What is Byronic Hero:
"The Byronic hero, incapable of love, or capable only of an impossible love, suffers endlessly. He is solitary, languid, his condition exhausts him. If he wants to feel alive, it must be in the terrible exaltation of a brief and destructive action."
— Albert Camus, The Stranger
In the 19th century, English Romantic poet Lord Byron developed the Byronic Hero archetype, which is defined as a protagonist that tends to reject traditional social values.
Definition:
A Byronic hero is a variant of the anti-hero. Named after the character in the poetry of Lord Byron, the Byronic Hero is usually a man who is an intelligent, emotionally sensitive, and cynical character. While Byronic heroes tend to be very charismatic, they're deeply flawed individuals, who might do things that are generally thought of as socially unacceptable because they are at odds with mainstream society. A Byronic Hero has his own set of beliefs and will not yield for anyone. While it might not be initially apparent, deep down, the Byronic Hero is also quite selfish.
The archetype, or character type, of the Byronic hero, was first developed by the famous 19th-century English Romantic poet Lord Byron. Most literary scholars and historians consider the first literary Byronic hero to be Byron's Childe Harold, the protagonist of Byron's epic poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. However, many literary scholars and historians also point to Lord Byron himself as the first truly Byronic hero, for he exemplified throughout his life the characteristics of the sort of literary hero he would make famous in his writing.
A Byronic hero can be conceptualized as an extreme variation of the Romantic hero archetype. Traditional Romantic heroes tend to be defined by their rejection or questioning of standard social conventions and norms of behaviour, their alienation from the larger society, their focus on the self as the centre of existence, and their ability to inspire others to commit acts of good and kindness. Romantic heroes are not idealized heroes, but imperfect and often flawed individuals who, despite their sometimes less than savoury personalities, often behave in a heroic manner.
According to many literary critics and biographers, Lord Byron developed the archetype of the Byronic hero in response to his boredom with traditional and Romantic heroic literary characters. Byron, according to critics and biographers, wanted to introduce a heroic archetype that would be not only more appealing to readers but also more psychologically realistic.
The archetype of the Byronic hero is similar in many respects to the figure of the traditional Romantic hero. Both Romantic and Byronic heroes tend to rebel against conventional modes of behaviour and thought and possess personalities that are not traditionally heroic. However, Byronic heroes usually have a greater degree of psychological and emotional complexity than traditional Romantic heroes.
Byronic heroes are marked not only by their outright rejection of traditional heroic virtues and values but also by their remarkable intelligence and cunning, strong feelings of affection and hatred, impulsiveness, strong sensual desires, moodiness, cynicism, dark humour, and morbid sensibilities.
Byronic heroes also tend to appear larger than life and dress and style themselves in elaborate costumes for the purpose of making themselves as different from others as possible.
Isolated from Society:
He is usually isolated from Society as a wanderer or is in exile of some kind. It does not matter whether this social separation is imposed upon him by some external force or is self-imposed. Byron's Manfred, a character who wandered desolate mountaintops, was physically isolated from Society, whereas child Harold chose to "exile" himself and wander throughout Europe. Although Harold remained physically present in society and among people, he was not by any means "social".
Byronic Hero as a passionate character:
Often the Byronic Hero is moody by nature or passionate about a particular issue. He also has emotional and intellectual capacities which are superior to the average man. These heightened abilities force the Byronic Hero to be arrogant, confident, abnormally sensitive and extremely conscious of himself. In one form or another, he rejects the values and moral codes of society's standards often the Byronic Hero is characterized by a quilty memory of some unnamed sexual crime. Due to these characteristics, the Byronic Hero is often a figure of repulsion, as well as fascination.
Characteristics:
Byronic heroes tend to be characterized as being:
- Intelligent
- Ruthless
- Arrogant
- Depressive
- Violent
- Self-aware
- Emotionally and intellectually tortured
- Traumatized
- Highly emotional
- Manipulative
- Self-serving
- Dedicated to pursuing matters of justice over matters of legality
- Given to self-destructive impulses
- Seductive and sexually appealing
Byronic heroes also tend to only seem loyal to themselves and their core beliefs and values. While they often act on behalf of greater goods, they will rarely acknowledge doing so.
Examples:
The archetype of the Byronic hero has remained popular and relevant throughout Western literature and entertainment since the early 19th century.
In 19th-century Western literature, there are countless examples of Byronic heroes, including the protagonists of nearly all of Byron's epic poems, particularly Manfred, Don Juan, and The Corsair. Other examples of Byronic Heroes from 19th-century Western literature include Heathcliff from Emily Bronte's novel Wuthering Heights, Mr Darcy from Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, Claude Frollo from Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Captain Ahab from Herman Melville's Moby Dick.
There are also countless examples of Byronic heroes in 20th-century Western literature, including the Phantom from Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera, Jake Barnes from Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises, Ian Fleming's James Bond character, and F. Scott Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby from his novel The Great Gatsby. All of these Byronic heroes are marked by a dark sensibility, cynicism, arrogance, high intelligence, and a refusal to outright obey authority.
Heathcliff: a Byronic Hero:
The tragic hero of Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff has been regarded along time as a Byronic Hero an idealized but flawed character. The features of a Byronic Hero are also visible in Emily Bronte's character: a troubled or mysterious past ( no one knows where he come from, who he is, who his parents are), cunning and able to adapt (he gains Earnshaw's sympathy and exploits it). Heathcliff shows no qualms in destroying those for whom he does not care, however undeserving of his wrath they may be. Isabella Linton falls in love with Heathcliff and him. In this way, Heathcliff is a prime example of a Byronic Hero.
Not to be confused with a Classical Anti-Hero, a Tragic Hero or a Tragic Villain. Classical anti-heroes have many flaws but without any violent or sociopathic traits that Byronic heroes have. Tragic Heroes suffer from a specific sin in particular, which is treated as their Fatal Flaw, and are often well-intentioned or otherwise blameless. While both characters may ultimately be defeated by their flaws, the Tragic Heroes and Tragic Villains tend to suffer more for them in the end and include An Aesop. However, it's not unheard of to see characters who are both Byronic and Tragic heroes or are both Classical antiheroes and Byronic heroes.
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