Archetypal Characters & The Romantic Hero

5 “I’s” of Romanticism

• Imagination

• Intuition

• Innocence

• Inner Experience

• Inspiration

Characteristics of a Romantic Hero

• Big ego

• Experience life fully

• Non conformists

• Extraordinary Achievements

• Die young

Characteristics of the Romantic Hero

• A romantic hero must possess an understanding of his inner-

self or inner-world.

• He must also understand the value of his experiences through

emotions, intuition, and feelings rather than logically

reasoning.

• The audience must also be able to emotionally connect with

the romantic hero on some level of emotion so that no matter

the experience of the hero, the audience will relate to his

experiences.

• sophisticated, mysterious, and a bit dangerous.

• a moody rebel, who can be very arrogant.

• attractive to women who are drawn to his

complicated personality, hidden conflicts, and

secret past.

• drawn to nature and filled

with intuition.

• reject the standard guidelines

of society and adhere to their

own code of morality and justice.

(think Batman, not Superman).

Authors of Romantic Heroes

• Nathaniel Hawthorne

– 1804-1864

– Explores hidden

motivations in his

characters

– The Scarlet Letter

(1850)

• Herman Melville

– 1819-1891

– International

recognition for Moby

Dick (1851)

– Moral strength verse

Evil

Real Life Romantic Heroes• Napoleon

– 1769-1821

– First Romantic

Hero from

Europe and First

Dictator from

Europe

– Ended French

Revolution

• Frederick Douglas

– 1817-1895

– Leading anti-slavery spokesperson

– Escaped from slavery to become an advocate

– “It was slavery I hated . . . Feeding and clothing me could not atone for taking my Liberty away”

• Sojourner Truth

– 1797-1883

– Born as Isabella

Baumfree

– Feminist and

abolitionist

Romantic Heroes in Literature

• Heathcliff in

Wuthering

Heights,

• Mr.

Rochester in

Jane Eyre,

• Rhett Butler

in Gone With

the Wind.

NOTE:

• We are NOT talking

about Romantic as in

Romantic Love

• We are talking about

Romantic as is from

Roman Times

Archetype

• An archetype is an original or

fundamental imaginative pattern that is

repeated through the ages.

An archetype can be a plot,

an event, a character, a

setting, or an object.

Can you think of several movies

that have the same plot?

Literary Focus: Mood

• Mood– the overall feeling or atmosphere of

a story, play, or poem– may be the most

difficult literary element to define.

• After all, mood is intangible; you can’t

point to mood in a text

• It’s all about feeling

• In order to identify a story’s mood, start

with the setting.

• Pay close attention to the details of time and

place, and ask yourself how the setting

makes you feel.

• Look carefully at the writer’s word choice.

– For example: is a tree rotting or budding?

• Then, consider the plot

– Does it end happily, or does

is present a bitter or tragic

outlook on life?

• The mood of most stories can be identified

with one or two adjectives:

– Gloomy, romantic, threatening, and so on

• Remember that even though you may sense

several moods in some stories, one

dominate feeling will usually prevail.

– humor in the midst of horror, for example