Anger: Sacred and Profane
Joseph Morgan
Kelley School of Business
When people are angry today, they are often advised to control their anger or learn to manage it. As an emotion, we see anger unruly, potentially dangerous, and in need of mastering. In many societies, showing anger is permitted only to the very young, or those in positions of power and authority. Although usually viewed in Christianity as a sin, sometimes anger is a motivating force and can effect real change, such as the collective anger behind social-justice movements. Can there be, for example, a just or righteous anger? Compared to other emotions, such as happiness or love, we’re clearly uncomfortable with anger as an emotion.
But has this discomfort about anger always been the case? What can we learn from works of the past? Texts from classical Antiquity and the European Middle Ages suggest that anger was seen as both destructive and generative, a potentially productive emotion. From its famous opening line (“Sing, goddess, of the anger of Achilles”), the Iliad frames its story as a result of anger. Similarly, the Aeneid frames itself as a story of the consequences of Juno’s anger. What can these and other texts tell us about anger and how it relates to being human?
We will read the Iliad, sections of the Aeneid, passages from the Bible, selections from Dante’s Inferno, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and Shakespeare’s The Tempest as well as other ancient and medieval works as we explore how this emotion has been understood, portrayed, feared, used, and policed. Come to class prepared to read, discuss and engage with one another’s ideas. Final grade will be based on class preparation and participation, weekly discussion board posts, three short essays, and a final creative project/presentation.
Catalog Information: HHC-H 211 CLASSIC AUTHORS & QUESTIONS I