The Byronic Hero

Song of the day: Sanctified by Nine Inch Nails

Have you heard of the Byronic Hero? A Byronic hero is a protagonist, or antihero, who is romanticized but flawed. Someone much like the Romantic hero who rejects and is rejected by the society. Someone steeped with darkened, destructive, dangerous traits.

The term Byronic hero is named for the characters often portrayed in the works of the colorful English poet, Lord Byron. If you know of Lord Byron’s excessive, reckless, and scandalous life, you would probably consider that he, himself, embodied the Byronic hero.

This archetypical character (predominately male, but sometimes female) might be:

Defiant
Jaded
Mysterious
Cynical
Charismatic
Seductive
Proud
Adaptable
Haunted
Intelligent
An outcast
Sexually dominant

Sounds like a hero I can really fall in love with.

Lord Byron summed the Byronic hero up best with the last stanza in his piece The Corsair. The Corsair is written about the privateer (or pirate – depending on who you ask) Jean Laffite.

He left a corsair’s name to other times,

Linked with one virtue, and a thousand crimes.

One virtue, a thousand crimes. Hmm…that describes the pirate captains in my Romancing the Pirate series quite well. I must have a thing for the Byronic hero. A tortured soul seizes my imagination and sends my heart apitter-patter. With hands tied behind my back, I would willingly follow him. *sigh*

So, who are some Byronic heroes?

Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights
The Phantom of Phantom of the Opera
Robin Hood
Severus Snape of Harry Potter
Anakin/Darth Vader
Lestat of Interview with a Vampire
Wolverine of X-Men
Xena, Warrior Princess
Scarlett O’Hara
Achilles in the movie version of Troy
And of course, Captain Jack Sparrow

Can you name a Byronic hero? Who is your favorite?