Abstract
This paper attempts to present the journey of the Byronic Hero’s consciousness toward self-consciousness in “The Prisoner of Chillon” and “Mazeppa”. In this regard, Hegel’s uppermost notion about lordship-bondage as stated in “The Phenomenology of Spirit” is applied to these narrative verses while concentrating on the interaction and relationship of the Byronic Hero and the environment. The lordship-bondage notion, emphasizing freedom, dependency and independency, maps the development of one’s consciousness toward self-consciousness in which one acquires knowledge and independency. Lordship-bondage is a reciprocal relationship in which one confronts another being and sets a struggle in order to establish and maintain the superiority and dominance. Hegel’s illustration of lordship-bondage is primarily known as master-slave , comprising three stages of confrontation: recognition and acceptance highlighted within the three phases of thesis, anti-thesis, and synthesis. As these terms merge together, one’s consciousness is observed through them and through interacting with another consciousness to clarify contradictory manifestations of the two people. Hence, the Byronic Hero’s self-consciousness is portrayed to present him as the Hegelian Slave. As an interdisciplinary study, his interaction with the environment is analyzed based on the mentioned framework.
Highlights
Described as “attractive and dangerous” (Quinn, 2006) and having come into being through creating “The Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage”, the Byronic Hero is the crux of Lord Byron’s poetical works as well as of the Romantic period as he was followed later on throughout the literature of the time and of the modern era
The journey undertaken by the Byronic Hero is one which reflects how he acquires knowledge and self-consciousness. In portraying such a journey, Hegelian master-slave dialectics is applied to observe the Byronic hero through the stages of confrontation, recognition and acceptance which are adapted to three phases of thesis, anti-thesis, and synthesis
Hegelian master-slave dialectics is a part of “Phenomenology of Spirit” in which he philosophically sketches the movement of consciousness towards gaining absolute knowledge, which implies becoming self-conscious
Summary
Described as “attractive and dangerous” (Quinn, 2006) and having come into being through creating “The Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage”, the Byronic Hero is the crux of Lord Byron’s poetical works as well as of the Romantic period as he was followed later on throughout the literature of the time and of the modern era. “If poetry is a disease, -Byron depicts it as a potential cure-or at least as offering some form of relief through expression” (Lokash, 2007) In this case Margaret Daniel (2004) called the Byronic Hero the historical, political and social product of the time. The Byronic hero in the narrative verses of “The prisoner of Chillon” and “Mazeppa” is presented in two distinguished ways of primarily objective and subjective narrative style. It means that the first stanzas of the verses are narrated from the third person point of view while introducing characters and setting as the preparative steps to observe the Byronic Hero by itself. In portraying such a journey, Hegelian master-slave dialectics is applied to observe the Byronic hero through the stages of confrontation, recognition and acceptance which are adapted to three phases of thesis, anti-thesis, and synthesis
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