I Cannot Live without My Soul

Heathcliff, a most tragic and dreadful literary character in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights,   

endures an unfortunate childhood at the hands of the Earnshaws. Upon his reintroduction to the reader as an adult, Heathcliff is “a tall man dressed in dark clothes, with dark face and hair. . . . The cheeks were sallow, and half covered with black whiskers; the brows lowering, the eyes deep-set and singular” (Bronte, p. 96-97).

Heathcliff embodies the Byronic hero in that he “defies authority,” yields to a “destructive passion,” and sulks in “selfish brooding” (Carson-Newman University, 2013). He is a sullen boy and a “violently passionate, black-natured man. As the years add age his suffering adds hatred . . . [he] becomes filled with an inhuman, almost demonic, desire for vengeance” (Magill, p. 1270). Consuming passion for Catherine Earnshaw destroys his life when she thinks him below her and instead marries Edgar Linton. Heathcliff allows his jealousy to torment everyone in his life and goes to his grave a “devastatingly wasted human” (Magill, p. 1270).

Citations:
Bronte, E. (1847). Wuthering Heights. New York: Tess Press.
Carson-Newman University. (2013). Byronic hero. Accessed November 16, 2013, from                        http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_B.html
Magill, F.N., Ed. (1963). Cyclopedia of literary characters. New York: Harper & Row.

Poor, Unhappy Erik

One of the most chilling and pathetic characters in literature, the Phantom of the Opera lives below the Paris Opera House and appears “wrapped in a large cloak and wearing a mask that [hides] his whole face” (Leroux, p. 133). Neurotically obsessed with the desire for

Christine Daae’s love, Erik appears to her as the Angel of Music and woos her by his voice. 

The Phantom exhibits several traits that pertain to the Byronic hero. He allows himself to be consumed with a “destructive passion,” to work alone on his music in “selfish brooding,” and to be immersed in “persistent loneliness” (Carson-Newman University, 2013). After Christine recoils in horror at the Phantom’s visage, Erik claims her, saying, “When a woman has seen me . . . she belongs to me” (Leroux, p. 141). Insanely jealous of Christine’s true love (Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny), the Phantom plots devilishly to control Christine and eliminate her young lover. 

Erik spirits Christine away, and when M. de Chagny follows and rashly makes his presence known to the cruel captor, the Phantom “[laughs] so loudly and hideously that [they . . . hear] nothing except the monster’s laughter” (Leroux, p. 228).

Citations:

Carson-Newman University. (2013). Byronic hero. Accessed November 16, 2013,   from http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_B.html

Leroux, G. (1985). The phantom of the opera. New York: Dorset Press.

Reader, I Married Him

Although enveloped in a cloak upon first introduction, Mr. Rochester, visible to the reader through Jane’s eyes, has “a dark face, with stern features and a heavy brow; his eyes and gathered eyebrows [look] ireful and thwarted” (Bronte, p. 136). Upon further inspection of

 the master of the house, Jane notes that he is “more remarkable for character than beauty; his full nostrils, denoting . . . choler; his grim mouth, chin, and jaw – yes, all three were very grim, and no mistake” (Bronte, p. 144). 

Edward Fairfax Rochester, the “proud, sardonic, moody master of Thornfield” (Magill, p. 540), illustrates the Byronic hero in his “persistent loneliness” and his “indulgence in personal pain” (Carson-Newman University, 2013). Rochester hides a dark secret and is near to unbridled rage when that secret, so carefully concealed for years, rises to light. Jane, standing close by, “[feels] the spasmodic movement of fury or despair run through his frame. His eye . . . now [has] a tawny, nay a bloody light in its gloom” (Bronte, p. 352). 

                                                                                             
                           
Citations:

Bronte, J. (1983). Jane Eyre. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers.
Carson-Newman University. (2013). Byronic hero. Accessed November 16, 2013, from
     http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_B.html

Magill, F.N., Ed. (1963). Cyclopedia of literary characters. New York: Harper & Row.

The Only Cause I Know

Set in stark contrast to the insipid, languid Ashley Wilkes, Rhett Butler boasts the energy and dashing good looks of a buccaneer. Although Rhett shows a “cool recklessness in his face and a cynical humor in his mouth,” there is “undeniably a look of good blood in his dark face” (Mitchell, p. 96). 

Captain Butler depicts the Byronic hero in several striking ways. He “defies . . . conventional morality” by asking the widowed Mrs.Hamilton to dance, exudes “fiery rebellion” in denouncing the Confederacy, and experiences “alienation from [the] community” because of these shortcomings (Carson-Newman University, 2013). Rhett, deplorably lacking in manners and morals, still draws the sympathy of the reader by his unabashed acknowledgement of his faults and his constant, though unrequited, love for Scarlett.

Often maligned for his clear foresight into the hopeless future of the Cause, Rhett yields to an impulse that compels him to join the army regardless of the futility of such an action. Mitchell portrays Butler as a man of deep passion and decided opinions given to moments of intense introspection. Driven to despair by Scarlett’s unrelenting fantasies of Ashley Wilkes, Captain Butler gradually withdraws further into himself, becoming unbearably sarcastic and cynical. 

Citations:
Carson-Newman University. (2013). Byronic hero. Accessed November 16, 2013,                                   from http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_B.html

Mitchell, M. (1936). Gone with the wind. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.