Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to Byron
- The Cambridge Companion to Byron
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Preface
- Chronology
- Abbreviations
- Chapter 1 Byron’s Life and His Biographers
- Chapter 2 ‘My Pen Is at the Bottom of a Page’
- Chapter 3 Byron’s Politics
- Chapter 4 Byron: Gender and Sexuality
- Chapter 5 Heroism and History
- Chapter 6 Byron and the Eastern Mediterranean
- Chapter 7 1816–1817: Childe HaroldIII and Manfred
- Chapter 8 Byron and the Theatre
- Chapter 9 Byron’s Experiments in Drama: 1820–1822
- Chapter 10 Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage iv, Don Juan, and Beppo
- Chapter 11 Redeeming Levity
- Chapter 12 The Vision of Judgment and the Visions of ‘Author’
- Chapter 13 Byron’s Bear and Other Animals
- Chapter 14 Byron’s Lyric Poetry
- Chapter 15 Byron and the Eighteenth Century
- Chapter 16 In Byron’s Wake
- Chapter 17 Byron, Postmodernism, and Intertextuality
- Chapter 18 ‘Writing Grows a Habit’
- Select Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Companions To Literature
Chapter 4 - Byron: Gender and Sexuality
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 November 2023
- The Cambridge Companion to Byron
- The Cambridge Companion to Byron
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Preface
- Chronology
- Abbreviations
- Chapter 1 Byron’s Life and His Biographers
- Chapter 2 ‘My Pen Is at the Bottom of a Page’
- Chapter 3 Byron’s Politics
- Chapter 4 Byron: Gender and Sexuality
- Chapter 5 Heroism and History
- Chapter 6 Byron and the Eastern Mediterranean
- Chapter 7 1816–1817: Childe HaroldIII and Manfred
- Chapter 8 Byron and the Theatre
- Chapter 9 Byron’s Experiments in Drama: 1820–1822
- Chapter 10 Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage iv, Don Juan, and Beppo
- Chapter 11 Redeeming Levity
- Chapter 12 The Vision of Judgment and the Visions of ‘Author’
- Chapter 13 Byron’s Bear and Other Animals
- Chapter 14 Byron’s Lyric Poetry
- Chapter 15 Byron and the Eighteenth Century
- Chapter 16 In Byron’s Wake
- Chapter 17 Byron, Postmodernism, and Intertextuality
- Chapter 18 ‘Writing Grows a Habit’
- Select Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Companions To Literature
Summary
This chapter provides an overview of gender and sexuality in Byron. It situates the Byronic hero in the context of Regency understandings of masculinity and discusses Byronic sexuality in relation to the larger history of sexuality. In addition, it stresses the ways that Byron at times uses both race and disability to shape his representations of gender and sexuality. The main character of Lara provides an exemplar of the Byronic hero and is explored in terms of his ambiguity and power to draw attention to himself. Sardanapalus provides a contrasting case of a hero whose masculinity and connections to militarism prove to be self-defeating. Manfred and Don Juan reveal Byron’s interest in linking sexuality to mystery and unspeakability. In addition, The Bride of Abydos and Don Juan link sexuality to race in the figure of the African eunuch, whose behaviour is critical in protecting the hero from tyrannical rule.
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- The Cambridge Companion to ByronSecond Edition, pp. 50 - 68Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023