Everyman

For other uses, see Everyman (disambiguation).

In literature and drama, the term everyman has come to mean an ordinary individual, with whom the audience or reader is supposed to be able to identify easily, and who is often placed in extraordinary circumstances. The name derives from a 15th century English morality play called Everyman.

The contemporary everyman differs greatly from his (or her) medieval counterpart in many respects. While the medieval everyman was devoid of definite marks of individuality in order to create a universality in the moral message of the play, the contemporary storyteller may use an everyman for amoral, immoral, or demonstrative purposes.^{[citation needed]}

Uses

The everyman character is constructed so that the audience can imagine itself in the same situation without having to possess knowledge, skills, or abilities that transcend human potential. Such characters react realistically in situations that are often taken for granted with traditional heroes.

Alternatively, an everyman occupies the role of protagonist without being a "hero" and without necessarily being a round character or a dynamic character. In this scenario, the everyman is developed like a secondary character, but the character's near omnipresence within the narrative shifts the focus from character development to events and story lines surrounding the character. Some audiences or readers may project themselves into this character, if no dominant characteristic of the everyman prevents them from doing so. Others may ignore the character and concentrate on the story arc, the visual imagery, the irony or satire, and any other aspect of the story which the orchestrator(s) of the story have focused upon or, indeed, whatever personally interests the reader.^{[citation needed]}

Examples

The most familiar example of an everyman character is Christian, the protagonist of The Pilgrim's Progress. Other figures often characterized as everymen include:

• Mick Travis in the Mick Travis trilogy
• Leopold Bloom in James Joyce's Ulysses (novel)
• Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead franchise
• Jim Halpert in the comedy series The Office
• Stan Marsh in South Park
• Ted Mosby in the comedy series How I Met Your Mother
• Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four
• Roger Thornhill in North by Northwest
• Rhys Williams in Torchwood
• The narrator of the novel Fight Club and its film adaptation

See also

• Average Joe
• Common man
• Everyman's right
• John Q. Public
• Reasonable person
• The man on the Clapham omnibus