. The allegorical figure is a cunning and unique way of taking a characteristic or an object and making it come alive to the readers. This can put an advantage upon your story when trying to get across a certain point, but most often a morality issue. Everyman is a play in which the writer went to great lengths to use allegorical figures to get across a lesson that concerns itself with the salvation of all men’s souls (Vignery p 111).
Good Deeds is an allegorical figure in Everyman.
Good Deeds is represented not only as a person, but also as an abstraction. This dual role is clearly stated from the first time that Good Deeds speaks, until the time that Everyman and himself descend into the grave together. Good Deeds is portrayed excellently as a person. He is a person in the sense that he speaks out to Everyman and tells him how to redeem himself to be saved. He is a also a person in the sense that Everyman is asking Deeds for counsel like normal people ask for counsel in times of grief and great need.
The “human” in Good Deeds comes out when he tells Everyman to call upon other allegorical figures to go with him on his long journey to the grave. The humanness appears again when Good Deeds is a true friend to Everyman. Good deeds shows the friendship quality when he refuses to leave Everyman, and promises to stick with him until the Day of Judgment. Good Deeds is just like a good friend who refuses to go home when a friend gets into trouble, and offers to help talk to the parents.
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He is also that true friend in the aspect that he offered and actually does speak to God for Everyman, just as a true friend would do (Everyman lines 309-455).
Good Deeds plays a second, or dual, role as an abstraction in the play also. An abstraction is a concept or an idea; in this case, the abstraction is more of an object. Good Deeds are special tasks that a person completes throughout their lifetime and will count as a point in their favor on the Day of Judgment. A good deed can be helping find a cure for cancer, giving a poor person money or shelter, finding someone a job, helping a teacher, or even baking cookies for a lonely neighbor.
Good deeds, the abstraction, is shown when Everyman is called upon by Death. Everyman needs to have good tasks that he has done during his life. In the case of Everyman, he has done a few good deeds, but they are overshadowed by his sins. The good deeds cannot be erased, and this is made clear to Everyman.
It is also shown that good deeds are an abstraction because they stay with Everyman until he goes before God. When Everyman is before God, the good deeds “speak” for him. This is true to each an every being. Our good deeds with be with us all throughout our lives and will show God what we have done. The good deeds are crucial to Everyman getting his soul saved, and they will be crucial to all human beings (Everyman lines 309-455).
In conclusion, allegorical figures can be an important asset to a writer’s stories. They can be used to let an actual person see the vividness of concepts or ideas as actual people. Allegorical figures, whether they are Sorrow, Death, Fellowship, Happiness, or Good Deeds, help to get certain points or lessons across more effectively. They do so by keeping the readers interested, without being boring. They could be used effectively on education people about salvation, without making the readers feel like they are reading the Bible. Allegorical figures could be a very crucial point in educating people about salvation, as shown in Everyman.
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Reinventing Literary History- C regan Jocelyn Wohl Paradise Lost by John Milton 2/16/99 It is obvious to the reader that John Milton blames Eve entirely for initiating the original sin and thus losing Paradise. It is she who convinces her husband to allow them to work separately, and it is she who is coerced to eat the fruit that was expressly forbidden by God. John Milton's view is patriarchal, ...
Works Cited Everyman. Ed. Vignery, Katie et. Al. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1996. Vignery, Katie et.
Al. Adventures in English Literature. Austin: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. 1996..
