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Literature vocabulary · Character and Characterization

Byronic hero

Meaning in literature, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In literature, Byronic hero means: A proud, rebellious and troubled central figure marked by isolation and a dark past.

In Turkish: Byron tipi kahraman

How it is used

Use for a recognizable literary type associated with Romanticism, not any unhappy protagonist.

Example sentences

  1. The Byronic hero refuses the village's approval but cannot escape his own guilt.

    Defiance and private suffering appear together in this character.

  2. We compared the isolated Byronic hero with the cheerful adventurer in the earlier novel.

    The contrast highlights troubled isolation rather than adventure alone.

Common collocations

  • a brooding Byronic hero
  • the Byronic hero tradition
  • RomanticismA movement in literature and art from the late eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century that valued emotion, imagination, nature and the individual over reason and rules.
  • antiheroA main character who lacks traditional heroic qualities such as courage, honesty or nobility, but whom readers still follow and may sympathize with.

More terms: Character and Characterization

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