Lord Byron, Cain, Act 1
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- Опубликовано: 19 ноя 2020
- Lord Byron's closet drama Cain (1821) is only one of his many engagements with the genre of the epic. In his Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, in his work Manfred, and in other works we see similar engagments with the epic. Yet this is the one that most clearly echoes the themes and idea of Milton's Paradise Lost.
As so often, we have in his protagonist Cain - and indeed in his Lucifer - the prototypical Byronic hero. In the words of the English historian Lord Macaulay: "a man proud, moody, cynical, with defiance on his brow, and misery in his heart, a scorner of his kind, implacable in revenge, yet capable of deep and strong affection."
Yet these are not the true substance or attraction of the Byronic hero. What drives Cain and the Byronic hero as a literary phenomenon is their keen sense of justice, which is not only different than the laws of society (or God) but clean contrary to it. The character comes to represent the principled antinomianism of the age, largely in terms contrary to Christian conceptions even while misunderstanding and misrepresenting what Christian conceptions actually are.
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Just found out that I have an interview for english at Oxford University, and I’m planning on talking about ‘Cain’ - these videos will be incredibly useful, thank you!
Best of luck!
It seems some of the characters beliefs, cain and lucifer are being misrepresented as Byron's own beliefs towards God. For example whats said to be the reason God makes man, as beings to keep him company. That's what the character is saying but it doesnt mean its what Byron believes, except he's explicitly said that. Its simply characterization and doesn't necessarily advertise the writers beliefs especially if the book doesn't shy away from showing us these characters dont have a good moral compass
It doesn’t necessarily represent Byron’s beliefs, of course, but Byron more or less sought to project some of his biography (and certainly reputation) into his characters.
So it’s less clear than you suggest.
So, to criticise Christian theology is to not understand it? I beg to differ!
Not what I meant, of course.