In Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, Frankenstein falls into the stereotypical category of Romantic characters called the Byronic Hero. The term of the Byronic hero was coined in 1812 by Lord Byron. Lord Byron’s real name was George Gordon, he existed as one of the most famous poets in the western half of the world. One of his well-known pieces of work which specifically pertains to Frankenstein is known as Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. In the piece of literature, Byron addresses moral reflection with his main protagonist Harold, who quickly earned titles such as a “gothic hero-villain” or “noble outlaws”(Lord Byron). Following the work of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, many of Lord Byron’s publishments included protagonists with dark traits such as “romantic melancholy, guilt for secret sin, pride, defiance, restlessness, alienation, revenge, remorse, moodiness, and such noble virtues as honor, altruism, courage, and pure love for a gentle woman” (Lord Byron). Mary Shelley takes many of the traits of Lord Byron’s Byronic hero in order to create Victor Frankenstein’s character.
One of the common traits of a Byronic hero is the tendency for them to become overly passionate about one interest. In Romantic literature, this consumption is key because it takes control of every ounce of emotion that the character embodies. It is easy for the Byronic hero to fall in suit with chasing a singular passion because he “has emotional and intellectual capacities, which are superior to the average man,” however, “these heightened abilities force the Byronic hero to be arrogant, confident, abnormally sensitive resulting in his rebellion against life itself”(Marin 82). Mary Shelley’s character Frankenstein is a perfect example of one who rebels against life itself, as he tries to crack the actual code of life. He studied natural philosophy and chemistry every waking hour and even admitted that he had devoted his life to it. It is seen in Chapter Four when he says, “A mind of moderate capacity, which closely pursue some study, must infallibly arrive at a great proficiency in that study; and I, who continually sought the attainment of one object of pursuit, and was solely wrapt up in this, improved so rapidly”(Shelley 42). Frankenstein knew he had the potential of being a well-known scientist if he was able to reanimate the dead. He walked around with a chip on his shoulder, seeing that he was more committed to his studies than anyone else around him.
Beyond the devotion to one passion, the Byronic hero is often known as a moody or bipolar individual. The character experiences the pinnacle of success and then is suddenly overwhelmed by negative feelings, such as depression or guilt. Cristina Gabriela says, “Byron created heroes who embody the ultimate in individualism, self-sufficiency, ambition, and aspiration, yet who are isolated, gloomy, unsatisfied, and dangerous to themselves and others”(Marin 82). Frankenstein exhibits both the positive and negative sides of the character described by Marin. Following his grand success in the creation of The Monster, he is weighed down by terror, regret, and shame. On the night he rose The Monster to life he expected a beautiful creation, but he found quite the opposite. Furious, he said, “For this I had deprived myself of rest and health...but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart”(Shelley 47). In a supposed moment of triumph Victor’s feelings were the opposite of celebratory, they in fact lead to feelings of great regret and shame.
Victor Frankenstein also displays fluctuation in his feelings toward one of the most important decisions in the book; he is wavering in the choice whether to create The Monster another companion or not. As modern critics suggest Byronic heroes are often bipolar “because the Byronic hero exists in states of extreme emotions, including anger, which sometimes leads to violent outbursts”(Kelly). Frankenstein displays this outburst and sudden reversal of opinion when he deviates from his original promise of creating a second monster. The exact moment he changed his mind was in Chapter 20 when Frankenstein says, “I thought with a sensation of madness on my promise of creating another like to him, and trembling with passion, tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged...I left the room, and, locking the door, made a solemn vow in my own heart never to resume my labors”(Shelley 142). Victor Frankenstein never stayed constant in his emotions or opinions alike, even with regard to the most important decisions that could have harmed all of mankind. This proves for a fact the Mary Shelley crafted him to fit the definition of the Byronic hero, even at the most critical points in the novel.
The inner battle against morality that Victor Frankenstein fought after his triumph, consequently lead to his inward crumbling. This is common in terms of the Byronic hero, seeing that many of them have hidden sins or secrets. “This character is usually an anti-hero who has committed a great crime for which he may feel guilt, but for which he has not repented since he feels he is above societal or spiritual law”(Forina). Victor Frankenstein felt as if his tale would seem above the sense of logic to the commoners, so he avoided telling it out of fear of being labeled as insane. He says, “My tale is not one to announce publicly; its astounding horror would be looked upon as madness by the vulgar. Did any one indeed exist, except I, the creator, who would believe, unless his senses convinced him, in the existence of the living monument of presumption and rash ignorance which I had let loose upon the world”(Shelley 65)? He knew his actions were not going to be easy to explain, so he simply sat back and did not take responsibility. This urge to seek justice ate away at him, but he knew it would be hard to obtain without other’s trust in the story he would tell about the creation of The Monster. Therefore, he had to suffer from the weight of the guilt and shame day in and day out, knowing that his horrifying secret was stuck with him forever.
Provided that many of the Byronic heroes have hidden sins, they often seek isolation in order to gain resiliency against the weight of their shame. In Lord Byron’s original piece of work that developed the Byronic hero, isolation is shown by the peace and healing the character finds away from society. It is specifically described in this excerpt from Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, “There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,/ There is a rapture on the lonely shore,/ There is society where none intrudes”(Byron). Harold found that his soul healed best in the presence of nature, Frankenstein parallels this in the novel. He found isolation in the deep passages of the mountains along with in his boat on the lake. When his mental state was in shambles he said, “ I took refuge in the most perfect solitude. I passed whole days on the lake alone in a little boat, watching the clouds, and listening to the rippling waves, silent and listless. But the fresh air and bright sun seldom failed to restore me to some degree of composure; and, on my return, I met the salutations of my friends with a readier and a more cheerful heart”(Shelley 129). The Byronic heroes, as beings of the Romantic Era, also found healing within nature. Once they were at one with nature, they felt as if they could think clearly and were freed from the other distractions of the world. Frankenstein was heavily dependent upon nature to keep him from going insane, it was his savior in the times he felt so heavy with sin.
Victor Frankenstein was made to fit the mold of Lord Byron’s archetypal character known as the Byronic hero. Mary Shelley carefully designed him to express the dark qualities of a Byronic hero such as arrogance, isolation, and moodiness. These traits all stemmed off of the fact that he had a hidden secret that he refused to willingly release to the rest of society. The practice of including a Byronic hero in literature was common during the Romantic Era, as it allowed the author to go along with most of the tropes of the time period. Mary Shelley clearly followed suit and made Victor Frankenstein the Byronic hero of her own novel Frankenstein.
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Works Cited:
Byron, George. “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage.” poets.org, accessed 01 March 2019, https://www.poets.org/poets org/poem/childe-harolds-pilgrimage-there-pleasu re-pathless-woods.
Forina, Marybeth. “Edward Rochester: A New Byronic Hero.” Undergraduate Review, vol. 10, 2014, https://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.g oogle.com/&httpsr edir=1&article=1283&context=undergrad_rev.
Kelly, Amber. “Literary Blueprints: The Byronic Hero.”The Ploughshares Blog, 01 January 2015, http://blog.pshares.org/index.php/literary-blueprints-the-byronic-hero/.
“Lord Byron (George Gordon).” Poetry Foundation, accessed 26 February 2019, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/lord-byron.
Marin, Cristina. “The Byronic Hero.” Language and Literature-European Landmarks of Identity, 2008, pp. 81-86.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein (1818). Prestwick, 2005.
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