Human Nature In English Literature: Human Nature In English Literature

Human nature in english literature

In this course we have studied works from literary periods all throughout history. Looking through, you can clearly see how styles and morals changed over the years as expressed in both fictional and non-fictional works. Taking a deeper look at it though, you start to notice consistencies and similarities appearing in the writings despite being from different parts of the world and from people from all different backgrounds and lives. By looking at writing from each literary period, we can see how humanity is shown in all different types of stories throughout English literature.
We studied very few works from the Anglo-Saxon period; There is not exactly an abundance of works to choose from. In the few works we did look at we got a pretty good idea of what life was like. In studying “Beowulf” specifically, we got a look into what was considered the “Ideal human” in those times. In Beowulf we see the main character as a fearless, all powerful, noble hero. All great accomplishments of the story are committed through violence, and for the purpose of revenge. This shows the ideals and morals of the time to be very aggressive and assertive. At this point in literature,

One story in particular being the story of Gawain and the green knight, in which we see a lot of similarities to ones from the Anglo-Saxon period with reference to the ideals of the heros. There is heavy focus on courage and heroism, although the way they are approached is quite different. In this story we see the main character struggle with his own mortality and fear of death. The theme of selfishness shows up in this story as well, with Gawain keeping the girdle despite his promise not to, for the sole purpose of saving himself. There is a romance in this story, and despite it not being the main focus or message of the tale it is one of the driving forces behind gawain as a