Further Reading

Lay Performances of Work and Salvation in the York Cycle

The above link is to a scholarly article that deals with the York Cycle and some of its deeper meanings. It uses "The Building of the Ark" as an example to support its claim that the pageant plays were to show how "good work" was the way to earn salvation and to ensure you would arrive in Heaven.

         "In exchange for his work, Noah is promised deliverance from physical pain and spiritual death. At this moment, the play becomes an encomium to labor. Work is God’s gift that rejuvenates its receiver. Noah’s work earns his rescue on earth and redemption in heaven; it is symbolic of the good works that Christians perform to earn their salvation" (Boboc, p. 251).

It is important to understand the deeper meanings behind the author's choices when writing the scripts so that they can be conveyed properly to the audiences. Therefore in this particular play, the audience should leave the show knowing that their good works, be it physical work like doing their jobs or mental work of giving good thoughts to others, would secure them a place in God's graces.

Boboc, Andreea. "Lay Performances of Work and Salvation in the York Cycle." Comparative Drama 43.2 (2009): 247-71. Web.