Historically, the Romantic era has come to symbolise an age of change and desire in the social and political sense. In a time of revolution abroad and domestic reform, one can see the importance of desire as a vehicle for change. By examining Byron, Austen and Edgeworth in a new historicist style, one is presented with differing viewpoints on desire, its effect on the narrative and its inferred comments on society.
In Byron’s ‘Manfred’, the theme of desire primarily concerns knowledge and in the latter acts, a need for forgiveness. In the initial scene, Manfred is exposed as a Freudian character who seeks knowledge from supernatural forces. From this first scene, one could ‘accuse Byron of writing Manfred with Faust open
Before him’ . However, Manfred’s quest for Faustian knowledge becomes subverted into a desire to forget, which is ultimately fulfilled in Manfred’s death.
MANFRED. The spirits I have raised abandon me,
The spells which I have studied baffle me,
The remedy I recked of tortured me;
I lean no more on supernatural aid,
It hath no power upon the past, and for
The future, till the past be gulfed in darkness, […]
If it be life to wear within myself
This barrenness of spirit and to be
My own sepulchre, for I have ceased
To justify my deeds unto myself.
This illustrates Manfred’s turn from a Faustian character into the Byronic hero. By sacrificing his desire for knowledge, Manfred questions himself resulting in his character becoming detached from nature and desiring death. If one applies Byron’s own life to this analysis we find parallels between Byron and his protagonist. In the context of exile and suspected incest, one could suggest that Manfred’s desire to be forgiv...
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...er supposedly representing 'probable' characters and incidents in contemporary life, especially 'fashionable' or courtly society, while the latter was thought to present eccentric characters in improbable circumstances and exotic or unusual locations. […] Since 'romances' were widely believed to inspire a taste for the improbable and sensational, some blamed them for exposing gullible readers to the appeal of Revolutionary 'speculation' and violence.
Thus, from Kelly’s criticism we can see that ‘Romanticism’ is seen to be inciting violence and rebellion against the established orders, much as Byron’s would have hoped. However, it also allows us to prove that Austen’s conservatism shows desire as negative, Romantic and Un-British thus the importance of desire in ‘Sense and Sensibility is that it allows an allusion to the ideological differences of the time.
Romanticism was a movement in art and literature in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in revolt against the Neoclassicism of the previous centuries. The romanticism movement in literature consists of a few of the following characteristics: intuition over fact, imagination over fact, and the stretch and alteration of the truth. The death of a protagonist may be prolonged and/or exaggerated, but the main point was to signify the struggle of the individual trying to break free, which was shown in “The Fall of the House Usher” (Prentice Hall Literature 322).
The central figures in these three works are all undoubtedly flawed, each one in a very different way. They may have responded to their positions in life, or the circumstances in which they find themselves may have brought out traits that already existed. Whichever applies to each individual, or the peculiar combination of the two that is specific to them, it effects the outcome of their lives. Their reaction to these defects, and the control or lack of it that they apply to these qualities, is also central to the narrative that drives these texts. The exploration of the characters of these men and their particular idiosyncrasies is the thread that runs throughout all of the works.
Both Shakespeare’s King Lear and Dante’s Inferno explore the reasons for, and results of, human suffering. Each work postulates that human suffering comes as a result of choices that are made: A statement that is not only applicable to the characters in each of the works, but also to the readers. The Inferno and King Lear speak universal truths about the human condition: that suffering is inevitable and unavoidable. While both King Lear and the Inferno concentrate on admonitions and lamentations of human suffering, one of the key differences between the works is that Inferno conveys an aspect of hope that is not nearly as prevalent in King Lear.
The literary beacons of the period addressed these desires both discreetly and overtly, but were tame compared to the explicit expression of desire found in present day. There are many ways modern day society differs from that of the 16th century and although the same desires would be addressed differently today, the way these desires are handled is shaped by the occurrences of the 16 century and the portrayal of desire in literature.
“Lord Byron.” Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of World Literature. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2009: 269-272. Student Resources in Context. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
Jane Austen, author of Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, and many other well-known books, was born on December 16th, 1775, in England. Her parents, George and Cassandra Austen, came from lower middle-class English families. When Austen was a child, her home had an open and intellectual atmosphere, and her family frequently discussed politics and social issues. This influenced her writing as an adult, which explored themes of social class and the treatment of women. As a teenager, Austen was sent to Oxford to be educated, but she contracted typhus and nearly died. She was then educated at home, learning what girls were normally taught during that time, such as French, needlework, and music. Austen was also a enthusiastic reader,
Rudd, Jay. Critical Companion to Dante: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York. 2008. Print.
In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Jane uses the novel to show the common day romance of the time period. In the novel, Elizabeth Bennet, a sophisticated, lively girl manages to change Mr. Darcy, a cocky, stubborn man into a person who is head over heels in love. Although it takes her some time, Elizabeth is able to change the way Mr. Darcy feels about love in general and causes him to act differently then he has ever done before. Mr. Darcy’s self- discovery in response to Elizabeth Bennet’s blunt honestly allows him to re-evaluate his approach to love.
Moreover, Dante, the narrator of the Inferno, has succeeded in not only telling the frightening story of the Inferno, but also pointing out the importance of the relationship between human’s sins and God’s retribution, using the monsters as the symbols for each kind of sin and its punishment throughout the progress of the story, which teaches his readers to be well aware of their sins through the literature – a part of humanities; the disciplines that teach a man to be a human.
Bishop, Paul. "The Guilty Hero, Or: The Tragic Salvation of Faust." A Companion to Goethe's Faust: Parts I and II. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2001. 56-75. Print.
Having attained all that he desires from the knowledge of man, Marlowe’s character Faustus turns to the only remaining school of thought that he feels he must master which is the art of necromancy. In his pursuits, he manages to summon the devil Mephistopheles, arch demon of hell, and strikes a deal to trade his immortal soul with Lucifer in exchange for being granted an infinite amount of power and knowledge that extends even beyond the limits of human understanding. However in the process of negotiating the terms of his pact, it becomes clear that Faust is in a constant state of uncertainty in terms of whether he should repent and forsake the arrangement or simply go through with it. This underlying theme of internal struggle is introduced very early and reappears in later acts with the appearance of established binaries that suggest a theme of division not only among the character of John Faustus, but within the written text as a whole. This suggests that Faustus is meant to serve as a symbol for the divided nature of man and the consequences of failing to negotiate the struggles that are a result of the divided self.
In Faust, the intelligent gentleman Faust, seeks spiritual wholeness in knowledge. Through years of hard study, Faust becomes knowledgeable in math, sciences and religion and yet he becomes inept and incapable of having any romantic or physical relationships with the outside world. As Faust strives to become the "over man" through knowledge, he realizes that books will not satisfy his curiosity and that maybe sensual pleasures will. Therefore, in the process of creating his new life, Faust, becomes distant and unconcerned with all reality and humanity around him.
Despite its name, the Romantic literary period has little to nothing to do with love and romance that often comes with love; instead it focuses on the expression of feelings and imagination. Romanticism originally started in Europe, first seen in Germany in the eighteenth century, and began influencing American writers in the 1800s. The movement lasts for sixty years and is a rejection of a rationalist period of logic and reason. Gary Arpin, author of multiple selections in Elements of Literature: Fifth Course, Literature of The United States, presents the idea that, “To the Romantic sensibility, the imagination, spontaneity, individual feelings and wild nature were of greater value than reason, logic, planning and cultivation” (143). The Romantic author rejects logic and writes wild, spontaneous stories and poems inspired by myths, folk tales, and even the supernatural. Not only do the Romantics reject logic and reasoning, they praise innocence, youthfulness and creativity as well as the beauty and refuge that they so often find in nature.
each present a story in which the precariousness of social class and the perniciousness of love constitute a central conflict. Both the protagonist from Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff, and the protagonist from Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet, share a confident, yet stubborn demeanor; however, there are many characteristics and events that distinguish each of them as strong central characters in their own right.
Lord George Gordon Byron was the most controversial poet of the romantic era. Byron works consisted of common themes during the romantics such as high romance and the love of nature and tragic loss. He created the idea of the hero being a tragic figure who is born to desire something that they will never accomplish. Through this Byron created and perfected the idea of the Byronic hero. Byron first used this in his poem, “Childe Harold's Pilgrimage”. The work introduced us to who would late become the example of a Byronic hero or character (Manning). The idea of the Byronic hero is one that consists of many different characteristics. The hero must have a rather high level of intelligence and perception as well as be able to easily adapt to new situations and use cunning to his own gain. It is clear from this description that this hero is well educated and by extension is rather sophisticated in his style. Aside from the obvious charm and attractiveness that this automatically creates, he struggles with his integrity, being prone to mood swings or bipolar tendencies. Generally, the hero has a disrespect for any figure of authority, thus creating the image of the Byronic hero as an exile or an outcast. The hero also has a tendency to be arrogant and cynical, indulging in self-destructive behavior which leads to the need to seduce women. Although his sexual attraction through being mysterious is rather helpful, this sexual attraction often gets the hero into trouble (Wikipedia). In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte had a character that fit this description very well in Mr Rochester. But instead it was the influence of the culture surrounding the idea of the Byronic hero that made Rochester seem Byronic. Rochester seen through multiple examp...