Archetypal Characters & The Romantic Hero

5 Is 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 Herman Melville
(1850) 1819-1891
International
recognition for Moby
Dick (1851)
Moral strength verse
Evil
 Real Life Romantic Heroes
Napoleon Sojourner Truth
1769-1821 1797-1883
First Romantic Born as Isabella
Hero from Baumfree
Europe and First Feminist and
Dictator from abolitionist
Europe
Frederick Douglas
Ended French 1817-1895
Revolution 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
 Romantic Heroes in Literature

Heathcliff in Rhett Butler

Wuthering in Gone With
Heights, the Wind.

Mr.
Rochester in
Jane Eyre,
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 cant
point to mood in a text
Its all about feeling
 In order to identify a storys 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 writers 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