Importance of English Language
Section 3 (l.462-650)
Everyman is left alone and asks
O, to whom shall I make me moan
For to go with me in that heavy journey?
He recaps how he has been deserted, one after the other, by Fellowship, his kinsmen, and his Goods (whom, he says, he “loved best”). He feels ashamed that he did not realize that Goods brought people towards hell – and says that he himself is “worthy to be blamed”. He decides to turn to Good Deeds but worries that she is so weak that “she can neither go nor speak”.
When Good Deeds enters, she does not need to hear from Everyman about his pilgrimage or that he has been summoned to make his account – she knows already. Good Deeds says that Everyman’s book of account would be in great shape if only he had focused his attention on her. As he has not spent any time with Good Deeds, though, she is weak and cannot go with him. She does, though, have a sister who can accompany Everyman – Knowledge.
Knowledge enters and tells Everyman “I will go with thee and be thy guide”. Everyman is delighted. With Knowledge by his side, Everyman decides to go and find Confession in the House of Salvation. Confession is then “seen at a distance within the House of Salvation”. Everyman kneels to him and asks for mercy.
Confession, like Good Deeds before him, knows already of Everyman’s sorrow, but can give him the comfort of “a precious jewel” called “penance”. Jesus, Confession continues, suffered on the cross for mankind, so man in turn must remember Jesus in suffering himself by undergoing the “scourge of penance”. Confession tells Everyman to fulfill this penance, and that Knowledge will tell him how he can clear his account book with God.
Everyman makes a long prayer to God, begging for forgiveness and mercy. At the end of this speech, he “strips off his fine clothes” and “takes the scourge”. Knowledge says now Everyman can “make his reckoning sure”. Everyman continues to scourge himself “for the sins of the flesh”. With that, Good Deeds is
Everyman is left alone and asks
O, to whom shall I make me moan
For to go with me in that heavy journey?
He recaps how he has been deserted, one after the other, by Fellowship, his kinsmen, and his Goods (whom, he says, he “loved best”). He feels ashamed that he did not realize that Goods brought people towards hell – and says that he himself is “worthy to be blamed”. He decides to turn to Good Deeds but worries that she is so weak that “she can neither go nor speak”.
When Good Deeds enters, she does not need to hear from Everyman about his pilgrimage or that he has been summoned to make his account – she knows already. Good Deeds says that Everyman’s book of account would be in great shape if only he had focused his attention on her. As he has not spent any time with Good Deeds, though, she is weak and cannot go with him. She does, though, have a sister who can accompany Everyman – Knowledge.
Knowledge enters and tells Everyman “I will go with thee and be thy guide”. Everyman is delighted. With Knowledge by his side, Everyman decides to go and find Confession in the House of Salvation. Confession is then “seen at a distance within the House of Salvation”. Everyman kneels to him and asks for mercy.
Confession, like Good Deeds before him, knows already of Everyman’s sorrow, but can give him the comfort of “a precious jewel” called “penance”. Jesus, Confession continues, suffered on the cross for mankind, so man in turn must remember Jesus in suffering himself by undergoing the “scourge of penance”. Confession tells Everyman to fulfill this penance, and that Knowledge will tell him how he can clear his account book with God.
Everyman makes a long prayer to God, begging for forgiveness and mercy. At the end of this speech, he “strips off his fine clothes” and “takes the scourge”. Knowledge says now Everyman can “make his reckoning sure”. Everyman continues to scourge himself “for the sins of the flesh”. With that, Good Deeds is