This article focuses on the nature of emotions, in order to get a sense of the object of study. What can we identify in the text as an emotion, how is it expressed, and what does it mean in its context? It explains the division between constructivist and universalist approaches to the study of the history of emotions, and describe how these approaches have been reconciled by scholars who recognise that emotions have certain universal elements, but also that we cannot assume knowledge of how emotions will manifest, how they are understood, and what triggers them.