The Anglo-Saxons were the beginning of British Literature. The Anglo-Saxons began the year 440 by advancing on what is today England. The Angles and the Saxons were known as ferocious, they didn't wage war on the British heartland out of mere spite. They conquered and won over territory enabling them to construct caps which later turned into towns and cities.

Weapons weren't the only things the invading people brought with them. They used a highly organiz4ed system of tribal units each led by a king. Gradually, these units merged together forming seven large bands. The amalgamation of different tribes produced a new language, "Anglo-Saxon or Old English to distinguish it from our modern form (Bowler 3)."

The Anglo-Saxons also brought with them their pagan beliefs. The people lo

The major literary figure of the 17th Century was John Milton. He also wrote a long epic poem called Paradise Lost. The work is an allegory about the truths of the world and of God. Milton's purpose in writing Paradise Lost was to explore the question of why God does what He does and why bad things happen to good people. This was a deeply emotional story for Milton to write for he now had major difficulty doing what he love, writing, because of his impending blindness. Milton could have been hanged for publishing the manuscripts because of the "anti-monarchical passages in the manuscript (Bowler 410)," but Milton pushed ahead and had the manuscripts published.

Feudalism, a system that "had taken root on European Continent at a time when no central government was strong enough to keep order (Bowler 70)," was implemented by the invaders. The system was a strict hierarchy of land and power. A king would grant some land to the Church and then parcel out manors to his knights who agreed to defend and serve the king and his property. The lowest persons in the hierarchy were the serfs who had to work the lands they did not own and had no power or say in anything.

After almost two centuries of the feudalism, there was wide spread corruption throughout the Church as well as unfair laws and taxes imposed on the lower class of society. Revolt and public disapproval of the unfair treatment began to spread. Many people, including the authors of the time, sided with the public opinion "that religion had traveled far from its roots (Bowler 75)," and the Church was portrayed as only interested in making a buck.

Hamlet is a procrastinator and puts off killing his Uncle, Claudius. "No, up sword, and know thou a more horrid rent. When he is drunk asleep or in his range . . . this physic but prolongs thy sickly days (Shakespeare: act 3, Scene 4, line 92-101)." Because of his procrastination, Hamlet is killed in the end. "O, I die, Horatio! That potent poison quite o'er crows my spirit (Shakespeare: Act 5, Scene 2, lines 389-390)." Hamlet, being the main character and knowing how only he is feeling inside, is the hero of the play and because he dies as a result of not overcoming the events that occur in his life, he is a tragic figure. Thus, Hamlet is a tragedy.

One such writer of the Later Middle Ages was Geoffrey Chaucer. He wrote many poems, humorous, satiric and religious. His greatest work, second only to Shakespeare, was the Canterbury Tales. The Tales are a social commentary of the late Middle Ages. Chaucer uses the journey motif of a pilgrimage to describe the social hierarchy and to show how cor

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