The Byronic Hero

The Byronic hero is an idealised but flawed character exemplified in the life and writings of Lord
Byron, characterised by his ex-lover Lady Caroline Lamb as being "mad, bad, and dangerous to
know". The Byronic hero first appears in Byron's semi-autobiographical epic narrative poem
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812-18).
The Byronic hero typically exhibits several of the following characteristics:

a strong sense of arrogance

high level of intelligence and perception
cunning and able to adapt
suffering from an unnamed crime
a troubled past
sophisticated and educated
self-critical and introspective
mysterious, magnetic and charismatic
struggling with integrity
power of seduction and sexual attraction
social and sexual dominance
emotional conflicts, bipolar tendencies, or moodiness
a distaste for social institutions and norms
being an exile, an outcast, or an outlaw
"dark" attributes not normally associated with a hero
disrespect of rank and privilege
has seen the world
jaded, world-weary
cynicism
self-destructive behaviour
a good heart in the end
The Byronic hero remains sympathetic despite his rejection of virtue.

There are at least four distinguishing factors in the Byronic Hero's philosophy of life: revolt against
society, pursuit of individual goals, romantic expression and the constant experience of strong
emotion. The result of these qualities is an anti-social being who lives emotional adventures
according to his own desire.
Heathcliff, in Wuthering Heights, is a perfect example of the Byronic Hero. He is a larger than life
Byronic Hero because he never wavers from his purpose .. to possess and to be possessed by his
love.
The Byronic Hero has some specific personal qualities. He is exotically handsome, dark and rather
wild. Trelawny, a friend of Lord Byron's, was recognized as the Byronic hero type. He was
described as, " a curious being, a savage in some respects. His face was as dark as a Moor's with a
wild, strange look about the eyes and forehead ... his whole appearance giving one an idea of toil,
hardship, peril and wild adventure." Similarly in Wuthering Heights, Mr. Lockwood describes
Heathcliff as, " a dark-skinned gypsy, in aspect, in dress and manners, a gentleman ... rather
slovenly, ... with an erect and handsome figure; and rather morose."
Later in the story, Nellie describes Heathcliff upon his return after a three year's absence - " He had
grown a tall, athletic, well-formed man ... (with) upright carriage ... and intelligent (face). A halfcivilized ferocity lurked yet in the depressed brows and eyes full of black fire, .... but his manner
was dignified." And so there he stands, Heathcliff, the Byronic hero, tall, dark, fiercely handsome,

half wild with a suppressed rage flaming blackly in his eyes, yet composed and with a dignified
strength.
The Byronic hero was always a gentleman, as the Devil himself is a gentleman, and a very
melancholy one. Heathcliff was constantly referred to as both gentleman and devil. Mr Earnshaw
brought him home, a ragged orphan and told his wife to " take it as a gift of God; though it's as dark
almost as if it came from the devil." When Nelly tries to check on Hareton's life at the Heights,
Heathcliff makes Nelly run away, " feeling as scared as if (she) had raised a goblin" When
Heathcliff mourns Cathy's death, he howled, " like a savage beast." Heathcliff, both man and devil,
both gentleman and beast, is as powerful in his emotion and his emanations of evil, as any Byronic
hero ever invented.
Of course, the Byronic hero is a romantic hero, and therefore, an individualist. In the best
melancholy style he claims for himself the freedom to be as wide and as wild as he pleases. He
claims his rights as a gentleman, as a property owner, as a master over servants, wives and
children, but he cares nothing for society, its conventions or rules. He oversteps them all and lives,
through his passion. He loves what he loves and what he cannot help loving. Heathcliff does all of
these things, and never wavers from his own passions.
The Byronic hero is proud. Heathcliff and Catherine run wild on the moors, growing up there,
almost becoming the moors, the sky, the rocks and the wind. Heathcliff takes pride in his freedom,
even the freedom to be dirty in his degradation by Hindley. In his pride he declares. " I shall not....I
shall not stand to be laughed at, I shall not bear it. ...I shall be as dirty as I please."
Yet, the Byronic hero is also a gentleman and strives to be so. Heathcliff leaves and struggles to
improve himself. He returns, rich, mannered and educated, though mysterious, wild and proud.
He " fought a bitter life (he tells Cathy) for I struggled only for you."
The Byronic hero has one all consuming passion, and in Heathcliffs case, it is his love fro Cathy
that drives him him on and holds him always.
It is said that the Byronic hero holds the " ordinary people " of the world in contempt. He hates the
vulgar commonplace, the artificial niceties, the stupid and insipid feelings of all he holds weak, and
therefore, inferior. Heathcliff certainly shows contempt for the ordinary, the silly and the weak. He
sneers at Hindley and Frances who were " like two babies, kissing and talking nonsense by the hour
- foolish palaver that we should be ashamed of. " When Heathcliff and Cathy look through the
Linton's window to see Edgar and his sister quarrelling over a small dog, he says, " We laughed
outright at the petted things; we did despise them." When Heathcliff and Edgar clash in the kitchen
of the Grange, Heathcliff shows his contempt for Edgar by saying, " I'm mortally sorry that you are
not worth knocking down." To Cathy, he sneers, "...And that is the slavering, shivering thing that
you preferred to me."Of Isabella, he says he would blacken the eyes on her " mawkish, waxen face"
and on the drunken Hindley, " .. he kicked and trampled on him .. then bound up the wounds with
brutal roughness. "Not even his own son, Linton, escaped the contempt that Heathcliff felt he
deserved. His first sight of Linton and Heathcliff sneers, " God! what a beauty!....Oh damn my soul
but that's worse than I expected ..."
Even Cathy, his great love, receives Heathcliff's contempt in full measure. He hold her to task,
crying, " Why did you betray your own heart, Cathy? I have not one word of comfort. You deserve
this....... My ( tears will ) damn you. You loved me-then what right had you to leave Me? .....
nothing .... would have parted us.... you, of your own will, did it". For the Byronic hero, who is
forever true to his own heart, Cathy's betrayal is the most comtemptuous crime of all.
The Byronic Hero knows how to love with his whole being and ridicules the pathetic attempts at
love that others make. His love is a high romantic expression that scorns sentiment and romantic

foolishness, Heathcliff ridicules Isabellas romantic ideas of love. " The first thing she saw me do ...
was to hang up her little dog,,, Now was it not absurdity ... to dream that I could love her?" He
mocks Edgar's ability to love, saying, " If he loved her with all the powers of his puny being, he
couldn't love as much in eighty years as I could in one day."
The Byronic hero is an emotional being and his emotions bear the strength of constancy. Heathcliff
loves Cathy and hates all who interfere with him. Through his love he suffers, and his pain and his
hatred grow in intensity. " I have no pity! ... The more the worms writhe, the more I yearn to crush
out their entrails!"
The Byronic hero has other strengths, the strength of control, the strength to endure. He is no
murderer, and keeps a rough household going. And he does give his admiration where it is
deserved, for in spite of Hareton being the son of his old enemy, Hindley, he knows Hareton is
worthy of love. He would have loved him " had he been someone else".
The Byronic hero fights on until the end, until he reaches his own goal, his own " heaven ". Worn
out with his long struggle to be reunited with Cathy, Heathcliff nears his goal, and looks, " almost
bright and cheerful, ... very much excited, and wild and glad!" Remaining true to his personal
journey, for he has nothing to do with the reality of others, Heathcliff, the Byronic hero triumphs in
death. he is reunited with his love ... he is the single-minded Byronic hero to the end.
For the Byronic hero, marriage and love have nothing to do with each other. He tells Nelly that she
was " a fool to fancy for a moment that ( Cathy) valued Edgar Linton's attachment more that
mine."Byronic love obsesses on the idea of a man and a woman so similar in character and in
spirit, as to be almost one individual.
Byron, who loved his sister, wrote
" She is like me in lineaments - her eyes,
Her hair, her features, all to the very tone
Even of her voice, they said were like to mine ...
She had the same lone thoughts and wanderings,
Her faults were mine - her virtues were her own I lov'd her, and destroy'd her!"
Cathy and Heathcliff are one. Brought up as brother and sister, they roam the moors, sharing all of
their dreams and sufferings. Catherine declares, " Nelly, I am Heathcliff - ( he is ) as my own
being." As Cathy dies, Heathcliff cries out, " God, would you like to live with your soul in the
grave?" And as Heathcliff plans his burial beside Cathy, he says that by the time Edgar gets to them
he won't know ' which is which ....... ( for he will be) dissolve(d )with her."
Byron himself, referred to Napoleon as a typical Byronic hero - a man of destiny, of dark and
enormous powers; but overcome at last by the united forces of ordinary people. It is true that
Heathcliff fails to destroy the Earnshaws and the Lintons, for the younger Catherine and Hareton
marry. But his hatred was only secondary to his love, so unlike Napoleon, he triumphs. He rests in
the quiet earth with his cheek " frozen against hers."
Lady Caroline Lamb was supposed to have said of Byron, He was mad, bad and dangerous to
know." Cathy said of Heathcliff, " he is a fierce, pitiless, wolfish man." Byron might have said the
same thing about Heathcliff as he said about Napoleon, " he was a grand creature."