Many critics argue back and forth whether or not Don Juan belongs on the list of Byronic Heroes. Some critics believe he fits the criteria and others use the same information to determine that he does not. Two pieces of information seem to be agreed upon across the board. The first is that with the many similarities between author and character, Don Juan is a story based on Byron’s own life. The second is that more than any other literary character, including his own supposed counterpart; Byron himself is the ultimate Byronic Hero. According to a list generated by Dr. Rosemary Allen, Professor and Chair, Department of English at Georgetown College, each Byronic Hero possesses some specific characteristics. Some of these characteristics include a rebellious nature with distaste for “social institutions” and no respect for authority, feeling as though he is “larger than life”, living in exile (sometimes self-imposed, sometimes by force), being attractive to members of either sex, and finally, being a passionate person. The many similarities in the lives of Byron and Don Juan and their comparison to other Byronic Heroes suggest that that both author and character are worthy of Byronic Hero status.
One of the many things Byron and Don Juan have in common with each other and other Byronic Heroes is a secret from their past (often sexually related) they feel they cannot escape (Allen). Both Byron and Don Juan had a sexual relationship at an early age with women who were older than they were. These relationships possibly helped mold and shape them into the men they became. Byron’s first sexual relationship was with a woman who was the maid for his family’s household (Willis 9). It is possible that this first sexual experience for Byron was what turned him into the sexually promiscuous, passionate man that he became. It is at least believed to be connected to the reason why he took such an early interest in the opposite sex (Willis 9). Don Juan’s first sexual experience was with Donna Julia. She was a friend of his mother and unhappily married to a much older man. Just as Byron’s relationship seemed to push him in a certain direction, Don Juan’s relationship led him on his travels and onto the path of attaining Byronic hero status. In each case, the relationships had a lasting effect on Byron and Don Juan.
Many people consider Byron and Don Juan to be beautiful and irresistibly attractive, as are other Byronic Heroes. Byron is known as “delicately beautiful Lord Byron who was the talk of London Society” (Hinchman 368). Byron’s physical appeal is something that plagued him for the majority of his adolescent and adult life “when all London went made over the young poet […] when it was discovered that he was beautiful” (Hinchman 370). Don Juan is described as “tall, handsome,
Another characteristic of the Byronic Hero is that they “suffer from titanic passions” (Allen). Byron and Don Juan are both extremely passionate people. The one thing they both seem passionate the most about is love. Falling in love or at least the idea of falling in love appears to be their favorite pastime. Byron falls head over heels in love for the first time with a girl named Mary Duff. He loves her with all of his heart and though the feelings are not mutual, and he had manages to love again, he never seems to get over his love for her, going so far as to cry over her many years and many loves later upon hearing of her marriage to another man (Hinchman 365). Don Juan believes he loves Donna Julia with every fiber of his being it seems, until their relationship ends due to circumstances that are beyond his control. The poem leads the reader to believe that he will never love again and that he will never recover from the loss of this love, and yet his passionate nature flares again, circumstances put another woman in his path, and again a loving relationship blooms. Byron and Don Juan both seem to love with a vengeance for as long as the love endures, and both seem prone to a fickle heart. These deep passionate feelings are just another thing that Byron and Don Juan have in common and another one of the many traits that are prevalent among Byronic heroes.
A Byronic Hero “has a distaste for society and social institutions
A Byronic Hero believes he is “larger than life”, invincible, or even above contempt (Allen). Byron lives his life as though he is above reproach. He carries on numerous affairs, including one with Caroline Lamb, a married cousin of his future wife (Longford 50). Byron also carried on an incestuous affair with his half sister, Augusta, and one of the reasons for this affair was “Byron was fascinated by sin” (Willis 36). Don Juan shows his rebellion early in the poem through his affair with Donna Julia. The affair alone, regardless of how it began, is in opposition to everything his mother taught him about morality. This is small when compared to some of his other antics throughout the poem. After nearly being caught in Julia’s bedroom, his only opportunity to escape places him directly in Alfonso’s path. After colliding with him while running from Julia’s bedchamber, Don Juan attacks Alfonso physically as though he was truly invincible and nothing could contain him. Another occasion of this seemingly invincible attitude takes place in the fourth canto. Upon being caught with Haidee, Don Juan attempts to fight an armed Lambro who had twenty men in tow. He even manages to wound two of them before ultimately being captured.
A Byronic hero often lives in exile (Allen). This exile may be by force, although, it is often self imposed. Byron and Don Juan left their respective homes due to scandal involving a woman (or possibly women in Byron’s case). Byron’s marriage to Annabella Milbank was an unhappy one. After she left him and went home to her parents, some of their marital secrets became public knowledge. Byron was ostracized for the way he treated her, and even more so for the “unspeakable sexual offenses” he committed against her (Graham 5). Further, it became known (or at least believed) that he fathered Augusta’s (his own half sister) baby. However, “it was more than just his questionable behavior that caused him to be ostracized” as many of his political opinions were also unpopular (Willis 43). Once the criticisms about his personal and political life become too much for him, he flees his home and becomes a “cosmopolitan wanderer” (Graham 5). Likewise, Don Juan is forced to leave home after his aforementioned scandal with Donna Julia, “Donna Inez, to divert the train / of one of the most circulating scandals […]” sent Don Juan away “to mend his former morals, or get new [ones] (Byron 1.1513-1514, 1523). His mother intended for him to go on a four-year trip (Byron 2.67), however, the excursion leads to a series of misadventures that carries him farther from home.
George Byron and Don Juan had many qualities similar to those of Byronic Heroes and each other. Some of these characteristics include a beauty that was irresistible, a burning passion that never subsided, the belief that they were invincible, a rebellious nature, a distaste of social institutions, and a past they could not escape. It is quite possible that Byron wrote Don Juan in an effort to tell the story of his own life. Indeed, there are many similarities between George Byron and one of his most famous characters, Don Juan. Some consider Byron himself to be the ultimate Byronic Hero, more so than any literary figure. Similarly, if Don Juan is in any way autobiographical, he too deserves the recognition of being a Byronic Hero.
Works Cited
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Graham, Peter W. Lord Byron. Ed. Herbert Sussman. New York: Twayne Publishers,
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Hinchman, Walter S. and Francis Gummere. Lives of Great English Writers. Freeport
NY: Books for Library Press, 1908.
Longford, Elizabeth. The Life of Byron. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1976
Rutherford, Andrew. Byron A Critical Study. Stanford: Stanford University Press,
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Willis, Karen. Bloom’s BioCritiques Lord Byron. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia:
