Who is the Byronic Hero in Frankenstein?
In order to determine who the Byronic Hero is in Frankenstein, let’s first take a look at what exactly it means to be a Byronic hero. A twist on the traditional Romantic hero, the Byronic hero is that of a slightly unconventional nature. Deriving from Lord Byron’s characters in his writing as well as his own persona, the Byronic Hero is typically a melancholy, rebellious, isolated young man who lives with a troubled past.
To those who have read Frankenstein, it may come as no surprise that Victor Frankenstein himself takes on the role of the Byronic hero in this text. In order to further explore how Victor plays this role, I have compiled a list of elements that can typically be found in a Byronic hero.
A Byronic hero typically:
Rejects established behaviors and becomes something of a law unto himself
Values self-knowledge more than physical strength or endurance
Is moody, isolated and introspective, but at times may also be dangerous
Experiences through emotions, intuition and feelings rather than logical reasoning
Although there are more qualities that may come into play when looking at a prime example of a Byronic hero, the qualities listed above are those most applicable to Victor. Let’s take a look at why this is.
Seeking fame and glory, Victor ventures on an intellectual journey explore a field of science that remains untouched. Through rejecting established behaviours, Victor attempts to play god and reanimate the dead. However, once Victor manages to bring his ‘child’ to life by penetrating the laws of mother nature, he “[beholds] the wretch - the miserable monster whom [he] had created” and orphans it due to it’s appearance. Although he has symbolically birthed a child with mother nature, he does not take responsibility for his actions and therefore does not accept the ‘child’ as his own.
Consequent to his thirst for glory, during the process of creating the monster, Victor values self-knowledge more than his physical strength or endurance. “After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue”, Victor forgets about his physical condition in order to learn more about the science of natural philosophy. He states that his “cheek has grown pale with study”, portraying the deterioration of his physical health.
Not only does Victor trade his physical health for knowledge, but he also becomes increasingly isolated and introspective once he moves away from his family to study at the University of Ingolstadt. Although Victor develops competence in his field of study, his lust for knowledge drives him into isolation and causes him to lose contact with his loved ones. He “[forgets] those friends who were so many miles absent” much like he “[neglects] the scenes around [him]” and loses touch with the outside world.
Lastly, Victor feels such a great sense of pride in attempting to push the boundaries on what humans are able to achieve, that he experiences through emotions, intuition and feelings rather than logical reasoning. He desires to create life so that “many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to [him]”, but through doing so creates one creature who leads him to his demise. After abandoning it after its creation, the creature decides to make Victor suffer like he did by depriving him of love and whittling down Victors mental and physical health. The creature does this by murdering Victor's loved ones and causes Victor to seek revenge. In his attempt to avenge his loved ones and destroy the creature, Victor loses touch with reality and chases the creature even though he knows the creature can elude him easily.
Through isolating himself, not thinking logically and rejecting established behaviors, Victor begins to value self-knowledge more than his own physical health. Coupled with the examples listed above, these Byronic traits cause Victor to play the role of the Byronic Hero in Frankenstein.
Although I have examined why Victor can be seen as the Byronic hero, in case you are interested, here is also an explanation as to why the monster/creation may also fill this role:
http://kmlsarchives.livejournal.com/2787.html