The 'Danse Macabre' was represented on countless forms of arts first as theatre plays and poems, then numerous wall-paintings and drawings, mostly since the 15th century. It was shown as a gruesome spectacle in which the Grim Reaper summons a host of dead spirits to dance along their graves: popular figures in this dance were a pope, an emperor, a king, a youngster and a laborer,В chosen to remind the audience of the time that death was a truly universal concept and no man or woman was safe from its embrace, it was also used by the religious medieval people to highlight the foolishness of people who valued earthly possessions. The 'Dance Of Death' or 'Danse Macabre' in French, was a medieval allegory on how death unites all people, regardless of age or social status.

In Biblical terms, the Grim Reaper is one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, under the name 'Death'. However, for the most part, the Grim Reaper was seen as unable to be reasoned with and an inevitable part of being human. Due to the Grim Reaper appearing in a vaguely human form, there are many tales in which the entity can be tricked or bribed into freeing a person (which is where the phrase 'cheating death' likely came from). Put simply, the Grim Reaper's task was to appear to the dying and guide them to their final destination where they would be judged accordingly by higher powers.ДЄn early modern rendition of the Grim Reaper as a skeleton with a scythe.ДЄlthough the Grim Reaper normally comes to those already dying, it has been noted that on rare occasions the Grim Reaper has the power to kill someone, though the entity occasionally does this out of malice. It was not the Grim Reaper's place to judge souls, nor was it the entity's role to aid or hinder mortal affairs. The Grim Reaper was seen as a collector of souls, the messenger of the dead and most important of every guide that came to all mortals. During a time where morality was seen as pivotal to society and fear of the unknown was high it was perhaps unsurprising that life's greatest mystery (death) would come to be vied in the medieval mind as frightening and ever-present,В the ghostly phantom of Death became known in time as the Grim Reaper and although a neutral force was as feared in the past as it is today, but today the Grim Reaper is viewed a needed being, just as death is necessary to keep humanity from overpopulation.

The concept of Death as a personified being is timeless, being as old as time itself but the grim figure of a hooded skeleton carrying a scythe was not very evident until the medieval period.

Grim reaper scythe jpg