The Byronic hero is a type of character from the Romantic period, named after the English poet Lord Byron. A historian and critic named Lord Macaulay described this character as "a man proud, moody, and cynical, with a defiant look on his face and sadness in his heart. He dislikes others, does not forgive, and seeks revenge, but he can also feel deep and strong love."

Both Lord Byron's own life and the characters in his stories helped define this type of hero. The Byronic hero became widely known through Byron's semi-autobiographical epic poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818). Although Byron explained in the poem's preface that Childe Harold was a fictional character, the public believed Byron was the same as the gloomy hero in the story. Readers thought Byron and Childe Harold were the same person.

Byron's poems set in the East often show more adventurous and decisive versions of this hero. In later works, Byron gradually moved away from this character by creating different types of heroes, such as Sardanapalus, Juan, or Torquil. When the Byronic hero appeared in these stories, he was often less kind or criticized by other characters. Byron tried to change this in real life by joining the Greek War of Independence, which ended in his death. Recent studies suggest Byron was more practical and less idealistic than earlier believed. His death from illness in Greece was very unimpressive, but details about this were ignored in many stories that promoted his legend in England.

Origins

The first version of the character in Byron's work, Childe Harold, was inspired by earlier literary figures such as Hamlet, Goethe's Werther (1774), and Mr. Faulkland from William Godwin's Caleb Williams (1794). This character also shared similarities with René, the main character in Chateaubriand's novella from 1802, though Byron may not have read this work. Ann Radcliffe's "unrepentant" Gothic villains, introduced in her 1789 work The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne, a Highland Story, also hinted at the brooding, egotistical Byronic "villain" that later appeared in Byron's own early writings. Some of these early works reflected Byron's connection to his Gordon relatives, who were Scottish Highland aristocrats or Jacobites caught between two worlds. For example, in Byron's early poem "When I Roved a Young Highlander" (1808), he expressed his Scottish heritage while also referencing these themes. In this poem, lines such as the following appear:

These lines resemble how William Wordsworth portrayed James Macpherson's Ossian in his poem "Glen-Almain" (1807):

This suggests that Byron was influenced by both Wordsworth and Macpherson at a young age. After Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, the Byronic hero appeared in many of Byron's other works, including his poems about Oriental themes: The Giaour (1813), The Corsair (1814), and Lara (1814), as well as his play Manfred (1817). For example, Byron described Conrad, the pirate hero of The Corsair (1814), in the following way:

Public reaction and following

After Lord Byron died, many people still admired him strongly, even though author Peter L. Thorslev, Jr. claimed the influence of the Byronic Hero "died in England almost with Byron." Notable admirers included Alfred Tennyson, who was fourteen when Byron died. Tennyson was so sad about Byron's death that he carved the words "Byron is dead" on a rock near his home in Somersby, saying the "world had darkened for him." However, admiration for Byron's character led some fans to copy traits of the Byronic hero. One example was Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, who took his admiration to great lengths. Blunt married Byron's granddaughter, traveled on a "Byron pilgrimage" across Europe, and held strong anti-imperialist views that made him an outcast, just like Byron. These actions showed his effort to copy Byron's character. For professor David Michael Jones, the Byronic Hero represents a type of masculinity that "is changed, repressed, and reformatted through the long nineteenth century."

Literary usage and other influences

Lord Byron's influence is seen in many writers and artists during the Romantic movement and in Gothic fiction of the 19th century. Lord Byron inspired the main character in Glenarvon (1816), written by his former lover, Lady Caroline Lamb, and also inspired Lord Ruthven in The Vampyre (1819), created by his personal doctor, John William Polidori. Later in the 19th century, characters like Edmond Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, and Rochester in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë were also influenced by Byron’s style of hero.

In Victorian literature, the Byronic hero often appeared as a lonely figure who suffered. However, Charles Dickens’ character Steerforth in David Copperfield shows a more complex version. Steerforth has a violent temper and seduces Emily, which should make readers dislike him. Yet, David still feels a strange fascination for him. Steerforth’s moments of regret reveal a troubled character, similar to the Byronic hero’s sense of guilt. Scholars note that Steerforth mixes traits of both a hero and a villain, showing both sides of the Byronic character.

Writers in Russian literature also connected the Byronic hero to a type of character called the "superfluous man," who is self-centered and struggles with society. Alexander Pushkin’s character Eugene Onegin in his novel Eugene Onegin (1833) shares traits with Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, such as brooding and rejecting old traditions. Pushkin’s work came 12 years after Byron’s, and scholars believe Byron influenced Pushkin. Later, Mikhail Lermontov’s character Pechorin in A Hero of Our Time (1839) further developed the Byronic hero in Russian literature.

The Byronic hero also appears in modern literature and is a model for the antihero. For example, Erik, the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera (1909–1910), is a well-known example from the early 20th century. Ian Fleming’s James Bond, though not always shown in films, matches the Byronic hero’s traits: lonely, melancholic, physically strong but damaged, with a mysterious and dark side.

In pop culture, the Byronic hero appears in movies and books. Christopher Nolan’s portrayal of Batman, played by Christian Bale, shows a balance between darkness and light, with a moral code that does not always follow the law. George R.R. Martin has called Jon Snow from A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones a "brooding, Byronic, romantic hero." In Star Wars, Anakin Skywalker’s story of temptation and corruption, and his eventual redemption, fits the Byronic hero’s mix of darkness and complexity, as seen in his transformation into Darth Vader.

Byronic heroine

There are hints about the possibility of a Byronic heroine in Byron's works. Charles J. Clancy says that Aurora Raby in Don Juan has many traits of a Byronic hero. In the poem, she is described as "silent, lone," and has lived in isolation since birth because she was orphaned. This supports Thorslev's idea that Byronic heroes are "always solitary." Like the male Byronic hero, she causes admiration from others, as shown by the line, "There was awe in the homage which she drew." This is similar to how Byron himself was admired wherever he went. Her sad and sorrowful attitude matches the Byronic hero's regretful expression. She is described as having "eyes which sadly shone, as Seraphs' shine," a feature common to Byronic heroes. This reflects a sadness about humanity, similar to the despair in Byron's Cain, as noted by Thorslev. She admits to feeling sorrow about "man's decline," which directly compares her to Cain's horror at humanity's destruction.