The Castle of Perseverance

The surviving Middle English morality plays comprise five texts dating from the late fourteenth to early sixteenth centuries, united by a shared interest in allegorizing the life of man and his struggle against sin. Of these five plays, the fifteenth-century Macro Manuscript (Folger Shakespeare Library MS. V.a.354) preserves three, including the only surviving copy of The Castle of Perseverance. The most comprehensive of these English morality plays, The Castle depicts the entire human experience, starting before Mankind’s birth and ending with his salvation after death, and features an unusually large cast of thirty-three players in diverse allegorical roles. It is also unique among medieval English plays in providing a detailed stage plan in the same manuscript, including stage directions and intended physical layouts for stage locations. David Klausner’s edition presents this remarkable play in its original alliterative verse and bob-and-wheel stanza format, along with extensive glosses and notes.