The Castle of Perseverance is the oldest complete extant MORALITY PLAY in English. There is an earlier
play called The Pride of Life, but it survives only in a
fragment. Like other morality plays, The Castle of
Perseverance addresses the salvation of the individual human soul, and does so in the form of ALLEGORY. It is written predominantly in 13-line stanzas
rhyming ababcdcdefffe, in a form similar to that
used by the so-called Wakefield Master of the
TOWNELEY CYCLE of plays. At 3,649 lines and containing 33 characters, the play is also the longest and
most complex of the extant moralities, and it is the
only one that contains all three conventional morality-play themes: the battle between the Vices and
Virtues for the human soul; the summoning of
Death; and the debate of the four Daughters of God.
The play survives in a single manuscript in
Washington’s Folger Library, a manuscript named
for its earliest known owner, Cox Macro. With
Mankind and Wisdom, The Castle of Perseverance is
therefore referred to as one of the Macro plays. The
manuscript copy of The Castle of Perseverance
dates from about 1440, and is clearly of East Anglian origin. The text includes banns that an actor
was supposed to have read, summarizing the play
and declaring that it will be performed a week later
at some central location in the town. These banns
make it clear that the play was performed by a traveling troupe of actors who must have performed it
at various locations throughout East Anglia.
The manuscript also contains a crude diagram
that shows us how the play was meant to be staged.
According to the drawing, the action would be performed in a round playing area bordered by a
ditch, around which the audience would be seated.
At the center of the playing space was a tower on
stilts, representing the Castle. Five scaffolds would
be erected at various points at the circumference of
the circle: To the East was the scaffold of God, to
the north was the Devil (or Belial), to the west the
World (Mundus), and to the south the Flesh
(Caro). A fifth scaffold was inserted somewhat
asymmetrically in the northeast for Covetousness,
presented in the play as a lieutenant of the World.
Beneath the Castle itself was a bench representing
a bed, on which the protagonist Humana Genus
(Mankind) is born at the beginning of the play and
on which he dies some 3,000 lines later. No doubt
the acting troupe needed the week’s time proclaimed in the banns in order to construct their
elaborate set. Stage directions in the text of the play
indicate that props and costumes were also elaborate and important to the production: In his temptation, for example, Mankind is proffered a robe
covered in golden coins; Belial’s costume apparently included pipes of burning gunpowder that
appeared to shoot from his ears, hands, and backside. Such stage directions suggest a lively production, with a good deal of physical action and
movement and, it seems likely, interaction with the
audience sitting in the round among the five scaffolds, each of which at certain times in the production became the focus of action.
The action of the play follows a four-part structure that falls into a rough pattern of temptation,
repentance, further temptation and fall, and final
salvation. In the beginning of the play, the newly
born Mankind is accompanied by his Good Angel
and his Bad Angel. The Bad Angel seduces him to
come and meet the World, the Flesh and the Devil,
along with the Seven Deadly Sins. Mankind promises them his friendship when Penitence suddenly
pierces him with a lance representing his distress
over his sins. Repenting, Mankind asks mercy, and
through God’s grace, Confession and Repentance
show him where he can be safe: In the Castle of
Perseverance—a term that in this context seems to
denote a kind of Christian patience in the face of
adversity and temptation.
With Mankind safely lodged within the Castle
and defended by seven Virtues, the forces of evil,
led by the Devil and the Seven Deadly Sins, lay
siege to the Castle. The individual combats that
occur between the Vices and Virtues are clearly
based on PRUDENTIUS’s famous fifth-century PSYCHOMACHIA, but ultimately the Vices are defeated
when the Virtues toss roses at them: The roses, traditional Christian symbols of Christ’s passion and
sacrifice, wound the Vices and drive them off.
But Covetousness (or Greed), more clever than
his fellow Vices, avoids battle with the Virtues and
approaches Mankind directly, tempting him out of
the Castle with material objects that will give him
comfort and security. Obtaining Mankind’s promise always to desire more and never to share with
others, Covetousness succeeds in drawing
Mankind away from God. Just then, unexpectedly,
Death appears, describing his function as the great
leveler who draws all (rich and poor) to the same
end. He strikes Mankind, who is immediately deserted by the World. Though Mankind has hoped
to leave his goods to his own kin, they are all
claimed by a page sent by the World, named “I Wot
Neuere Whoo”: Thus in the play, “I never know
who” inherits one’s goods upon his death.
Mankind realizes his grave error at the last moment and prays for mercy, and this initiates the debate among the four Daughters of God: Truth and
Righteousness on the one hand—both of whom
argue the justice of Mankind’s damnation, and
Mercy and Peace on the other—who assert God’s
merciful nature. The four daughters bring the case
before the throne of God himself, who opts for
mercy. Mankind is admitted to heaven, but God has
the last speech in the play, advising the audience
members to repent of their sins and to follow virtue.
Aside from the influence of Prudentius, scholars have noted that the play may owe something
to the Anglo-Norman ROMANCE Chasteau
d’Amours (attributed to Robert GROSSETESTE),
which among other things includes a debate
among the four daughters of God. It has also been
suggested that the play—whose action moves
among the various areas of the playing circle—
owes much to the traditional medieval motif of life
as a journey from birth to death, from innocence
to experience, a pilgrimage to our ultimate heavenly home, if we remain faithful on the journey.
Bibliography
Bevington, David, ed. The Macro Plays: The Castle of
Perseverance, Wisdom, Mankind. New York: Johnson Reprint, 1972.
Kelley, Michael R. Flamboyant Drama: A Study of
“The Castle of Perseverance” and “Wisdom.” Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1979.
King, Pamela M. “Morality Plays.” In The Cambridge
Companion to Medieval English Theatre, edited by
Richard Beadle, 240–264, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1994.
The Macro Plays: The Castle of Perseverance, Wisdom,
Mankind. Edited by Mark Eccles. EETS 262. London: Published for the Early English Text Society
by the Oxford University Press, 1969.
Potter, Robert A. The English Morality Play: Origins,
History, and Influence of a Dramatic Tradition.
London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1975.
Southern, Richard. The Medieval Theatre in the
Round: A Study of the Staging of “The Castle of Perseverance” and Related Matters. 2nd ed. London:
Faber and Faber, 1975.