I’ve been thinking about the Byronic hero lately. It’s no secret in my circle of friends and students that my all time favorite work of literature is Jane Eyre and I am hopelessly drawn to the dark, brooding character of Rochester. If I were honest, I’d say I’m drawn to this persona in various works of literature, and also in films and T.V. shows. For the moment, I have Han Solo on my mind.
Type in “characteristics of the Byronic hero” on a Google search and you’ll find a variety of lists and pages. I’ll try to combine a few to compare with our roguish Star Wars hero. According to Dr. K. Wheeler, professor at Carson-Newman College, “Conventionally, the figure is a young and attractive male with a bad reputation. He defies authority and conventional morality, and becomes paradoxically ennobled by his peculiar rejection of virtue.”
Young and attractive? Check.
Bad reputation? He’s a smuggler by trade and in trouble with his “employer” for losing a shipment, “You should have paid him when you had the chance. Jabba's put a price on your head so large, every bounty hunter in the galaxy will be looking for you. I'm lucky I found you first” (A New Hope). At first he only helps the Luke-Leia-Obi Wan team for the money which Leia is quick to point out, “You needn't worry about your reward. If money is all that you love, then that's what you'll receive” (ANH), as is Han himself, “Look, I ain't in this for your revolution, and I'm not in it for you, Princess. I expect to be well paid. I'm in it for the money” (ANH). Later Luke accuses him of being selfish, “Well, take care of yourself, Han. I guess that's what you're best at, isn't it?” (ANH).
Defies authority and conventional morality? Smuggling would handle this alone, but he continually bucks authority in his quests against the Empire, not to mention ignoring Leia’s suggestions on a regular basis, “Look, Your Worshipfulness, let's get one thing straight. I take orders from just one person: Me!” (ANH).
Paradoxically ennobled by his rejection of virtue? Pretty sure this gets covered in the opening scenes to Empire Strikes Back, “You like me because I'm a scoundrel. There aren't enough scoundrels in your life” (Han to Leia). This also goes with Peter Thorslev’s assessment, “the Byronic hero is often a figure of repulsion, as well as fascination.”
Thorslev goes on to say this hero is, “arrogant, confident, abnormally sensitive, and extremely conscious of himself.” Again in Empire, there’s the Han being arrogant, “That's a good story. I think you just can't bear to let a gorgeous guy like me out of your sight” (to Leia). In Return of the Jedi, we get a glimpse of the abnormally sensitive when he says to Leia, “You love him, don’t you… All right. I understand. Fine. When he comes back, I won't get in the way.” His self-assuredness begins to fade in the wake of his love for another person.
He is “isolated from society as a wanderer or is in exile of some kind” (Thorslev). This goes hand in hand with the smuggling career mentioned above. Han ends up in a somewhat self-imposed exile due to his need to hide from Jabba the Hutt as Greedo points out in a quote above.
The University of Houston at Clear Lake adds to this definition, “brilliant but cynical and self-destructive.” Not what one might typically think of as having high intelligence, Han exhibits his “brilliance” in his ability to successfully maneuver his ship and his passengers out of a variety of high stress situations. He saves the day time after time. His cynicism and self-destructiveness go hand in hand here though, “What good's a reward if you ain't around to use it? Besides, attacking that battle station ain't my idea of courage. It's more like... suicide” (ANH) and to Luke on Tattooine in Return of the Jedi, “You're going to die here, you know. Convenient.”
Houston also adds, “the dark Byronic hero is sometimes paired a more innocent, unmarked, even angelic figure.”
In Jane Eyre Rochester is paired against St. John; in Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff is paired against Edward Linton; in Frankenstein, as companions to Victor, the monster is paired against Henry Clerval. Star Wars is no different in pairing Han against Luke. Not only is Han a more experienced, roguish man of the world (or galaxy), his appearance is darker than Luke when they first meet. Han is dark haired, Luke is fair; Luke wears all white, Han wears a mix of white covered by dark. Luke is green and continually referred to as “kid.” Han has little respect for Luke early in the trilogy, “Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid” and “Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other, and I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen *anything* to make me believe that there's one all-powerful Force controlling everything” (ANH).
The evidence is there, but I’ll let the audience decide on a final verdict. When in comes down to it though, whether Han’s Byronic or not, we all could use a few scoundrels in our lives.
Sources:
"American Renaissance & American Romanticism: The Byronic Hero." Coursesite.uhcl.edu - /. Web. 01 Aug. 2011. .
"Characteristics of the Byronic Hero." Web. 01 Aug. 2011. .
"Han Solo (Character) - Quotes." The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Web. 01 Aug. 2011. .
