The world calls them Byrons. They're dangerous, exciting yet darn right attractive. Some call them the Draco-type. I just call them love. Ever since I was a little girl, I didn't dream of a knight-in-shining-armor who whould whisk me off my feet and take me to the land of happily-ever-after; I dreamt of a Byron who would constantly entice me with his words and life, mystify and captivate me to the point of obsession - someone who would fall for me over and over again.
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Characteristics of the Byronic Hero
The Byronic hero--so named because it evolved primarily due to Lord Byron’s writing in the nineteenth century—is, according to Peter Thorslev, one of the most prominent literary character types of the Romantic period:
Romantic heroes represent an important tradition in our literature . . . . In England we have a reinterpreted Paradise Lost, a number of Gothic novels and dramas . . . the heroic romances of the younger Scott, some of the poetry of Shelley, and the works of Byron. In all of these works the Byronic Hero is the one protagonist who in stature and in temperament best represents the [heroic] tradition in England. (Thorslev 189)
A Byronic hero exhibits several characteristic traits, and in many ways he can be considered a rebel. The Byronic hero does not possess "heroic virtue" in the usual sense; instead, he has many dark qualities. With regard to his intellectual capacity, self-respect, and hypersensitivity, the Byronic hero is "larger than life," and "with the loss of his titanic passions, his pride, and his certainty of self-identity, he loses also his status as [a traditional] hero" (Thorslev 187).
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 Childe 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."
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. Sometimes, this is to the point of nihilism resulting in his rebellion against life itself (Thorslev 197). In one form or another, he rejects the values and moral codes of society and because of this he is often unrepentant by society's standards. Often the Byronic hero is characterized by a guilty memory of some unnamed sexual crime. Due to these characteristics, the Byronic hero is often a figure of repulsion, as well as fascination.
- http://www.umd.umich.edu/casl/hum/eng/classes/434/charweb/CHARACTE.htm
The Byronic Hero is a creation of the narrative poetry of George Gordon, Lord Byron. The hero of Byron's highly successful Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (a vaguely autobiographical work) exhibits many of the characteristics; other Byron works featuring the Byronic Hero include The Corsair and Manfred.
The Byronic Hero
- is a rebel (against convention, society, etc.)
- has a distaste for society and social institutions
- is isolated from society (a wanderer, an exile)
- is not impressed by rank and privilege (though he may possess it)
- is larger-than-life in his ability--and his pride
- has a hidden curse or crime
- suffers from titanic passions
- tends to be self-destructive
One of the key connections that may help you understand the Byronic Hero is that he is, in some ways, like the Romantic conception of Satan in Paradise Lost--the rebel who fights against a tyrannical establishment but is destroyed by his own overwhelming pride. This figure is an unconventional hero--dangerous and destructive, but admirable because he is larger than life.
- http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/english/allen/byron2.htm
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Must I have a song for the Byron types, it would be Kelly Clarkson's Beautiful Disaster.
He drowns in his dreams
An exquisite extreme I know
He’s as dammned as he seems
And more heaven than a heart could hold
And if I try to save him
My whole world could cave in
It just ain’t right
It just ain’t right
Oh when I don’t know
I don’t know what he's after
But he's so beautiful
Such a beautiful disaster
And if I could hold on
Through the tears and the laughter
Would it be beautiful?
Or just a beautiful disaster
His magical myth
As strong as with I believe
A tragedy with
More damage than a soul should see
And do I try to change him
So hard not to blame him
Hold on tight
Hold on tight
Oh cuz I don’t know
I don’t know what he’s after
But he’s so beautiful
Such a beautiful disaster
And if I could hold on
Through the tears and the laughter
Would it be beautiful?
Or just a beautiful disaster
I'm longing for love and the logical
But he's only happy hysterical
I'm waiting for some kind of miracle
Waited so long
So long
He’s soft to the touch
But afraid at the end he breaks
He’s never enough
And still leaves more than I can take
Oh cuz I don’t know
I don’t know what he’s after
But he's so beautiful
Such a beautiful disaster
And if I could hold on
Through the tears and the laughter
Would it be beautiful?
Or just a beautiful disaster
He’s beautiful
Such a beautiful disaster
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