A Psychoanalytic Study of Byronic Heroes

This culminating project examines Byronic heroes using psychoanalytic theory across four case
studies in media, including classic literature, theater, film, and television. The Byronic hero is a
literary archetype inspired by the poet George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824). Typical
characteristics include angst, arrogance, cunning intelligence, criminality, desire, passion, dominance,
and otherness. The characters I have chosen to study include Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre (1847),
the Phantom from the 2004 film The Phantom of the Opera, James Bond from the 2012 film Skyfall,
and Damon Salvatore from the hit television series The Vampire Diaries (2009-2017). Through
examining the actions of these characters through a psychoanalytic lens, I argue that the Byronic
hero is driven by his experience of intense loss and state of melancholia, as defined by Freud. When
a subject is in a state of melancholia, they have lost an ideal or love object, and they fail to move on
with this intense loss. They become outcasts of society through this loss. In addition to Freud, I also
incorporate psychoanalytic theories and ideas from Melanie Klein and Silvan Tomkins. The purpose
of my study is to examine how Byronic heroes, who are in a state of melancholia, deal with the
losses they have suffered from.