morality plays
Didactic medieval dramas
Morality plays were a form of medieval drama in which characters personified abstract virtues and vices—Greed, Charity, Death, Everyman—to teach moral lessons to audiences.
The term now more commonly describes any situation where people perform virtue conspicuously or where ethical choices are presented in oversimplified, black-and-white terms.
The congressional hearing devolved into a morality play, with each side casting themselves as righteous defenders of the public good.
- EverymanArchetypal human figure
- soul's journeySpirit's passage through existence
- mystery playsMedieval biblical drama cycles
- sinViolation of divine law
- seven deadly sinsTraditional mortal transgressions
allegory · virtue · didacticism · salvation · ethics · personification · good vs evil · religious allegory · redemption · moral instruction · moral lesson · liturgical drama · repentance · fables · piety · cautionary tales · devil · good angel
- American folklorePaul Bunyan, tall tales, folk heroes, John Henry, folk narratives
- literary formsnovel, novels, novella, poetry, poetry collections
- medievalknights, castles, cathedral, kings, queens
- medieval lifechivalry, royal courts, jousting, knighthood, falconry
- theatreBroadway, acting, theatre, stage, actor
- moral talesfable, parable, moral stories, allegory, moral fables
play, morality, immorality, moralizing, demoralize, moralistic, demoralized, demoralizing, moralist