Marielle Ravosa

During the lecture today and in the readings from last night, the class learned that hunting was not solely restricted to acquiring food, but could also be used as a glorified ceremonial process in which rich aristocrats demonstrated their rank and brawn. One question that arose during the lecture was: “Are people naturally violent?”. After thinking about this question, and reflecting on the readings from the previous night, I do not think that people have innate cruelness. In Marcelle Thiebaux’s “Literature and the Hunt”, he says hunters would, “end the agony of [an] animal…[by] plung[ing] a sword through to the heart from behind the shoulder. It was less common to slay the stag with bow and arrow in this type of hunt” (35). Here, I think people are exemplified as humane and compassionate. Instead of shooting a deer with a bow and arrow, which would lead to elongated pain and suffering before the animal actually died, humans chose to give it a fatal blow to the heart. Although the animal was being killed, at least the act was done in a way where the deer would die quickly and would not endure extensive suffering. This lead me to believe that humans are not naturally violent, but instead care for the animals they are killing and try to make the process of death as painless as possible.

---Marielle Ravosa