Two Moral Interludes: The Pride of Life and Wisdom

Set within the morality play tradition—in which allegorized man struggles against sin through temptation, fall, and redemption—this edition presents two of the Middle English dramas. The fragmentary Pride of Life dates from the late fourteenth century, the oldest of the five English morality plays (the others are The Castle of Perseverance, Mankind, and Everyman). It dramatizes a prideful King’s disdain of his wise counselors as he battles with Death, and is unique for addressing only one of the seven deadly sins. The fifteenth-century Wisdom portrays Anima (an allegory for the human soul) in her marriage to Wisdom (an avatar of Christ), and Lucifer’s subsequent attempts to corrupt Anima and her attendants, the five senses and three mental faculties. David Klausner’s edition supplements both plays with glosses, annotation, historical context, textual provenance, and dramaturgical discussions of costuming and staging. An appendix details the music that could have accompanied the plays in live performance.