Aristotle says that virtue is situating oneself between two extremes. With humanism, this is especially true.

For Dostoevsky’s characters, to suffer is an inevitable and necessary element of purgation that must be embraced. For some characters, to suffer is to be cleansed, regardless of man’s response to suffering. But Dostoevsky believes suffering for suffering’s sake is not inherently productive.

Amidst and before Enlightenment dogma, Pope and Shakespeare reminded mankind of the world we live in and our place in it.

What an interaction between Satan and an angel in Paradise Lost teaches us about ethical and effective scorn.