Notes from the Past: The Byronic Hero

The nineteenth century saw the creation of the jaded romantic, non-pragmatic hero due in no small part to Gothic literature and Lord Byron, often considered the creator of the angsty romantic anti-hero. 

Byron in turn heavily influenced romantic poets from Wordsworth to Coleridge, many of whom seemed to suffer from dark tangled locks and early deaths. I obtained the drawing of Keats (ill, near death) when I was on a study abroad program in London as an undergraduate. At the same time, I viewed (but was less impressed by) the overwrought statue of Shelley by Edward Onslow Ford (1892) .

Gothicism, Byron, and the Romantic poets together created a zeitgeist that resulted, amongst other things, in Mr. Rochester of Jane Eyre and Dr. Frankenstein (of Frankenstein), haunted heroes whose dark tangled locks tumble across troubled brows attached to heads full of dark thoughts. (Don't forget Heathcliff!)

The jaded romantic hero is full of feeling and angst but is rarely objective or pragmatic. Austen, falling directly between the Classicist era and the Romantic Movement, was not particularly enamored of the jaded romantic hero (although she would have recognized the type). Instead, she endowed her heroes and heroines with strong pragmatic natures, reserving impulsive angstiness for her villains and victims.

Charlotte Bronte, a devotee of the Romantic era (and another favorite author of mine), poured scorn on Austen's supposed lack of passion, but many modern romances--some set in the Regency era--combine Bronte and Austen. The heroes and heroines are troubled; they are also often down-to-earth and practical. Modern writers have recognized what Bronte failed to value: Austen's pragmatism is a perceptive and forward-looking acknowledgment of the precarious negotiations that can take place in relationships. 

Byron is flashy, which makes for interesting action but not entirely reliable or constructive endings.