How Romantic
The discovery of the
British Romantic Hero
What’s Going On???
• Characteristics of the Romantic
Period
• Began in 1798
• Two movements that have large
affects
– French Revolution: inspired rebellion and
turmoil
– Scientific movement: Science was making
the church look foolish, and people
started believing only what they could
see.
How about in Literature?
• Characteristics of Romantic
Literature
• Focused more on beauty instead of
religion
• There was a return to nature
• A belief in the goodness of humanity
– Rousseau, “The nature of man is
naturally good, unless changed or
corrupted by society’s institutions.”
– Ex. Church or Government
• There was a rediscovery of the
artist as a supremely individual
creator, They are the “bards” of
society. (Wordsworth)
• The development of nationalistic
pride
• The exaltation of the senses and
emotions over reason and intellect
• A philosophical revolt against
rationalism.
• Focus on Imagination and emotion
• (http://mural.uv.es/frando.romancharacters.
html)
So who created the first
Hero?
LORD BYRON
MAD!!!!!
•
•
•
•
Lord Byron
Born January 22, 1788
Wrote Poetry and satires
Major works include Child Harold’s
Pilgrimage, and Don Juan.
• Had a club foot, and was very self
conscious about his infirmity
• He was very attractive; his nurse made
advances at him when he was only nine, and
with his idealized love for his cousins, his
ideas of women were formed.
BAD!!!!
• When he was older he fell into an
“abyss of sensuality,” that was so
bad that it threatened to undermine
his health.
• Chris Lynam said that he was, “Mad,
Bad and Dangerous to know.”
• Was married to Anne Isabella
• When she gave birth to their first
child, she left him without excuse,
and Byron exiled himself from
Europe.
AND DANGEROUS TO
KNOW!!
• He traveled abroad, wrote
poetry, and constantly fell in
love.
• He died of a fever on April 19,
1824
• (http://englishhistory
• .net/byron/life.html)
So What is a
Romantic
HERO????
It’s not Superman!!!!!!
• Characteristics of a Byronic Hero
• Considered a rebel
• The Byronic hero does not possess
"heroic virtue" but rather dark and
mysterious qualities.
• His self-respect and hypersensitivity
are “larger than life.”
• Titanic Passion
• Prideful
• Isolated from society and their
institutions
And It’s not Batman!!!!
• Moody
• Emotional
• Arrogant
• Rejects society because he believes
he rises above them
• Usually characterized by some secret
sexual sin, and therefore a figure of
repulsion as well as fascination.
• Has some physical infirmity
Who In Jane Eyre
would have fit this
description?
ROCHESTER!!!!!!!!
WHY?
Why do you think There is
a Byronic Hero In Jane
Eyre?
• Jane wrote this story during the
Romantic Period
• When Byron died at the age of
thirty-six in 1824, Bronte was but
eight years old.
• Bronte's youthful age, however, did
not preclude Byron and his works
from having a profound effect on her
and her writing; indeed, the "cult" of
Lord Byron flourished shortly after
his death "dominating [the Brontes']
girlhood and their young womanhood"
• So wouldn’t a woman who seems preoccupied
with aristocracy, and prudent behavior of
that time, find the idea of the Byronic
hero attractive and alluring?
• Blanche Ingram asks Rochester to "now
sing, and I will play for you." When
Rochester replies that he will indeed sing
for them, she says, "Here then is a Corsairsong. Know that I dote on Corsairs; and for
that reason, sing it 'con spirito'" (181;
ch.17). Bronte's allusion to Byron's
immensely popular work "The Corsair,"
which was published in 1814, suggests that
Jane Eyre was set sometime after this
date.
• http://www.umd.umich.edu/casl/hum/eng/cla
sses/434/charweb/CHARACTE.htm
THE END!!!