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This novel, though incredibly ~problematic~ created a paradigm shift for the Byronic hero
and romance in general - before this, if a woman is “defiled”, she can only regain
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This novel though incredibly ~problematic~ created a paradigm shift for the Byronic hero
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  • 00:00

    Edward Cullen.

  • 00:01

    Han Solo.

  • 00:02

    Killmoklknger.

  • 00:03

    Lestat.

  • 00:04

    What do all these characters have in common besides being heartthrobs?

  • 00:08

    They share a common ancestor: the Byronic Hero.

  • 00:11

    Brooding, sensual, violent, intelligent, and single-minded, the Byronic hero has been a

  • 00:17

    staple in literature dating back to the 19th century, but the archetype is all over film,

  • 00:22

    TV and even video games.

  • 00:24

    I see you Cloud Strife, all sad and angsty with your giant sword.

  • 00:28

    But what does it mean to be a Byronic hero?

  • 00:32

    And who was the man that helped create this iconic archetype?

  • 00:35

    Let’s get into the myth, the man, and the literary legacy.

  • 00:44

    According to Professor Peter L. Thorslev, author of The Byronic Hero: Types and Prototypes,

  • 00:48

    and Romantic Contraries,

  • 00:50

    “The characteristic Byronic hero. . .has borrowed characteristics from the Gothic Villain,

  • 00:55

    in his looks, his mysterious past, and his secret sins; and[...] from the Man of Feeling

  • 01:01

    in his tender sensibilities and in his undying fidelity to the woman he loves—but he is

  • 01:08

    more than these: he is also a Romantic rebel.[...] he chooses his values in open defiance of

  • 01:14

    the codes of society”

  • 01:16

    That’s right you defy the codes of society by being … sad and hot, with your slightly

  • 01:22

    stalker-like tendencies.

  • 01:26

    The Byronic Hero allowed for more complicated male characters to form and without him we

  • 01:30

    miss out on the development of the anti-hero.

  • 01:33

    But where did the Byronic hero even come from?

  • 01:36

    A very, very bad boy named George Gordon Byron aka Lord Byron.

  • 01:42

    Born to an absent father and a mercurial mother, Byron had a brilliant mind, but was tormented

  • 01:49

    due to being born with misshapen foot.

  • 01:52

    He came into wealth while young, but was surrounded by such a malevolent cast of characters in

  • 01:58

    his home life, he makes The Dursleys look loving and supportive.

  • 02:01

    Because of his slightly warped foot, Byron exercised excessively to make up for what

  • 02:08

    he saw as a flaw.

  • 02:09

    The other thing he was excessive about, was his love of the ladies (and the gents).

  • 02:15

    Enter: Lady Caroline Lamb, England, 1812.

  • 02:21

    Caroline Lamb, wife of future Prime Minister Lord Melbourne, had a very messy love affair

  • 02:27

    with Byron that had several public dramatic moments, including her breaking a wine glass

  • 02:33

    and trying to harm herself.

  • 02:36

    She notoriously called Byron: “mad, bad, and dangerous to know.”

  • 02:41

    Definite a gemini, TMZ would have lived for it.

  • 02:46

    The real kicker came when Lamb wrote her gothic revenge novel Glenarvon, which frames Byron

  • 02:51

    as a vampiric figure who, through his incredible magnetism, attracts women only to suck out

  • 02:57

    their strength by stealing their hearts, and taking their innocence.

  • 03:04

    Glenarvon was basically a tell-all book under the guise of fiction with very clear allusions

  • 03:09

    to real people, allusions that were so obvious that it ended Lamb’s standing in society

  • 03:15

    …. forever.

  • 03:16

    But the public loved it and the main villain that Byron inspired, Clarence de Ruthven aka

  • 03:22

    Lord Glenarvon, was … deliciously messy.

  • 03:25

    It was from this story that we got the first, non-Byron created, Byronic “hero.”

  • 03:32

    And lo, the Byronic floodgates opened.

  • 03:35

    Gothic and romantic fiction of the 19th and early 20th century ate this up.

  • 03:40

    The Brontes, Dumas, Hugo, Leroux, hell even Ian Fleming’s James Bond is pretty Byronic.

  • 03:48

    So why is this version of a romantic hero so popular?

  • 03:52

    There are many kinds of Byronic Heroes, but for the sake of everyone we are going to split

  • 03:57

    them into two groups: the Gothic and the Romantic.

  • 04:01

    Gothic novels which often blend together horror and romance feature dark hopeless figures

  • 04:08

    tormented by a wrong done to them that makes up their entire existence.

  • 04:13

    They can sometimes be villains, but are often anti-heroes possessing some sort of complex

  • 04:20

    emotional backstory meant to be sympathetic.

  • 04:23

    Some famous examples are Victor Frankenstein and Frankenstein’s monster (Frankenstein),

  • 04:28

    Captain Ahab (Moby Dick), Erik (Phantom of the Opera), and Edmond Dantès (The Count

  • 04:34

    of Monte Cristo)...and Megamind!

  • 04:42

    In Romance literature (ie Romance literature of the 19th century as opposed to the romance

  • 04:48

    genre we know today) the hero is a solitary figure who seeks to live out their life in

  • 04:53

    isolation, but is pulled into society against their will.

  • 04:58

    They have a mixture of monstrous appearances, yet alluring personalities.

  • 05:03

    They will yell at you once, and then stare longing into your eyes afterwards.

  • 05:10

    ... It’s kind of a red flag if you think about it.

  • 05:13

    Popular versions of this are Rochester from Jane Eyre, Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights,

  • 05:19

    and ... pretty much any vampire in fiction who was ever sad about being a vampire.

  • 05:24

    They love to brood!

  • 05:26

    In the sad boy vs vengeance boy venn diagram what connects them is the grey morality that

  • 05:33

    makes you as the reader empathize with their situation.

  • 05:37

    The Creature from Frankenstein is reacting to the cruel world that created him and Victor,

  • 05:43

    while reckless, was genuinely frightened by what he had done and didn’t deserve to have

  • 05:50

    his whole family slaughtered.

  • 05:51

    Edmound Dantèes’ desire for revenge after spending fourteen years in a French prison

  • 05:56

    after being framed for a crime he didn’t commit is very understandable.

  • 06:02

    However, does it actually justify the innocent lives lost in the crossfire of said revenge

  • 06:08

    quest?

  • 06:09

    Judge Claude Frollo from Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel Hunchback is a good man who loves his

  • 06:16

    adoptive son and younger brother, but is gripped with lust for a woman he can not have and

  • 06:25

    it tips him into madness quicker than you can say “I’m losing to a bird.”

  • 06:32

    Heathcliff is such a compelling romantic lead because the text makes it clear he was forced

  • 06:37

    into becoming a bitter hateful man, but his young toxic love for Catherine and his lack

  • 06:45

    of redemption make him oddly sympathetic.

  • 06:49

    Rochester has this deep love for Jane and treats his servants kindly, but locks his

  • 06:57

    mentally ill wife in an attic and shames her for being sick.

  • 07:01

    Byron, he had this huge capacity for love, intelligence, and understood

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    the great beauty in the world.

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    But, also chaotic and emotionally aloof.

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    He was the baddest bad boy and the appeal of that character is

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    that misguided hope that one day you will be the one.

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    That you might ~ change him.

  • 07:25

    ~

  • 07:26

    As literary genre critic, Conrad Aquilina eloquently put it: “The Byronic hero bears

  • 07:30

    the dual markings of both villain and victim.

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    He is a fallen creature in his own right; a dark angel bringing both love and death,

  • 07:38

    yearning for redemption and ultimately finding none.”

  • 07:42

    Erik, the eponymous phantom from Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera is a talented man whose

  • 07:48

    lifetime of pain has forced him to resort to extreme means in order to be loved by someone.

  • 07:56

    Like building a torture chamber right to his guest bedroom.

  • 08:03

    In EM Hull’s 1919 novel The Sheik - not only is our hero abusive and tortured (which

  • 08:08

    I am putting mildly) he breaks his victim so hard she totally falls in love with him

  • 08:14

    by the end.

  • 08:15

    But don’t worry, he feels bad about it eventually.

  • 08:19

    This novel, though incredibly ~problematic~ created a paradigm shift for the Byronic hero

  • 08:26

    and romance in general - before this, if a woman is “defiled”, she can only regain

  • 08:30

    her purity through death, but this time she… gets a happy ending?

  • 08:36

    With the guy who kidnapped her?

  • 08:39

    Winning?

  • 08:40

    Though not as hot of a commodity in the mid-20th century, the late 20th century saw a huge

  • 08:47

    resurgence in the popularity of the Byronic hero - there was the emergence of the bodice

  • 08:52

    ripper subgenre of romance novels like 1972’s The Flame and the Flower, which is considered

  • 08:58

    the first “bodice ripper” romance and revolutionized the modern romance genre, and

  • 09:03

    it has a dynamic between its two romantic leads that is… very influenced by the Sheik.

  • 09:09

    And then there’s more recent characters like Twilight’s Edward Cullen, and his spiritual

  • 09:14

    descendant Christian Grey (ugh).

  • 09:17

    Yeah, I know, but he’s a really popular example so we have to talk about him.

  • 09:23

    Grey has severe childhood emotional and sexual trauma that keeps him from being able to form

  • 09:29

    healthy sexual or romantic relationships with women he respects.

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    Or … able to respect women period.

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    But don’t worry, here comes bright-eyed virgin Anastasia Steele, whom he gaslights,

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    abuses and makes her cry a lot.

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    She wants to change him and by the end of the thousand-plus agonizing pages, she succeeds,

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    and he’s healed now, hooray.

  • 10:00

    These characters are all different from the more traditional, upbeat capital R - romantic

  • 10:05

    hero in that they are primarily shaped and motivated by their traumas, past and present.

  • 10:12

    One might note that overwhelmingly these characters are male and white.

  • 10:16

    But more recently we see more female characters who possess some Byronic qualities: Faith

  • 10:21

    from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Regina from Once Upon a Time, Olivia Pope from Scandal,

  • 10:27

    Catra from She-Ra, but those characters are punished a lot more by both audiences and

  • 10:34

    writers for their nature.

  • 10:35

    It tends not to be framed with the same seductive quality.

  • 10:42

    The alluring aspect of female and non-white Byronic characters is seeing them have the

  • 10:46

    freedom to be more complex than just idealized one-note types of representation.

  • 10:51

    Atara Stein argues that Catherine Earnshaw from Wuthering Heights and Eustacia Vye from

  • 10:56

    The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy are Byronic heroes because of their “rebellion

  • 11:01

    against a conventional society that stifles individuality” and that “these Byronic

  • 11:07

    heroines take on the characteristics of the rebellious, ambitious, narcissistic, individualistic,

  • 11:14

    and ultimately self-destructive Byronic male.”

  • 11:18

    However both these female characters are killed off and those who are not, end up finding

  • 11:22

    their way back to “traditional female values.”

  • 11:28

    This reflects the reality for a lot of women in history who were both brilliant, but were

  • 11:33

    also loud, and may have suffered from mental illness and didn’t conduct themselves as

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    “ladies”

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    A major difference between the male and female variants, at least in the 19th century, is

  • 11:48

    that these female characters are not allowed to be romanticized in the same way men are.

  • 11:54

    Byronic heroes are unlikeable on purpose, but there will always be a privilege of being

  • 12:00

    white, male, and rich that allowed these characters to be so awful and get away with it.

  • 12:04

    Do you think Rochester would be able to get away with having a wife in his attic for the

  • 12:10

    lulz if he wasn’t a white dude?

  • 12:13

    Byron died at 36 years old from an illness exacerbated by the then-common medical practice

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    of bloodletting.

  • 12:18

    I'll let you google that.

  • 12:20

    His tragic death at a young age made him a hero.

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    The world mourned him in the same way people mourned Hendrix, Cobain, Winehouse, the sudden

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    death of a great artistic genius who burned so hotly and wildly that it was no shock at

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    all he burned out so young.

  • 12:38

    But in a delightful touch of irony one of the greatest legacies of Byron’s life was

  • 12:42

    his daughter Ada Lovelace, called one of the first computer programmers and some might

  • 12:48

    say even more of a genius than her own father.

  • 12:54

    And according to British literature Professor Andrew Elfenbein, “Byron is

  • 12:59

    not just an author, but an unprecedented cultural phenomenon.

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    His work affects not only the novel, poetry, and drama, but fashion, social manners, erotic

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    experience, and gender roles.”

  • 13:12

    The Byronic Hero has much in common with the broader concept of the anti-hero: tormented

  • 13:17

    by forces beyond their control, with a sharp wit that they have developed in order to cope

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    with whatever monstrous thing is innate to them, be it vampirism, childhood trauma or

  • 13:26

    a weird foot.

  • 13:27

    Now this damage doesn’t make them good.

  • 13:28

    There is no good reason to emotionally manipulate people or to lock your sick wife in the attic,

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    but the cruel circumstances of fate make them tragic.

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    Especially when the story makes it clear that otherwise they might have actually been someone

  • 13:51

    capable of true emotional growth.

  • 13:53

    Leroux even ends his The Phantom of the Opera thusly - “With an ordinary face, he would

  • 13:58

    have been one of the noblest members of the human race.

  • 14:02

    He had a heart great enough to hold the empire of the world, and in the end he had to be

  • 14:07

    content with a cellar.”

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    All of the tortured romantic bad boys of literature, film, and television have a little bit of

  • 14:14

    Byron in them.

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    So next time you get deep in your feelings for Kylo Ren or cheer on the redemption of

  • 14:21

    Prince Zuko or secretly pop on Twilight for the 200th time, pour one out for Lord Byron,

  • 14:27

    to whom we owe so much.

  • 14:30

    Yet we still formed an entire romantic based around who he was, flaws and all.

All

The example sentences of DEFILED in videos (13 in total of 19)

though preposition or subordinating conjunction they personal pronoun were verb, past tense holy adjective and coordinating conjunction living verb, gerund or present participle the determiner eternal adjective life noun, singular or mass , they personal pronoun have verb, non-3rd person singular present defiled verb, past participle themselves personal pronoun with preposition or subordinating conjunction the determiner
and coordinating conjunction romance noun, singular or mass in preposition or subordinating conjunction general adjective - before preposition or subordinating conjunction this determiner , if preposition or subordinating conjunction a determiner woman noun, singular or mass is verb, 3rd person singular present defiled verb, past participle , she personal pronoun can modal only adverb regain verb, base form
and coordinating conjunction though preposition or subordinating conjunction ye proper noun, singular were verb, past tense holy adjective , spiritual adjective , living verb, gerund or present participle the determiner eternal adjective life noun, singular or mass , you personal pronoun have verb, non-3rd person singular present defiled verb, past participle yourselves noun, plural with preposition or subordinating conjunction
' why wh-adverb do verb, non-3rd person singular present your possessive pronoun disciples noun, plural not adverb walk verb, non-3rd person singular present according verb, gerund or present participle to to the determiner tradition noun, singular or mass of preposition or subordinating conjunction the determiner elders noun, plural but coordinating conjunction eat verb, base form with preposition or subordinating conjunction defiled verb, past participle hands noun, plural ? '
go verb, base form , bind noun, singular or mass semjaza proper noun, singular and coordinating conjunction his possessive pronoun associates noun, plural who wh-pronoun have verb, non-3rd person singular present united verb, past participle themselves personal pronoun with preposition or subordinating conjunction women noun, plural so adverb as preposition or subordinating conjunction to to have verb, base form defiled verb, past participle
you're proper noun, singular gonna proper noun, singular look verb, non-3rd person singular present in preposition or subordinating conjunction a determiner broken verb, past participle mirror noun, singular or mass and coordinating conjunction then adverb change noun, singular or mass your possessive pronoun face noun, singular or mass to to try verb, base form to to look verb, base form good adjective in preposition or subordinating conjunction this determiner defiled verb, past tense , busted verb, past tense
and coordinating conjunction have verb, non-3rd person singular present defiled verb, past participle themselves personal pronoun with preposition or subordinating conjunction women noun, plural , and coordinating conjunction have verb, non-3rd person singular present done verb, past participle as preposition or subordinating conjunction the determiner children noun, plural of preposition or subordinating conjunction earth noun, singular or mass do verb, non-3rd person singular present , and coordinating conjunction have verb, non-3rd person singular present taken verb, past participle
defiled verb, past participle by preposition or subordinating conjunction greek proper noun, singular gods noun, plural and coordinating conjunction so adverb on preposition or subordinating conjunction and coordinating conjunction they personal pronoun start verb, non-3rd person singular present a determiner new adjective jewish proper noun, singular kingdom noun, singular or mass at preposition or subordinating conjunction that determiner point noun, singular or mass now adverb even adverb though preposition or subordinating conjunction
because preposition or subordinating conjunction it personal pronoun 's verb, 3rd person singular present been verb, past participle profaned verb, past participle it personal pronoun 's verb, 3rd person singular present being verb, gerund or present participle defiled verb, past participle once adverb you personal pronoun 've verb, non-3rd person singular present earned verb, past participle the determiner crown noun, singular or mass can modal you personal pronoun actually adverb lose verb, non-3rd person singular present it personal pronoun
back adverb to to be verb, base form his possessive pronoun wife noun, singular or mass after preposition or subordinating conjunction she personal pronoun has verb, 3rd person singular present been verb, past participle defiled verb, past participle ; for preposition or subordinating conjunction that determiner is verb, 3rd person singular present an determiner abomination noun, singular or mass before preposition or subordinating conjunction the determiner lord proper noun, singular ,
ramparts noun, plural rising verb, gerund or present participle from preposition or subordinating conjunction the determiner defiled verb, past participle core noun, singular or mass of preposition or subordinating conjunction the determiner works noun, plural like preposition or subordinating conjunction a determiner stake noun, singular or mass driven verb, past participle into preposition or subordinating conjunction its possessive pronoun
raid noun, singular or mass , because preposition or subordinating conjunction the determiner golden adjective vale proper noun, singular of preposition or subordinating conjunction eternal proper noun, singular blossoms proper noun, singular has verb, 3rd person singular present been verb, past participle defiled verb, past participle , many adjective npcs proper noun, singular who wh-pronoun have verb, non-3rd person singular present helped verb, past participle
oh interjection , betty proper noun, singular , if preposition or subordinating conjunction that determiner beanie proper noun, singular wearing verb, gerund or present participle cat proper noun, singular defiled verb, past tense you personal pronoun at preposition or subordinating conjunction least adjective, superlative please verb, base form tell verb, base form me personal pronoun that preposition or subordinating conjunction you personal pronoun were verb, past tense safe adjective .

Use "defiled" in a sentence | "defiled" example sentences

How to use "defiled" in a sentence?

  • The soul of sweet delight, can never be defiled.
    -William Blake-
  • If anyone does not refrain from the love of money, he will be defiled by idolatry and so be judged as if he were one of the heathen.
    -Polycarp-
  • A true worshipper is one whose mind has not been defiled with any false belief.
    -Pope Leo I-
  • The mind is pure and luminous by nature. It is defiled only by adventitious thoughts and emotions
    -Gautama Buddha-
  • It struck me that our history is contained in the home we live in, that we are shaped by the ability of these simple structures to resist being defiled
    -Achmat Dangor-
  • For never doubt that those souls who live least by the flesh feel themselves most defiled by its defilement.
    -Katharine Fullerton Gerould-
  • We are a water-drinking people, and we are allowing every brook to be defiled.
    -George Bird Grinnell-
  • By defilement of mind, beings are defiled; by purification of mind, beings are purified.
    -Gautama Buddha-

Definition and meaning of DEFILED

What does "defiled mean?"

/dəˈfīl/

adjective
Spoilt or dirtied by an impure act.
verb
damage purity or appearance of.

What are synonyms of "defiled"?
Some common synonyms of "defiled" are:
  • spoil,
  • sully,
  • mar,
  • impair,
  • debase,
  • degrade,
  • pollute,
  • poison,
  • corrupt,
  • taint,
  • tarnish,
  • infect,
  • foul,
  • befoul,
  • dirty,

You can find detailed definitions of them on this page.

What are antonyms of "defiled"?
Some common antonyms of "defiled" are:
  • purify,

You can find detailed definitions of them on this page.