English 434
Dr. Desmet
Spring 1997

The first two plays that we will study are Everyman, a late medieval morality play based on allegory, and Doctor Faustus, a Renaissance transformation of that allegory of human life and death into the specific story of an extraordinary man.

Your first assignment is to write Everyman's funeral eulogy. That is, using the information that you have about Everyman at the hour of his death, describe in two paragraphs or so what Everyman was like in life, considering both his virtues and his shortcomings and acknowledging his individual qualities and quirks. In other words, flesh out the allegory by filling in the missing pieces of Everyman's character. You must, however, refer to the text for your evidence. The question is: What was Everyman like during life? Be inventive but attentive to the text.

Keep your assignment on a disk in ascii form. On Friday we will upload your first assignments to the class discussion list or "on-line journal."