The medieval age of English history is epitomised as a strongly religious time, where Christianity provided a strict identity and purpose in life. Belief in Heaven, Hell and Judgement was very real, as was the constant fear of sin and damnation. The Church was able to manipulate the devout faith of its followers by selling fake holy relics and religious indulgences. The laymen believed it was necessary for them to obtain such items in order to purify themselves of sin, and enter Heaven without suffering through Purgatory. Medieval drama did much to reinforce these beliefs, being completely liturgical. Morality plays were first performed at religious holidays, and warned audiences about sin and salvation, with personification of the psychomachia. They all shared a highly similar narrative structure as good and evil battled for the soul of an initially virtuous man who had become caught in vice. This person represented the whole of humanity, and the play would show how, despite temptation and with the help of
Bibliography: §Bradbrook,MC Themes and Conventions of Elizabethan Tragedy 2nd Edition (Newcastle: Cambridge University Press, 1990) §Cawley,AC (ed.) Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays (London: Everyman 's Library, 1967) §Cookson,L Doctor Faustus (Hong Kong: Longman Group UK, 1987) §Davies,T Humanism (New York: Routledge, 1997) §Henderson,P Christopher Marlowe (London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1966) §Lester,GA (ed.) Three Late Medieval Morality Plays (London: Ernest Benn, 1981)