Interiority In The Middle Ages

Interiority, the reflection of one’s self internally is a term that was often rejected by medievalists during the British Literature period. In The Middle Ages, individualism and interiority was suppressed by feudalism and caste systems. People gained status by being a part of wealthy families which was defined mostly by land. Names and family lineage were the key components of one’s fate in a hierarchal society. A sense of “self-hood” was not accepted by society during that time but that factor alone does not diminish the existence of interiority. People as it relates to society were seen not as individuals but as a body or a community. Since this was the dominant view, any objection to that view was considered void and an act of disobedience. Though the concept of interiority is not accepted by many

The speaker laments over every one of life’s pleasure fading away with time. The idea of fate reappears as the reality of all great things must come to an end seeps into the speaker’s mind. The wanderer is struggling with his prior knowledge of life versus this new experience of life. It is shown when he says, “Here wealth is fleeting, here friend is fleeting, here humankind is fleeting” (“The Wanderer” lines 108-110). The speaker goes back to the view of life sucks then you die. Earth presents so many hardships the speaker infers that fate has to be the force behind it all. One would use this as a counterargument but discovering “self” and reasoning is a process. Just because the speaker straddles the fence does not prove that one lacks interiority, rather it implies that there is a constant struggle between the familiar and the unfamiliar. As life’s trials present itself for one that in not learned as it relates to faith, of course it is natural to convert back to the familiar way of thinking. This a clear depiction of feelings and how it wavers due to changes in environments and /or