pp chap28 hero
TRANSCRIPT
04/11/23 1
Chapter 28: The Romantic Hero
Humanities 103
Beth Camp, Instructor
2
Navigating the slide show
To see “full screen” images, RIGHT CLICK on your mouse Select “full screen” on the menu that appears Use the SPACE BAR or BACKSPACE to
move forward or back
Use ESCAPE at any time to end the show
3
David
Napoleon at St.
Bernard (1800)
Is this portrait of
Napoleon more
realistic -- or
idealistic?
4
The Romantic Hero 1800-1850
Celebrates nature and natural landscape
Glorifies heroism, suffering and death
Supports nationalism and political independence
Emphasizes nature’s wild, mysterious, exotic, melancholic, melodramatic aspects
Stereotypes gender roles
5
The Enlightenment
Scientific advances (Kepler, Bacon, Copernicus, Galileo) led many to believe that we could understand the universe through reason
Deism = mechanistic view of universe (God as perfect clockmaker; the clock, being perfect, keeps running without God's intervention).
Believed in change and progress as good things
Promoted idea that all men are equal
For most Romantics, the failure of the FrenchRevolution was the failure of the Enlightenment
6
The Romantic Era
Rejected the emphasis on science, calling it a “mechanical and souless”
Valued human emotions and PASSION
Valued religious belief in a caring God
The Romantic Hero = the Romantic Individual, self made and self-directed, a “Superman”
7
Romantic Stereotypes
“If I give myself up to love, I want it to wound me deeply, to electrify me, to break my heart or to exhalt me. . . What I want is to suffer, to go crazy.”
--a character from Sand’s novel
(quoted in Fiero 46)
8
Mary Shelley
Daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin
Eloped with Shelley at 16
Poetry, philosophy, artistic circles
Lake Geneva, 1816 ghost-telling competition
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Shelley
9Source: http://www.thebakken.org/Frankenstein/exhibit.htm
10
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749-1832
studied law at Leipzig University Lawyer, influential advisor to German court At 45, literature became his career. Spent 60 years writing Faust.Interested in science, studied anatomy, botany and optics
Believed in the unity of nature, not in deism
11
What is a Faustian bargain?
How does the play open? Who is Mephistocles? Why is he angry?
What is God’s personality?
What is your first impression of Faust? What does he want and why?
How do you know the Devil has come to call?
12
What is alchemy?
Alchemy is the study of ways to transform “base metals” into gold and to create potions that promise immortality.
Source: http://www.levity.com/alchemy/cab_min1.html
13
Does this portrait of Goethe suggest a “romantic hero”? Why?
14
What characterizes Romanticism?
Who are early examples of Romantic artists, composers or thinkers? What did they contribute?
Who are later examples of Romantic artists or or thinkers? What did they contribute?
Based on what you know now, how would you define “romanticism”?
15
What was the Romantic ideal?
Poet-Visionary(Blake)
The BohemianRomantic Historian
Virtuoso(Beethoven)
Bryronic Hero
Source: Morse Peckham, Romanticism: The Culture of the 19th Century
16
Blake: Visionary Romantic
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
--William Blake, Augeries of Innocence
17
William Blake, The Ancient of Days, 1794
18
Resources
Mark Hardin’s Artchives at http://www.artchives.com
WebMuseum, Paris at http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/blake/
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein online: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/SheFran.html