The english character (Serious approach)

The national character of the English has been very differently described over one quality, which they describe as fatuous self-satisfaction, serene sense of superiority, or insular pride. English patriotism is based on a deep sense of security. Englishmen as individuals may have been insecure, threatened with the loss of a job, unsure of themselves, or unhappy in many ways; but as a nation they have been for centuries secure, serene in their national success. They have not lived in a state of hatred of their neighbors as the Frenchmen or the Germans have often lived. This national sense of security, hardly threatened by the Armada, or by Napoleon, or by the First World War, has been greatly weakened by the Second World War and by the innovation of the atomic bomb.

Many books have been written _– even more, perhaps, by the Frenchmen, Americans, Germans, and other foreigners than by the Englishmen _– on English traits, English ways of life, and the English character. Their authors are by no means always in agreement, but they tend to point out what seem to them puzzles, contrasts, in the way the English behave. A few of these contrasts may serve to sum up how the world looks at the English.

First, there is the contrast between the unity the English display in crisis, their strong sense of public order, indeed for conformity, and their extraordinary toleration of individual eccentricities. The Germans are usually astounded by what they regard as the Englishman’s lack of respect for authority and discipline. The Frenchmen are often puzzled by the vehemence of English political debates, by the Hyde Park public orator, and similar aspects of English life, which in their own country would seem signs of grave political disturbance. This sort of contrast has led to common belief held by the foreigners, and indeed by the Englishmen themselves, that they are the most illogical people, always preferring practical compromises to theoretical exactness.

Second, there is the contrast between the English democracy, the English sense of the dignity and importance of the individual, and the very great and economic inequalities that have hitherto characterized English life. There has recently been some tendency to allow greater social equality. But Victorian and Edwardian England – which foreigners still think of as the typical England – did display extremes of riches and poverty, and draw an almost caste line between ladies and gentlemen and those not ladies and gentlemen.

Third, there is the contrast between the reputation of the English as hard-headed practical men – the “nation of shopkeepers” – and as men of poetry – the countrymen of Shakespeare and Shelley. The English tradition in philosophy has always been realistic and hostile to mysticism; yet the English look down on the French as narrow rationalists. The apparent coldness of the Englishmen and their reserve has been almost universally noted by foreigner; but foreigners also confess that they find the English reserve not unpleasant, and that once one gets to know an Englishman he turns out to be a very companionable fellow.

(From “Oxford Junior Encyclopedia”)

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