In anticipation that these brief
essays have captured the attention of any still eager to explore the Byronic
hero, this concluding post offers additional thoughts to ponder and avenues to
explore.
Rick, from
the 1942 romantic drama, Casablanca,
is also a Byronic hero. He resigns himself to brooding introspection and harbors bitter
resentment against Ilsa. Finally, Rick must choose between love and duty.
James Dean typifies the Byronic
hero in each of his three movies. His characters always moody and antagonistic,
Dean plays the loner, the last man standing against the world. Oddly enough,
his given name is James Byron Dean.
Agent 007, commonly known as James Bond,
is another character persistently cast as Byronic. In his arrogance and intelligence
coupled with recklessness, Bond displays Byronic tendencies.
Authors as well as characters can
display Byronic qualities. Certainly, the best example is George Gordon, Lord
Byron, himself, the name source for this topic hero. Consider also Edgar Allen Poe, Herman Melville,
and perhaps Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Other literary characters worth
mentioning for study are Jean Valjean (Les
Miserables), Sydney Carton (A Tale of
Two Cities), Captain Ahab (Moby Dick),
Ben-Hur (Ben-Hur), and James
Steerforth (David Copperfield).
