THE DISCOURSE OF EMOTION IN MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE AND THE EMOTIONAL PUBLICS AND THEIR EMOTIONAL CONSEQUENCES.

Abstract

There are a growing number of academics who are of the opinion that emotions are cultural constructions that are necessary for individuality and social dynamics. In the majority of these studies, the Middle Ages have been ignored in favour of the early contemporaneous period, which is regarded to be the beginning of civilisation and modern qualities such as moderation and respect for that which is in authority. This dissertation, published before the Renaissance, shows that emotions shaped premodern social categories like gender. The transition in population and the instability of the economy that followed the Black Death had a significant impact on the social structure of China. Peasant uprisings, a scarcity of workers, changes in the church, and foreign traders were some of the factors that contributed to social discontent in China. Other factors included a lack of availability of land. It brought about a shift in the way that the English thought and felt. The English people were able to better comprehend their history and identity thanks to the presence of poets who provided them with a means of expressing their emotions during a period of rapid cultural change. During the late mediaeval period, English poets used emotive language to express masculinity in order to better understand the tremendous cultural shifts that occurred during this time. By concentrating on feelings as indicators of gender and group, Affective Communities demonstrates how literature may be utilised to detect and react to shifts in society. Their interest, on the other hand, has just recently started to take the form of a theoretical understanding that is being referred to as the "history of emotions". Impact, feeling, and the expression of emotions in Middle English literature have been topics of discussion among literary critics for a considerable amount of time.