Why is The Seventh Seal described as a medieval morality play?

The Seventh Seal is described as a medieval morality play because it utilizes allegorical storytelling to explore fundamental existential themes, much like the morality plays of the 15th century.12

Traditional morality plays were essentially dramatized sermons that portrayed the human life cycle in abstract terms, focusing on the struggle between virtues and vices for the soul of "Mankind". Similarly, Ingmar Bergman’s film features a disillusioned knight, Antonius Block, who engages in a symbolic chess match with the personification of Death. This narrative structure mirrors the medieval preoccupation with the immediacy of death, the transitory nature of life, and the conflict between the spirit and the flesh.13

Furthermore, the film’s visual language—including the iconic "dance of death" motif—draws directly from the graphic religious art and parables Bergman encountered during his childhood in a Lutheran household. By centering the plot on a knight’s desperate search for meaning and the existence of God amidst a plague-ravaged landscape, the film functions as a modern allegory that reflects the medieval tradition of using theatre to examine moral judgment and human destiny.321