Everyman

In literature and drama, the term everyman has come to mean an ordinary individual, with whom the audience or reader is supposed to be able to identify easily, and who is often placed in extraordinary circumstances. The name derives from a 15th century English morality play called Everyman.

The contemporary everyman differs greatly from his (or her) medieval counterpart in many respects. While the medieval everyman was devoid of definite marks of individuality in order to create a universality in the moral message of the play, the contemporary storyteller may use an everyman for amoral, immoral, or demonstrative purposes.

Read more about Everyman:  Uses, Examples

Famous quotes containing the word everyman:

    It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.... This, in turn, means that our statesmen, our businessmen, our everyman must take on a science fictional way of thinking.
    Isaac Asimov (1920–1992)

    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.
    —Unknown. Everyman (l. 870–873)

    It is the blankness that follows gaiety, and Everyman must depart
    Out there into stranded night, for his destiny
    Is to return unfruitful out of the lightness
    That passing time evokes.
    John Ashbery (b. 1927)