Although the nature versus nurture debate seems like a rather contemporary topic, it was actually a common thematic element of Elizabethan literature. Christopher Marlowe, in particular, focused on human behavior and the influences of natural instinct versus learned habits. In his "minor epic" Hero and Leander, Marlowe defines nature and nurture by characterizing each of his main characters as one or the other. While Leander embodies nature in his desire and sexual desire, Hero represents nurture in his flirtation and repressed sexual desires. However, by classifying nature and nurture as characteristics of males and females, Marlowe ensures that men's "natural" desires become excusable behaviors. It becomes the responsibility of women to repel sexual advances from men and keep women's virginity intact. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Marlowe uses both Hero and Leander and their reactions to their own beauty, along with their desire for each other, to characterize Hero as a culturally aware female and Leander as a nature-driven male; this characterization also places most of the blame for the premarital affair on Hero, while simultaneously excusing Leander for his acts of cruelty towards her. According to Marlowe, Hero is aware of her own beauty and the effect it has on men. Her reaction to the “people” who run “to look at her” is to “condemn” them with her “contemptuous eyes” (Marlowe 1007 ll. 117-23). She watches men stare into her eyes when she catches them looking at her beauty instead of looking away from them and avoiding their gazes. Marlowe suggests that by doing so, Hero is consciously daring these men to pursue her because she is aware that it is their "nature" to sexually desire women. Therefore, when Leander is caught looking at Hero and she looks back in his direction, she is to blame because "Thence flew love's golden-headed arrow, / And so Leander was in love" (Marlowe 1008 ll. 161-162). Marlowe fails to mention that Hero's natural sexual desire led her to gaze back at Leander, thus leaving the reader to believe that her curiosity towards him is a flaw she has acquired throughout her life rather than one she was born with . Hero is using her beauty to manipulate men because, despite being a creature of learned habits, she knows that men are naturally uncontrollable in their sexual desires and "wants" them to fall in love with her. In their work, Automated Marlowe: Hero and Leander, Boehrer and Henley state that Hero manipulates “sexual desire itself. The way he dresses becomes a sign of the studied repression of his own erotic impulses – a repression that Marlowe's narrative strives to undo” (Boehrer, Henley 13). The use of the word "study" implies that Hero understands the situation and that his sexual desire is a learned behavior rather than a natural impulse. Her attire, while modest, only adds to her mystery, and she knows that, combined with her natural beauty, the clothes she adorns herself with make men even more curious as to what she hides beneath. Leander, on the other hand, is disinterested and unaware of his own beauty and the effect it has on others, according to Marlowe. Describing Leander's appearance, Marlowe states that "Some swore she was a maid dressed as a man, / For in her countenance was all that men desire" (Marlowe ll. 83-84). Leander can't control the fact that menare attracted to him as if he were a woman. It is not in his “nature” to find men attractive and therefore it cannot be his fault if they find him as beautiful as a woman. In a way reminiscent of his naivety about his own beauty, he is unaware that Hero is “manipulating” him by showing attention to him. In response to After his "natural" infatuation, Leander begins to "show / the sacred fire of Love, with words, with sighs and tears, / which like sweet music entered Hero's ears" (Marlowe 1008 ll. 193-195 ). Although Leander is pursuing Hero adamant, Marlowe suggests that Hero is enjoying the effect she has had on him and is excited that Leander is attempting to seduce her with his words. She has the opportunity to stop him from continuing to court her because she “naturally” has no sexual desire for him. It is her learned behavior that leads her to let him continue with his advances. Marlowe further suggests that Hero desires Leander because she has the ability to make him desire her rather than because she actually desires him sexually. Marlowe states that “(All women are sexually ambiguous)” (Marlowe 1013 l. 428). Hero is a virgin but not innocent by Marlowe's definition. Since she has no desire for men, she must instead desire manipulation. Although Hero does not have much to say on the topic of lust, William Weaver states that because he "says aloud two words, 'To Venus,' in the first 337 lines of the poem" (Weaver 16), Marlowe is attempting to compare her to Venus who was lusted after by every man who laid eyes on her and who was seen as a symbol of female sexuality. Weaver further states that "Hero's relative silence suits his priestly role in the other world as the object of men's gaze" (Weaver 16). Marlowe uses Hero's quiet nature to show how that part of his personality is also a manipulation. She is as silent as a statue of Venus, but her beauty combined with her determined look in men's eyes reveals more about her than her words alone could. She is unable to predict, however, how her own flirtation with Leander will lead to her breaking her vow and losing her virginity at the end of the poem. Yet Marlowe makes it clear that it is her manipulation of men that leads to her downfall. Leander is “naturally” inclined to take advantage of the situation he has found himself in while Hero’s “natural ambiguity” has nothing to do with her decision to have sex with him. Leander, on the other hand, is completely justified in his uncontrollable lust for Hero according to Marlowe. He is unaware of the difference between love and lust and simply sets out to satisfy his sexual urges towards Hero, thinking that he is in love with her. However, Marlowe also suggests that Hero is not innocent in matters of love and is aware that her ability to manipulate Leander arises because he desires her rather than because he loves her. She “lets” him have sex with her, and it is therefore her fault that after their sexual encounter he looks at her with more pleasure “than Dis on piles of gold staring at her” (Marlowe 1021 l. 810). The truth about Leander's supposed love for Hero is revealed when she stands before Leander naked and he looks at her body purely out of lust. Leander finally realized that he was not in love with Hero at all and had only pursued her for his own sexual desires. He also believes that Hero knew she was manipulating him all along and leaves her lying completely naked in his room with no remorse for his actions. Marlowe's Leander fully acted out his "natural instincts" while Hero rejected her own natural ambiguity and attempted to manipulate Leander instead. For coming out of his feminine nature, Hero "Danged.