Romantic art Romantic artist broke from discipline & rules of the Enlightenment Painted the beauty and power of nature Used bold brush strokes and colors Bright colors convey violent energy & emotions Painted simple peasant to medieval knights to current events Casper David Friedrich, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, 1818

Romanticism  views on truth One would only find truth through their own intuition given they highlighted the importance of individual thought and not societal thought Emotions & imagination > Reason Enlightenment thinkers thought that truth existed only as result of reason Reason > Emotions

Romanic Literature The Romantic Hero or “Byronic” New kind of hero appears in writing Named after the British poet, Lord Byron – his writing and life exemplify all the traits of the “Romantic Hero”

The Romantic Hero “The Byronic Hero” Traits of a Byronic Hero: Usually male Intelligent, cunning, ruthless, arrogant, violent, self-aware Mysterious, melancholy (sad/depressed) figure who felt out of step with society Often has a guilty secret and faced a grim destiny Seductive and sexually-appealing (charming/player)

Ex. of Byronic Hero The character Werther from Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s novel The Sorrows of Young Werther Werther an sensitive and passionate artist who falls in love with a beautiful girl name Charlotte Charlotte is engaged to an older man—Albert. Werther is tortured throughout the story because of unrequited love and commits suicide at the end. g-EER-tha

Contemporary Byronic Hero Traits of a Byronic Hero: Usually male Intelligent, cunning, ruthless, arrogant, violent, self-aware Mysterious, melancholy (sad/depressed) figure who felt out of step with society Often has a guilty secret and faced a grim destiny Seductive and sexually-appealing (charming/player) Tony Stark/Ironman

Can you think of the Byronic hero trope in any modern day lit/film/t.v. characters?

Realism Mid-1800s, lit & artistic movement Reaction to Romanticism An attempt to represent the world as it was, without the sentiment associated with romanticism Focused their work on the harsh side of life in cities or villages Many writers & artist committed to improving the lot of the unfortunate whose lives they depict

Realism in literature Novels depicts grim reality Charles Dicken’s Oliver Twist Victor Hugo’s Les Miserable Emile Zola’s Germinal Plays attack the hypocrisy around them Henrick Ibsen’s A Doll’s House & An Enemy of the People

Realism in Art Rejects Romanticism ideals Painters represent realities of the time Rejects romantic emphasis on imagination Focus on ordinary subjects, working class men & women French realist painter Gustove Courbet, “I cannot paint an angel because I have never seen one.” Barge Haulers on the Volga by Ilya Repin , 1870-73

Impressionism 1870s, new artistic movement/style, started in Paris, France Rose out because of the invention of photography (camera) – why try to paint realistic art when you can take a picture? Seek to capture the first fleeting impression made by a scene or object on the viewer’s eye

Romanticism Impressionism Realism

Writing Assignment Choose one modern lit/tv/film character that you think would fit the Byronic Hero trope Write one paragraph arguing why this character fits this trope