Byronic heroes (from main list)

[Porphyria Ashenden <porphyria@mindspring.com>]

Hello, Chatter folks. I wanted to answer this thread from the main 
list, but I started to rove over the question of how we interpret 
works, the definition of the Byronic Hero in general, and then just 
plain ramble. So I posted it here. :-)

Marianne asked:

> Okay, help me out here. When discussing literary figures, in this 
> case heroes, subcatagory Byronic heroes, do the definitions of 
> Byronic hero apply to a reader's perception of a character, or with 
> how the other characters in the literary work view the subject?  To 
> continue with Snape as the potential Byronic Man, is he Byronic in 
> how we relate to him or in how he interacts with and is percieved 
by 
> the other Potterverse characters (I was a science major, okay?)

Porphyria (me):

Well, that's a good question. But I'd have to say that when you ask 
the question "Is character X a Byronic hero" you are necessarily 
directing that question to a reader who is looking at a character, 
because you are asking the reader to do a comparison between that 
character and several other characters from other works of fiction. 
You can't really expect a character to see himself or be seen by 
others as a Byronic hero from within the story world of the books. 
Most people don't see themselves as literary types. (Well, maybe a 
few. <g>) So I'd say it's a question of how we perceive him as 
readers. 

Plus, we also judge these things by how the author depicts the 
character: the words she uses, the type of mood, effect or genre 
she's trying to evoke. Often I suspect that JKR has other literary 
characters in mind when she writes about Snape (e.g. see my quote 
from Radcliffe below), and so we can only make that observation from 
the point of view of readers reading the text for clues, not from the 
point of view of other characters.

Marianne:
 
> So, does the fact that there doesn't seem to be canon support for 
> Snape's attractiveness negate at least that part of the Byronic 
hero 
> concept? Or is canon outweighed by the positive reaction to Snape's 
> attractiveness that lots of readers have?
 
Porphyria:
 
Well, in general I doubt if any one specific characteristic 
would 'negate' someone's being a Byronic hero as long as there were 
several other characteristics that did qualify, as they do in Snape's 
case. It's not like a mathematical proof; it's more of a basic 
overall judgment. Besides, since all literary characters are unique, 
we can't expect any one to be a 'perfect' example of any specific 
type.

In this case, contrary to what GulPlum stated, I'm not aware that a 
character has to be classically handsome in order to be a Byronic 
type. As eillim noted, Mr. Rochester isn't. Byronic 'looks' tend to 
run more towards the striking and memorable: dramatic, dark, 
mysterious, a little threatening. The Byronic hero was based on some 
villainous predecessors, such as Milton's Satan or Ann Radcliffe's 
_The Italian_:
 
"Among his associates no one loved him, many disliked him, and more 
feared him. His figure was striking, but not so from grace; it was 
tall, and, though extremely thin, his limbs were large and uncouth, 
and as he stalked along, wrapped in the black garments of his order, 
there was something terrible in its air; something almost super-
human. His cowl, too, as it threw a shade over the livid paleness of 
his face, increased its severe character, and gave an effect to his 
large melancholy eye, which approached to horror. His was not the 
melancholy of a sensible and wounded heart, but apparently that of a 
gloomy and ferocious disposition. There was something in his 
physiognomy extremely singular, and that cannot easily be defined. It 
bore the traces of many passions, which seemed to have fixed the 
features they no longer animated. An habitual gloom and severity 
prevailed over the deep lines of his countenance; and his eyes were 
so piercing that they seemed to penetrate, at a single glance, into 
the hearts of men, and to read their most secret thoughts; few 
persons could support their scrutiny, or even endure to meet them 
twice. "
-- From _The Italian_
 
He sounds familiar! Well, at least Radcliffe doesn't 
say "glittering." ;-)
 
In another reply, Irene said:
 
> Heathcliff and his ilk just does nothing to me but bore me to 
tears. This
> big archetypal
> romantic hero has to be rich and idle - as much money free  time as
> necessary to
> wander aimlessly all over Europe in search of his purpose in life, 
no?
> At least in Russian romantic literature it was an absolute 
requirement. <g>
> 
> Now Snape has a profession, and he is dedicated and very good at it,
> which for me is one of his biggest selling points and also 
something that
> disqualifies him from being Byronic hero.
 
Porphyria: 
 
So you wouldn't consider Goethe's Faust or Victor Frankenstein to be 
Byronic heroes? They were both passionate, ambitious career men whose 
dark, secret, past mistakes had to do with their drive for knowledge 
and power. I can't help but lump Snape in with them.
 
Having said that, I do agree that some Byronic types (like 
Heathcliff) are boring and that Snape's relationship to his job, both 
in his duty and in his (IMO) frustration, makes him particularly 
sympathetic and sets him apart from many stereotypes. In Snape's case 
its the odd combination, that he's a larger-than-life dark anti-hero 
who happens to be pinned into a schoolteacher job, that makes him so 
singular and makes any simple comparison to another character less 
than satisfactory.

The one thing that I think might stand in the way of Snape being a 
Byronic hero is the fact that he isn't actually the *hero* of this 
story. He's sort of secondary, as Byronic heroes go. They tend to be 
attention-hogs. <g> This probably explains why he seems more of a 
Byronic hero in fanfic, if the fanfic is in fact Snapefic, and 
therefore revolves around him. But we'll only find out at the end of 
the HP series how important, and in what ways Snape's own story 
influences the whole. 

I'm curious as to what other literary characters people consider good 
Byronic heroes, in addition to the ones mentioned on the main list. 
Because I think that the definition of a Byronic type depends a lot 
on what books we're considering 'count' as predecessors. Heck, I'm 
interested in anything anyone has to say about possible literary 
predecessors for Snape, Byronic or otherwise.

Thanks,
~Porphyria