Byronic hero
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andThat man of loneliness and mystery,
Scarce seen to smile, and seldom heard to sigh— (I, VIII)
He knew himself a villain—but he deem'd
The rest no better than the thing he seem'd;
And scorn'd the best as hypocrites who hid
Those deeds the bolder spirit plainly did.
He knew himself detested, but he knew
The hearts that loath'd him, crouch'd and dreaded too.
Lone, wild, and strange, he stood alike exempt
From all affection and from all contempt: (I, XII)[2]
History
The initial version of the type in Byron's work, Childe Harold, draws on a variety of earlier literary characters including Hamlet and Goethe's Werther (1774); he was also noticeably similar to René, the hero of Chateaubriand's novella of 1802, although Byron may not have read this.[3] After Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, the Byronic hero made an appearance in many of Byron's other works, including his series of poems on Oriental themes: The Giaour (1813), The Corsair (1814) and Lara (1814); and his closet play Manfred (1817). The Oriental works show more "swashbuckling" and decisive versions of the type; later Byron was to attempt such a turn in his own life when he joined the Greek War of Independence, with fatal results.[4] The actual circumstances of his death from disease in Greece were unglamourous in the extreme, but back in Europe these details were ignored in the many works promoting his myth.[5] In his period as the talk of London, Byron was characterised by Lady Caroline Lamb, later a lover of his, as being "mad, bad, and dangerous to know".[6]Byron's influence is manifest in many authors and artists of the Romantic movement and writers of Gothic fiction during the 19th century. Lord Byron was the model for the title character of Glenarvon (1816) by Byron's erstwhile lover Lady Caroline Lamb; and for Lord Ruthven in The Vampyre (1819) by Byron's personal physician, Polidori. Claude Frollo from Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831), Edmond Dantes from Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo (1844),[7], Heathcliff from Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1847), and Rochester from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (1847) are other later 19th-century examples of Byronic heroes.
Scholars have also drawn parallels between the Byronic hero and the solipsist heroes of Russian literature. In particular, Alexander Pushkin's famed character Eugene Onegin echoes many of the attributes seen in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, particularly, Onegin's solitary brooding and disrespect for traditional privilege. The first stages of Pushkin's poetic novel Eugene Onegin appeared twelve years after Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, and Byron was of obvious influence (Vladimir Nabokov argued in his Commentary to Eugene Onegin that Pushkin had read Byron during his years in exile just prior to composing Eugene Onegin).[8] The same character themes continued to influence Russian literature, particularly after Mikhail Lermontov invigorated the Byronic hero through the character Pechorin in his 1839 novel A Hero of Our Time.[9]
The Byronic hero is also featured in many contemporary novels, and it is clear that Byron's work continues to influence modern literature as the precursor of a commonly-encountered type of antihero. Erik, the Phantom from Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera (1909–1910) is another well-known example from the early twentieth century.
Characteristics
- Arrogant
- Cunning and able to adapt
- Cynical
- Disrespectful of rank and privilege
- Emotionally conflicted, bipolar, or moody
- Having a distaste for social institutions and norms
- Having a troubled past or suffering from an unnamed crime
- Intelligent and perceptive
- Jaded, world-weary
- Mysterious, magnetic and charismatic
- Rebellious
- Seductive and sexually attractive
- Self-critical and introspective
- Self-destructive
- Socially and sexually dominant
- Sophisticated and educated
- Struggling with integrity
- Treated as an exile, outcast, or outlaw
NOTES ON THE BYRONIC HERO
Romantic poet Lord Byron (George Gordon) is credited with the development of the prototypical anti-hero, referred to as the Byronic hero. Like Childe Harold in Byron’s popular Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, the Byronic hero is a larger-than-life, but flawed character who could be considered, by traditional standards, to be a rebel. Typically the Byronic hero:
• exhibits conflicting emotions and excessive moodiness;
• is passionate about a particular issue; • can be introspective and critical of himself;
• struggles with his own sense of integrity;
• operates largely within his own set of rules and principles;
• rejects accepted codes and norms of society;
• is fiercely independent and strongly individual;
• is a loner (whether imposed by society or self-imposed);
• displays a lack of respect for rank and privilege;
• has a troubled or mysterious past;
• can be cynical, demanding, and arrogant;
• exhibits self-destructive tendencies and behavior.
How does Gatsby function as a Byronic Hero?
The American Dream
A study of The Great Gatsby must include a look at The American Dream.- A look at The Great Gatsby and the American Dream shows that the quality of the dream had diminished, according to Fitzgerald, and had therefore corrupted American society in the 20's.
- Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness established the foundation of the American Dream. The ability of common people to own property and grow wealthy through hard work constituted another important aspect of the dream. For Jay Gatsby, all these things are embodied in Daisy Buchanan.
- The dream, according to Fitzgerald, however, had become corrupted by the desire for ease and comfort. Gatsby's dream is not realized, not due to a lack of trying, but because the dream itself was not worth achieving, much in the same way the object of the American Dream in the 1920s--ease and material objects--was also not worth achieving.
- Gatsby's quest for the American Dream is also symbolized by his longing to repeat the past, to relive greatness from another era, much in the same way that the American Dream as established by the founding fathers could not be revitalized in the hearts of Americans.
- Fitzgerald's cynicism and negative views of his society are representative of modernist writers.
Wealth and Money
A study of The Great Gatsby must include a look at wealth and money.
Piper and Gretta
ReplyDeleteGatsby does fit the characteristics of a Byronic hero, but he is not quite as dark. He is more a sad and troubled. Growing up poor, but then coming into wealth. He throws lavish parties and invites all the rich people, but he doesn't feel like one of them. He also invites other West Eggers and people that may not be of such high status. Gatsby doesn't participate in the parties. He is conflicted about his position in society, and the readers lack of knowledge of his true past makes him mysterious. He tells of fantastic experiences that almost seem unreal, but he still isn't quite emotionally satisfied. "Then it was all true. I saw the skins of tigers flaming in his palace on the Grand Canal I saw him opening a chest of rubies to ease, with their crimson-lighted depths, the gnawings of his broken heart." He is almost an exile, living on the west egg instead of the east egg with the rich, but he is more an exile in his own mind.
Gatsby exhibits several of the Byronic Hero traits. For starters he is definitely mysterious. So many people wonder about him and his past is very secretive so for that reason he is very mysterious. He is cunning and able to adapt, to see that he is poor and has grown to become so "fancy" and have all of these A- list people attending his parties, he's adapted a lot. (He lives in the West Egg so he's not extremely snobby) But it's also clear that he has a troubled past. I'm not sure I'd say he's disrespectful or rank but he feels like he himself is high in rank so he may question other's authority in relation to his own. He's kind of turning into a man of rank and privilege. He is emotionally conflicted, but he is also intelligent and perceptive. He is jaded, that I can agree with, he is beyond charismatic and magnetic. His mysteriousness draws readers in. He is rebellious in terms of his past and where he is now. He is definitely socially and sexually dominant, sophisticated , etc. Gatsby rises and he is struggling with integrity because he initially lies to get where he needs to be. He is an outcast, but no one knows the truth about him yet.
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Super Group Post: Caleb, Thomas, Matan, Noah, Jannah
ReplyDeleteGatsby shows some of the major parts of being a Byronic Hero such as his cunning nature, his cynicism, and the fact that he's jaded and world-weary, but some characteristics are debatable. If he's really against institutions can be argued. This is debatable because Gatsby can at times seem to be a hipster, in the sense that he doesn't do what others are doing at the time. Furthermore, he's a bootlegger which could be seen as going against the concept of institutions as a whole, but bootlegging could be an institution in and of itself. Also, his large social gatherings could be seen as their own social institutions where people congregate and socialize on a regular basis, but he never participates in them.
Gatsby undeniably expresses many traits typical of the Byronic hero. He's not particularly arrogant because he doesn't try to humiliate others, but he's frequently self-confident. He's slightly cynical because he does whatever's necessary to achieve some of his goals, especially winning Daisy's affection. He disrespects rank and privilege, but in a good way. For instance, Nick is socially and economically below him, but Gatsby still wants to be appreciated by him. He's dramatically emotionally conflicted, and this is obvious when he and Daisy have tea at Nick's house. He has some distaste for social institutions and norms, like aspects of human behavior. For instance, he doesn't act like a normal host at his parties, and he tells Nick that he wishes Daisy would totally and suddenly leave Tom, which is something people wouldn't normally do. He suffers from a troubled past, which he partly describes to Nick, but not completely. He's definitely intelligent and perceptive, which is apparent from his economic success.
ReplyDeleteGatsby fits many of the characteristics of a Byronic hero. He fits the mold of a brooding, conflicted, outcast struggling against society. When Nick first sees Gatsby he is staring out at the green light on Daisy's dock with "... his arms toward the dark water in a curious way..." (25). This dark portrayal of Gatsby is compounded by the opinions of those around him such as the girls at the party who say "Somebody told me that he killed a man once" (43). Gatsby is already embroiled in the shadiness of the underworld. He does not experience the fall from grace that is characteristic of a tragic hero. Gatsby has risen through society only to set himself for a destructive descent.
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