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Analysis of the Morality Play Everyman

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on August 2, 2020 • ( 0 )

The great vice of English drama from Kyd to Galsworthy has been its aim of realism was unlimited. In one play, Everyman, and perhaps in that one play only, we have a drama within the limitations of art. . . . It is essential that a work of art should be self-consistent, that an artist should consciously or unconsciously draw a circle beyond which he does not trespass: on the one hand actual life is always the material, and on the other hand an abstraction from actual life is a necessary condition to the creation of a work of art.

—T. S. Eliot, “Four Elizabethan Dramatists”

For T. S. Eliot the greatness of Everyman —the most famous medieval drama in English and the best example of the morality play—rests in its totality of vision, in its joining powerful spiritual and human insights with “ordinary dramatic interest.” “The religious and the dramatic are not merely combined,” Eliot asserts, “but wholly fused. Everyman is on the one hand the human soul in extremity, and on the other any man in any dangerous position from which we wonder how he is going to escape.” A dramatized parable or allegory of the final judgment of a soul, Everyman achieves its sustaining force by the skill with which it embodies its abstractions in the particular to reach the universal. Everyman accordingly serves as a crucial prototype for Western drama and a key link between classical drama and the extraordinary flowering of Renaissance drama.

Possibly an English translation of the Dutch work, Elckerlijc (or Elckerlijk ), published in 1495 and attributed to Petrus Dorlandus, Everyman may also have been adapted, along with the Dutch play, from an earlier, now-lost common source. There are no records of actual performances of Everyman but printed versions of the play, first appearing in 1508, were popular through the 16th century, even as religious dramas in England became seditious during the Reformation and were banned when Elizabeth I took the throne in 1558. Although the morality play is an unmistakable influence on Elizabethan drama, Everyman disappeared from view. It would not be reprinted until 1773. In 1901, it became the first medieval play to be revived in a modern production. Directed by William Poel, the revised Everyman was praised for its “naïve simplicity and uncompromising sincerity,” and the play became the sensation of the London theater season. William Butler Yeats and George Bernard Shaw admitted to being influenced by Poel’s successful production. After seeing it German director Max Reinhardt commissioned Austrian playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal to write a German adaptation, Jedermann, which was first produced in Berlin in 1911 and, after its debut in 1913 at the Salzburg Cathedral square, would ever after become a featured part of the annual Salzburg Festival. Echoes of Everyman are detectable in the existential plays of Jean-Paul Sartre and Samuel Beckett and in Bertolt Brecht’s expressionistic dramas, and the play continues to be performed around the world, a testimony to its ability to communicate a powerful vision of the human condition that transcends the era and the doctrines of its origin.

Everyman serves as well as an essential text for illustrating the evolution of drama in western Europe in the period between the classical age and the Renaissance. What is most striking in considering the reemergence of drama in the Middle Ages is the role played by the Christian Church both in halting the classical dramatic tradition and in fostering the conditions for drama’s revival. The number of theaters and performances of Roman drama reached a high point in the fourth century before significantly waning. Drama’s decline to near extinction was precipitated both by the breakup of the Roman Empire and the bur-geoning Christian Church’s opposition to an art form with distinctively pagan roots. Theologians regarded drama as an illusionist art allied to idolatry, magic, and devilry. Church authorities actively dissuaded Christians from attending performances, threatening excommunication of anyone who went to the theater rather than to church on holy days. Actors were forbidden the sacraments unless they foreswore their profession. The last recorded dramatic performance in the classical tradition occurred in Rome in 549, and for almost a half-millennia organized theatrical performances effectively disappeared in western Europe, with the remnants of an acting tradition fitfully maintained by traveling entertainers. Ironically the church, which had played such a decisive role in closing the theaters and halting a literary dramatic tradition, returned drama to the similar initial conditions preceeding the emergence of formal drama in Greece in the sixth century b.c. As classical comedy and tragedy originated from religious celebrations and rituals, Western drama would be restored in the Middle Ages from a comparable spiritual foundation to serve a parallel religious need. Antiphonal songs, sung responses or dialogues, like the dithyramb in Greek protodrama, were eventually incorporated into celebrations from the liturgical calendar, such as Christmas, Epiphany, and Easter. Short illustrative scenes evolved to vivify worship for a congregation that did not understand Latin, the liturgical language. First performed in the monasteries and churches around the 10th century, with clergymen or choir boys as actors, liturgical dramas would by the 13th century grow far too elaborate—with multiple scenes, actors, and stage effects—for proper staging indoors. Performances moved outdoors with nonclerical actors and secular organizations such as trade guilds producing vernacular mystery plays, scriptural dramas representing scenes from the Old and New Testament; miracle plays, dramatizing incidents from the lives of the saints; and morality plays, enacting the allegorical spiritual struggle of an average individual. Like Attic Greek plays, medieval drama therefore evolved out of religious observances, was supported by wealthy citizens or organizations to serve both a civic and religious function, and, just as the Greek choral performances in honor of Dionysus were expanded to enact the stories of multiple gods and heroes, medieval drama gradually became more secularized by incorporating aspects of familiar life and recognizable situations and characters in its performances. Enacted episodes from the liturgical calendar were joined to form complete cycles of biblical plays in increasingly more complicated productions involving realistic stage effects. Religious dramas became all-purpose moral entertainments combining serious devotional and didactic purposes with low comic, often bawdy farce. By the 15th century religious drama had established a strong, robust theatrical tradition in western Europe that would be combined with the rediscovery of the classical dramatic tradition in the Renaissance to create the greatest explosion of dramatic achievement in history.

Everyman is the best-known example of the morality play, the late-developing medieval dramatic genre that is the essential bridge between religious and secular drama. If mystery plays treated the divine as revealed in the Bible, and miracle plays, the saintly, morality plays took for their subject the spiritual struggles of representative and recognizable mixed human characters. Morality plays, which flourished between 1400 and 1550, are didactic allegories enacting the combat between Vice and Virtue for the possession of a human soul. Examples in English include Pride of Life (c. 1410), Castle of Perserverance (c.1425), and Mankind (c. 1475). Everyman is actually atypical of the form due to its restricted scope. Instead of covering the temptations of an entire life, as do most morality plays, Everyman achieves its unity and intensity by concentrating only on the preparation for death, on the last act in the story of salvation or damnation. The usual enacted battle between Vice and Virtue for possession of an individual soul is over at the play’s outset. Everyman is a confirmed sinner who is to be shocked into a reevaluation of his life and values. As the play opens, God, disappointed in humankind’s sinfulness, in which “Every man liveth so after his own pleasure,” ignoring their inevitable end and purpose on earth, proclaims a final reckoning. He orders Death to summon Everyman to “A pilgrimage he must on him take, / Which he in no wise may escape.” Everyman greets this news with a range of psychologically believable reactions from incredulousness, delusion, and self-pity to rationalization that it might not be as bad as he fears, even attempting to bribe Death to “defer this matter till another day.” Death is implacable but agrees to allow Everyman to gather whomever he can persuade to accompany him on his journey to the grave.

Having lost his initial battle with Death to avoid his reckoning, Everyman is next reduced to helpless, isolated despair as one by one his expected faithful and steadfast companions—Fellowship, Kindred, and Cousin—abandon him. Forced to forego human companionship from friends and relatives on his journey, Everyman next turns to his Goods, which he had valued most of all, for support. Convinced that money is all powerful, Everyman is corrected by Goods, who says that love for him is “contrary to love everlasting”:

A season thou hast had me in prosperity. My condition is man’s soul to kill; If I save one, a thousand I do spill. Weenest though that I will follow thee? Nay, not from this world, verily.

If the material fails him, Everyman next turns to his virtuous accomplishments on earth, to Good Deeds, who is willing to accompanying him but is constrained by Everyman’s sins, and the pilgrim is sent to Good Deeds’s sister, Knowledge, to learn what he must do. At this point in the drama Everyman’s spiritual journey has forced him to look from exterior support to internal resources. Knowledge provides the key to Everyman’s salvation, leading him to Confession and Penance that releases Good Deeds to accompany him to his reckoning. The play thus embodies essential Christian doctrine—that a person’s life on earth is fl eeting and deceptive, that all must face death alone, and that good deeds are worthless without self-knowledge, faith, contrition, and absolution—in understandable human terms that invite audience identification. The play’s message is delivered not through direct statement but in the interaction of a psychologically understandable Everyman with the personified and magnified abstractions that underscore a universal meaning.

No longer reluctant and despairing, with a renewed faith and self-understanding, Everyman now feels comforted and confident to undertake his journey, summoning Beauty, Strength, Discretion, and Five Wits to join Good Deeds as his companions. Doctrinally the play seems to have reached a secure moral conclusion. Everyman is no longer deceived about the world or himself and is now ready to face his final reckoning aided by worthy intrinsic companions. The play, however, delivers a surprising dramatic reversal. The companions that Everyman has counted on one by one fall away as he comes closer and closer to his journey’s end at the grave. The allegory here captures an entire life in miniature in which a person’s essential attributes eventually are defeated by time along life’s journey: the beauty of youth fades, the strength of manhood weakens, mental acuity in maturity declines, and the senses of old age fail. In a neat, structural parallel the excuses of Fellowship, Kindred, Cousin, and Goods not to accompanying Everyman on his journey are matched by the regrets of Beauty, Strength, Discretion, and Five Wits for failing to complete the pilgrim-age. Once again Everyman is stripped of support to face death alone, forced to give up his dependence not only on the externals of life but the internal faculties and attributes as well. Everyman reaches an existential moment of dreadful isolation that prompts his cry, “O Jesu, help! All hath forsaken me.” But he is consoled by Good Deeds, who alone will stay with him to the end:

All earthly things is but vanity: Beauty, Strength, and Discretion do man forsake, Foolish friends, and kinsmen, that fair spake— All fleeth save Good Deeds, and that am I. . . . Fear not; I will speak for thee.

Good Deeds will make the case for Everyman’s salvation, and the pilgrim seeking God’s mercy is shown sinking into his grave. An Angel is heard welcoming his soul to his heavenly reward:

Now shalt thou into the heavenly sphere, Unto the which all ye shall come That liveth well before the day of doom.

Everyman converts the theological doctrine of a soul’s recovery and redemption into a series of strikingly dramatic conflicts, each pushing Every-man to a greater understanding of the world and himself. What contrasts Everyman from other morality plays in which Vice and Virtue contend for the possession of a man’s soul is that the forces that essentially divide Everyman and imperil his salvation reside within him, personified both in the external aspects of a man’s life and his inherent attributes. The play takes its audience deeply into a moral and psychological arena that will increasingly form the theater to follow as religious drama gives way to the secular. Dramatic allegory is to be dressed in the costumes and traits of the particular and the individual. Notably, Everyman puts an average, representative man at center stage for one of the first times in theatrical history and considers his self-knowledge and salvation as its central issue. Neither a divinity nor a paragon, Everyman is made recognizable to every member of the audience—noble and peasant alike—and psychological realism, even in an allegory of contending abstractions, makes a powerful theatrical debut. Everyman proves triumphantly that the sufferings of someone like the rest of us can engage us emotionally and intellectually while supplying a crucial lesson on how the real, the symbolic, and insights into human nature and human existence—the key components of all drama—can be effectively combined.

Everyman Allegorical Drama Analysis

Categories: Literary Devices

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The play opens with a messenger calling for the audience’s attention to this “moral play,” which will demonstrate the transitory nature of human life. Next God appears, lamenting the unworthiness of humans, who no longer revere him and who sinfully indulge in greed and lust. Deciding to make people account for their sins, God orders Death to summon Everyman so that he can be judged by his “ reckoning ,” a ledger of his good and ill deeds. However, when Death approaches Everyman on earth, Everyman is unwilling to die and unprepared for his reckoning. Clinging to the life he had, Everyman begs Death for more time. Death refuses, but he allows Everyman to seek a companion for his “pilgrimage,” provided that he can find someone willing to accompany him to the afterlife.

A disconsolate Everyman seeks out his friend Fellowship for comfort and counsel, and Fellowship appears, promising his undying loyalty. However, when Fellowship learns that accompanying Everyman on the journey means that Fellowship, too, will die, he refuses to help his friend. Fellowship leaves, and Everyman seeks the help of his relatives Kindred and Cousin instead, thinking that blood will be thicker than water. However, while Kindred and Cousin promise to stand by him in “wealth and woe,” they also forsake him, as they too are afraid of death. Alone, Everyman bemoans this abandonment by his friends and family and wonders whom he can turn to next for help. He decides to ask for the assistance of his friend Goods , whom he has long loved. Though Goods (like Fellowship, Kindred, and Cousin) promises to help Everyman, he immediately reneges on his promise after learning of Everyman’s predicament. In addition to refusing to join Everyman, Goods also informs Everyman that he has been damaging Everyman’s reckoning all along: because Everyman loved Goods so much instead of loving God, Everyman will be condemned to hell.

Shocked by Goods’ treachery, Everyman is in despair, as he is completely alone, with no one willing to help him. He decides to seek out Good-Deeds , though she is so weak from Everyman’s sin and neglect that she cannot stand. Unlike his other friends, Good-Deeds is willing to help him, but she is too weak to do so. Though she cannot accompany him in person, she says that her sister Knowledge can help him to clear his reckoning. Knowledge guides Everyman to Confession , who teaches Everyman to repent. To atone for his sins, Everyman prays to God, begging for mercy, and he uses a scourge (a whip) for self-mortification.

As a result, Good-Deeds is healed and she finds Everyman in order to accompany him on his journey. Knowledge then bestows upon Everyman a “ garment of sorrow ,” which allows Everyman to show contrition. She and Good-Deeds request the presence of Everyman’s friends Discretion , Strength , Beauty , Five-wits , who all agree to help Everyman during his pilgrimage. At Knowledge’s instruction, Everyman sees a priest for the holy sacrament and unction. While the rest of the group is waiting for Everyman’s return, Five-wits makes a speech about the superiority of priests, claiming that they are “above angels in degree.” Knowledge reminds him that not all priests are good, but Five-wits argues that one should nevertheless honor priesthood. At that point, Everyman returns, having undergone the remaining sacraments of last rites, and the group continues on their journey.

Approaching death, Everyman weakens and decides that it is time for him to make his reckoning. When he tries to climb into a grave and asks his companions to join him, Beauty, Strength, Discretion, and Five-wits all desert him, making him realize that “all earthly things is but vanity.” In contrast, Knowledge agrees to stay with him until the moment of his death, and Good-Deeds promises to make his case as he faces God’s judgment. Good-Deeds and Everyman’s soul pass over to the afterlife, and Knowledge, who is left on stage, remarks that she hears angels singing and that Good-Deeds will make sure that Everyman goes to heaven. An angel then appears, welcoming Everyman into heaven because of his “crystal-clear” reckoning. The play ends with an epilogue from a doctor , who tells the audience that they must make “amends” for their sins before they die and that they can only rely on good deeds to save them from hell.

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Essay Samples on Everyman

Everyman, a timeless allegorical play, delves into the universal journey of the human soul. This remarkable piece of literature, believed to have been written in the late 15th century, resonates with audiences across generations.

In this thought-provoking play, the protagonist, Everyman, represents all of humanity. He embarks on a profound pilgrimage, facing the inevitability of death and grappling with the weight of his own actions. Everyman’s journey becomes an allegory for the human struggle with mortality, morality, and the pursuit of eternal salvation.

How to Write a Essay on Everyman

When writing an essay, there are numerous fascinating Everyman essay topics to explore. For example:

You could delve into the religious and moral implications within the play, analyzing the representation of virtues and vices.
Alternatively, you might examine the character development of Everyman and how it reflects the complexities of human nature.
Furthermore, exploring the historical and cultural context of the play can provide valuable insights into its enduring significance.

To craft a compelling Everyman essay, begin by immersing yourself in the play. Read it carefully, taking note of key themes, symbols, and character dynamics. Conduct thorough research on the historical context and the play’s literary influences. Develop a strong thesis statement that encapsulates your unique perspective on the text. Support your arguments with evidence from the play, relevant scholarly sources, and critical analyses.

Immerse yourself in Everyman’s profound journey and unleash the power of your words in exploring the depths of human existence. Explore the vast array of Everyman essay topics and embark on a captivating exploration of this timeless allegory.

The Use of Allegory And Other Literary Devices In "Everyman"

Written anonymously, the morality play, Everyman, is a literary masterpiece that dates back to medieval times. Its words and teachings continue to influence many to this day. The allegorical play lists the main character by the name, Everyman; a person who is confronted by the...

Allegory in Literature

Theme of Death in The Summoning of Everyman

Death is sudden, certain, universal and private; yet it is not to be feared, because with good deeds, it is never the end of life, but only the continuation of it from one form to another. In the morality play The Summoning of Everyman, simply...

Literature Review

Exploring Themes and Characters in Trifles and Everyman

Trifles by Susan Glaspell and Everyman by Anonymous are two plays that explore various themes and characters in different ways. Despite the differences in genre and time period, both plays present a powerful commentary on human nature and societal norms. Trifles is a play that...

Comparison of Plays: Everyman vs. Doctor Faustus

Christopher Marlowe’s play Doctor Faustus and Everyman by an anonymous playwright are morality plays, written and published at different periods. Marlowe’s play was written and first published in the Renaissance-era, approximately 1604, and then revised in 1616 (Jump). As a genre study, Doctor Faustus embodies...

Doctor Faustus

A Study of The Somonynge of Every Man

Better known as Everyman, this play is considered the greatest example of the medieval morality play. Written by an unknown author in the late fifteenth century, the play was judged to be only of a historical value. However, it was successfully revived on stage at...

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Best topics on Everyman

1. The Use of Allegory And Other Literary Devices In “Everyman”

2. Theme of Death in The Summoning of Everyman

3. Exploring Themes and Characters in Trifles and Everyman

4. Comparison of Plays: Everyman vs. Doctor Faustus

5. A Study of The Somonynge of Every Man

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Everyman: Morality Play

By anonymous - everyman, everyman: morality play essay questions.

Imagine that you are the director of a production of Everyman . Describe the choices you would make to bring the play to life, focusing on acting, set design, costume, music and lights.

This question asks you to consider Everyman as a play in the theatre, and to consider ways of translating it to the stage. Remember that we have no evidence Everyman was performed on stage in the late medieval period, so it might be worth you looking carefully at the text for clues as to how an original production (if indeed there was one) might have dealt with the play in production.

Everyman is primarily a play about death. Do you agree?

This question asks you to examine a statement about the play and consider how much you agree with it. Remember that, with questions like this, it is always good to see two sides to the story: in some ways the play is about death, but it is also about other things - and a good essay will weigh up both sides before coming to a conclusion.

Is Everyman himself a sympathetic figure? Should he be?

This question asks you to consider the central character, Everyman, and consider whether or not he has the sympathies of the audience, before looking more generally at the role he has to play within the structure of the play as a whole should be sympathetic. Do you feel sorry for him? Would a medieval Christian audience have pitied him?

Everyman 's tone is extremely simple: like a reading from the Bible, it exists only to reinforce the Christianity of its audience, not to shock them or change them in any way. Do you agree?

This is another question that asks you to consider a statement made about the play. In this instance, I would advocate disagreeing with the idea that Everyman's tone is "extremely simple" (see the Summary and Analysis section of this note for more information) - it is sometimes incredibly difficult to pin down. Remember to weigh up arguments for the statement and against the statement before coming to a conclusion.

Allegorical characters simply make for boring, didactic drama. Do you agree?

This question asks you to look specifically at the use of allegorical figures - in Everyman , this is almost every character except God, Death, the Angel and the Doctor! How do they work dramatically - are they simply boring, two-dimensional mouthpieces for a single viewpoint? Or, perhaps, can they be more complex and more interesting? It is, again, helpful to weigh up both sides before concluding.

Watch Ingmar Bergman's 1956 film 'The Seventh Seal', taking careful notes. Compare and contrast the presentation of the relationship between man and Death in both this film and Everyman .

This question asks you, somewhat unusually, to make a comparison cross-media, between an old play and a more modern film. The two works do not necessarily have any overt connection, but there is clearly good thematic reasons for considering them together. Ask yourself first about Death - is he personified? How is he dressed? What does he say? Why has he come? How does man react? Who is the 'Everyman' figure? These questions should give you more than enough information to get started!

Examine closely the discussion of the priesthood in this play. What do you think is the purpose of the writer in including this material?

This question asks you to speculate about the writer's intention in the discussion of the priesthood that happens in the final third of the play. Remember that two opposing perspectives are put: there are speeches made praising priests, and some condemning sinful priests. It might also be a good idea to look up some of the religious and historical context for Everyman to understand more about clerical abuses.

Examine the presentation of God, Death and the Angel in Everyman , paying attention to the doctrine of what they say, and the way they might be brought to life on stage.

This question asks you to pay attention to the way the play dramatizes three figures about whom the audience might already have expectations. Consider what they say (and where its foundation is in Catholicism) but also how they say it - what sort of character do they each seem to be? How might they be dressed?

Examine the theme of clothing and garments in Everyman .

This question asks you to trace a theme throughout the play as a whole. Firstly, read the text and note down any time clothes or garments are mentioned (don't forget stage directions!). Then, try and construct a broader argument about what that theme appears to mean - what is its relevance to the other themes and issues in the play?

What do you think the allegory in Everyman is trying to teach its audience? How is this message made clearer by being told using allegorical means?

This questions asks you to consider the play's use of allegory, to outline broadly what you think the play is trying to teach its audience, and then to consider how the two fit together. Why might some ideas be better told using allegory? Why might allegory be a "good fit" for certain types of lessons? (See Summary & Analysis for Section 2 for more help).

Compare and contrast Everyman with Mankind . Do you think the somberness of the former or the humor of the latter is a more effective means of communicating the Christian message?

This question asks you to read and compare two morality plays, and then to weigh up which one you think is more effective. There is, remember, no single right answer to this question, so you need to support your opinion with textual evidence. What do you think the best way to teach is - through seriousness or through humor? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach?

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Everyman: Morality Play Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Everyman: Morality Play is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Discuss Everyman as an Allegorical play?

Everyman uses allegory as a means of teaching moral lessons. Everyman's journey, his life and death, allegorically represents Christian's journey. Everyman represents humanity as a whole,

In the play Everyman, what is common to Discretion, Strength, Five Wits, and Beauty?

They all forsake him on his final journey.

Importance of ending as reflected to the play, Everyman.

Everyman, as Good Deeds accompanies him to the grave, seems to speak directly to the audience – now, in the words of G.A. Lester “as firm in understanding as he was formerly in ignorance”:

Take example, all ye that this do hear or see How they...

Study Guide for Everyman: Morality Play

Everyman: Morality Play study guide contains literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

About Everyman: Morality Play
Everyman: Morality Play Summary
Character List

Essays for Everyman: Morality Play

Everyman: Morality Play essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Everyman and other Miracle and Morality Plays.

Argument in the Medieval Morality Plays
Is There Any Place for Everyman in the 21st Century?
Spirituality and the trappings of the material world in medieval morality plays
Examining Allegory: A Versatile Concept in Beowulf, Everyman, and Mother!
Morality Plays or Mortality Plays: Religion in 'Everyman' and 'The Brome Play of Abraham and Isaac'

Lesson Plan for Everyman: Morality Play

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Everyman - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Everyman , an English morality play of the 15th century, probably a version of a Dutch play, Elckerlyc . It achieves a beautiful, simple solemnity in treating allegorically the theme of death and the fate of the human soul—of Everyman’s soul as he tries to justify his time on earth. Though morality plays on the whole failed to achieve the vigorous realism of the Middle Ages’ scriptural drama, this short play (about 900 lines) is more than an allegorical sermon because vivid characterization gives it dramatic energy. It is generally regarded as the finest of the morality plays.

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Orwell: Essays: Introduction by John Carey (Everyman's Library Contemporary Classics Series) Hardcover – October 15, 2002

A generous and varied selection–the only hardcover edition available–of the literary and political writings of one of the greatest essayists of the twentieth century.

Although best known as the author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-four , George Orwell left an even more lastingly significant achievement in his voluminous essays, which dealt with all the great social, political, and literary questions of the day and exemplified an incisive prose style that is still universally admired. Included among the more than 240 essays in this volume are Orwell’s famous discussion of pacifism, “My Country Right or Left”; his scathingly complicated views on the dirty work of imperialism in “Shooting an Elephant”; and his very firm opinion on how to make “A Nice Cup of Tea.”

In his essays, Orwell elevated political writing to the level of art, and his motivating ideas–his desire for social justice, his belief in universal freedom and equality, and his concern for truth in language–are as enduringly relevant now, a hundred years after his birth, as ever.

Print length 1416 pages
Language English
Publisher Everyman's Library
Publication date October 15, 2002
Dimensions 5.45 x 2.51 x 8.32 inches
ISBN-10 0375415033
ISBN-13 978-0375415036
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Publisher ‏ : ‎ Everyman's Library; Second Printing edition (October 15, 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 1416 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0375415033
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0375415036
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.68 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.45 x 2.51 x 8.32 inches
#503 in British & Irish Literature
#1,360 in Essays (Books)
#4,780 in Short Stories Anthologies

About the author

George orwell.

George Orwell is one of England's most famous writers and social commentators. Among his works are the classic political satire Animal Farm and the dystopian nightmare vision Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell was also a prolific essayist, and it is for these works that he was perhaps best known during his lifetime. They include Why I Write and Politics and the English Language. His writing is at once insightful, poignant and entertaining, and continues to be read widely all over the world.

Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) was born in 1903 in India, where his father worked for the Civil Service. The family moved to England in 1907 and in 1917 Orwell entered Eton, where he contributed regularly to the various college magazines. From 1922 to 1927 he served with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, an experience that inspired his first novel, Burmese Days (1934). Several years of poverty followed. He lived in Paris for two years before returning to England, where he worked successively as a private tutor, schoolteacher and bookshop assistant, and contributed reviews and articles to a number of periodicals. Down and Out in Paris and London was published in 1933. In 1936 he was commissioned by Victor Gollancz to visit areas of mass unemployment in Lancashire and Yorkshire, and The Road to Wigan Pier (1937) is a powerful description of the poverty he saw there.

At the end of 1936 Orwell went to Spain to fight for the Republicans and was wounded. Homage to Catalonia is his account of the civil war. He was admitted to a sanatorium in 1938 and from then on was never fully fit. He spent six months in Morocco and there wrote Coming Up for Air. During the Second World War he served in the Home Guard and worked for the BBC Eastern Service from 1941 to 1943. As literary editor of the Tribune he contributed a regular page of political and literary commentary, and he also wrote for the Observer and later for the Manchester Evening News. His unique political allegory, Animal Farm was published in 1945, and it was this novel, together with Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), which brought him world-wide fame.

It was around this time that Orwell's unique political allegory Animal Farm (1945) was published. The novel is recognised as a classic of modern political satire and is simultaneously an engaging story and convincing allegory. It was this novel, together with Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), which finally brought him world-wide fame. Nineteen Eighty-Four's ominous depiction of a repressive, totalitarian regime shocked contemporary readers, but ensures that the book remains perhaps the preeminent dystopian novel of modern literature.

Orwell's fiercely moral writing has consistently struck a chord with each passing generation. The intense honesty and insight of his essays and non-fiction made Orwell one of the foremost social commentators of his age. Added to this, his ability to construct elaborately imaginative fictional worlds, which he imbued with this acute sense of morality, has undoubtedly assured his contemporary and future relevance.

George Orwell died in London in January 1950.

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Customers say

Customers find the prose excellent and refined. They describe the essays as wonderful, terrific, and well-polished. Readers also appreciate the beautiful page layout and extensive collection. They say the book is well worth the cost and worth its weight in gold.

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Customers find the prose excellent, refined, and descriptive. They say the author is a master of the English language and of reasoned discourse. Readers also mention the introduction by John Carey is informative and helpful. They mention the book contains commentaries to inform and motivate readers.

"...In this one, the author's descriptive abilities are at their highest ...." Read more

"...Orwell crafted them and carefully worked out their logic , correcting the minor contradictions that come from setting down one's thoughts too quickly...." Read more

"...George Orwell was a really fascinating person , and his essays continue to fascinate me...." Read more

"...systems and human nature, his excellent style, and the breadth of his subject matter , I think it would not be over-praising him to say that this..." Read more

Customers find the content wonderful, terrific, and well-polished. They describe the book as outstanding, powerful, and comprehensive. Readers also mention there are some real gems in it.

"This book is a delightful read . There were some real gems in it...." Read more

"...All in all, a wonderful collection of essays that reveal the thoughts of the whole man; a must have for Orwell fans...." Read more

"...Orwell's essays are really fascinating , for reasons he explained best himself...." Read more

"...The book is hard-bound with a handsome cover. The collection includes the major essays , broken down chronologically, and includes favorites like "As..." Read more

Customers find the book beautiful and heavy. They appreciate the creamy acid-free paper and above-average page layout.

"...Cloth bound, creamy acid-free paper, above average page layout . It looks and feels very nice in one's hands.Vincent Poirier, Tokyo" Read more

"...'s deep understanding of political systems and human nature, his excellent style , and the breadth of his subject matter, I think it would not be over..." Read more

"...The book is hard-bound with a handsome cover ...." Read more

"...I love the books in this collection, with the elegant covers and the little gold bookmarks and the low prices, so I picked out this book, more or..." Read more

Customers find the collection size very full and extensive. They mention it includes favorites like the "As I Please" columns.

"...includes the major essays, broken down chronologically, and includes favorites like "As I Please" columns...." Read more

"...other than to say that, with nearly 1,400-pages of his material, it's extensive . The book itself is outstanding...." Read more

" Very full collection ! Maybe too much for your average reader. You may look at the shorter options to see if it has what you need...." Read more

"He's brilliant and one of great essayists of all time. Huge anthology ." Read more

Customers find the book well worth the cost, especially if they like hardcovers. They also say Orwell's complete essays are worth their weight in gold.

"...This collection of Orwell's complete essays is worth its weight in gold ...." Read more

"...In all, the book is fairly priced , considering, say the cost of four volumes of collected works and letters." Read more

"...with the elegant covers and the little gold bookmarks and the low prices , so I picked out this book, more or less on a whim. I loved it...." Read more

"... Well worth the cost , especially discounted, if you like hard covers." Read more

Customers find the pacing of the book good. They mention the essays are arranged chronologically.

"...The essays are arranged chronologically , and Orwell's output was so prodigious that, read straight through, this book could almost count as an..." Read more

"...The collection includes the major essays, broken down chronologically , and includes favorites like "As I Please" columns...." Read more

"...and the major contemporary world events and the articles are arranged in chronological order . A great buy." Read more

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