The Castle of Perseverance

Book excerpt: This edition is based upon a new transcription of The Castle of Perseverance, now published with a gloss, notes, glossary, and an introduction, to enable classroom study of this classic morality play. The Castle of Perseverance, like the other surviving morality plays, deals allegorically with the life of man, his struggle against temptation and sin, and his hope of final redemption. The play begins before Mankind's birth and concludes with his salvation after death, presented as a close call, and features both the traditional enemies of Mankind, the World, the Flesh and the Devil, as well as his two advisors, the Good Angel and the Bad Angel. Students of Middle English at all levels will find this edition useful in their studies of medieval morality plays.