Definition of Character Vs. Nature

The "character" and "nature" of people are sometimes treated synonymously, but the two concepts are fundamentally very different. Character includes personality qualities that are learned and developed from experience, while nature involves that which comes through emotional and physical desires. Understanding this difference can allow a person to get the root of another person's persona.

Character Defined

• The term character refers to a person's moral makeup. Built on experience, education, a sense of right and wrong, and community norms, character becomes a reference to a person's conscious behavior as a good person or bad person. Keeping in mind that "good" and "bad" can be relative to the region or community in question, character becomes a description of a person's reputation within that community. Words such as kind, energetic, honest, prompt, reliable and courageous all reflect a person's character and how their conscious thinking dictates their actions as seen by others around them.

Nature Defined

• Nature refers to the makeup of a person or creature in its most basic sense of awareness. For people, "nature" tends to describe those quirks and motivations that come automatically if thinking is not exercised very well. As a result, a person's nature tends to be linked much closer to physical demands or wants. Hunger, lust, greed, power, love, hate, jealousy and happiness all reflect human nature. They tend to be reactions to human stimuli and represent primarily emotional reactions.

Development

• Nature develops within and manifests in humans very early. As children, we use our human nature long before we learn how to think analytically. While more complex versions of the condition are learned with repeat behavior and maturity, human nature is only limited by physical capability and mental restraint. Character develops over time as a person develops a persona from education, mistakes and successes and relationships with others. As the person learns how behavior is either accepted or frowned upon, the person's character grows stronger. Unlike nature, character can be redirected by conscious effort.

Treatment in Thought

• Character and human nature are repeatedly set against each other in art, literature and cinema. A frequent plot sets a person's character against the alternative of an easier path dictated by human nature. Self-sacrifice and abstinence from easy pleasures tend to be the tools that eventually lead the main actor toward reaching a higher sense of good character. Thus, the historical treatment of human nature is that it tends to be a base response to stimuli, while character tends to be a higher, enlightened response.