Emotion and Class

For Eustace, emotion and language both create individual or class power in the mid-18^th century. For one thing, the elite or upper classes were more able to use language in the form of writing to express themselves and describe their emotions. They were also responsible with providing us with information about the feelings of the lower class, which means that we have a very narrow view of how these lower classes actually demonstrated their emotions or how they conceptualized their emotions in their everyday lives. In her example of the slaves, Eustace included a quote reflecting the common view, likely from the higher classed people, of enslaved individuals as miserable (71). As I am sure they were distressed, I am sure they showed other emotions or portrayed their emotions in other ways besides just looking wretched. During the 18^th century, these emotional differences distinguished the upper from the lower classes and because the upper classes are responsible for most of the written sources we have today from that period, they are again able to hold a certain amount of power by controlling the way we look at lower classes from that time.

Emotion without its connection to written language was also enough to separate classes. There were other ways of emotional expression which each class held. The higher classes typically expressed cheerfulness according to Eustace. It seems that they would have no reason to feel any other emotion since they lived very financially comfortable lives and often did not have much stress. People in a more middle class could express emotions such as anger if they felt they were not given enough respect or treated the way they thought their status commanded. Lastly, as I have already noted, the lower classes and enslaved people dealt with many stresses in life, leaving them to have more negative emotions. These negative emotions were looked down on and allowed the other classes to push these groups further into a category of inferiority.