Draft Full text available from, http://www.lulu.com/author/content_revise.php?fCID=11451 732 Chris Hart University of Chester, England.
HEROINES AND HEROES Symbolism, Embodiment, Narratives & Identity
Other books by Christopher Hart Englishness: Diversity, Differences & Identity Literature Reviewing: Releasing the Social Science Imagination Doing A Literature Search: A Comprehensive Guide for the Social Sciences Doing Your Masters Dissertation Talcott Parsons: Theories, Developments & Applications The Legacy of the Chicago School of Sociology
HEROINES AND HEROES Symbolism, Embodiment, Narratives & Identity Edited by CHRISTOPHER HART
Midrash Publications
Editorial arrangements and Introduction ©2008 Chris Hart Chapter 1 Rosie White, ©2008 Chapter 2 Caterina Calafat, ©2008 Chapter 3 Vanessa Coloura, ©2008 Chapter 4 Aida Audeh, ©2008 Chapter 5 Lisa Funnell, ©2008 Chapter 6 Alan Kirby, ©2008 Chapter 7 Philippa Gates, ©2008 Chapter 8 Christopher Hart, ©2008 Chapter 9 Terry Phillips, ©2008 Chapter 10 José I. Prieto Arranz, ©2008 Chapter 11 Mary Joannou, ©2008 Chapter 12 Joanne Woodman ©2008 Chapter 13 Helena Agarez Medeiros, ©2008 Chapter 14 Jessica Meyer, ©2008 Chapter 15 Beatriz Oria Gómez, ©2008 Chapter 16 Marta Miquel Baldellou, ©2008 Chapter 17 Ignacio Ramos Gay, ©2008 Chapter 18 Kate Ash, ©2008 Chapter 19 Paul Gilchrist, ©2008
First published in 2008. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced. Midrash Publications 141 Kingsley Road Kingswinford West Midlands DY6 9RS Email:
[email protected] [email protected] Available from: http://www.lulu.com/ ref: 4005570 International Institute for the Study of Englishness British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library. ISBN 9780955124433
Dedication This volume is dedicated to all the common real unsung heroines and heroes.
HEROINES AND HEROES Symbolism, Embodiment, Narratives & Identity Contents edited by Christopher Hart Dedication Preface Introduction Chapter 1
Englishness and Espionage: Edith Cavell as the Good Spy. Rosie White
1
Chapter 2
Elementary, “Docteur Barnes”. Caterina Calafat
14
Chapter 3
Cavalier Ideals, Exile and Spectacle in The Rover and The Second Half of the Rover. Vanessa Coloura
25
Chapter 4
Dante’s Ugolino in 18th-century France: Reynolds, Fuseli, Flaxman and the Students of J-L David Aida Audeh
38
Chapter 5
From English Partner to American Action Hero: The Heroic Identity and Trans-national Appeal of the Bond Girl. Lisa Funnell
61
Chapter 6
Bond, Smiley, The Jackal: A Spectral English Hero for a Post-Heroic England. Alan Kirby
81
Chapter 7
Softboiled Heroes: Investigating Englishness in the Classical Hollywood Detective Film. Philippa Gates
98
Chapter 8
The English Christian Hero: Nelson of Trafalgar. Christopher Hart
112
Chapter 9
The Hero Under Fire. Terry Phillips
125
Chapter 10
Images of English Purity. A Comparative Study of Elizabeth I and Diana, Princess of Wales. José I. Prieto Arranz
135
Chapter 11
The ‘Wicked Ladies’: The Historical Romantic Fiction of the 1940s. Mary Joannou
149
Chapter 12
Englishness and the ‘Victim’ Hero in One for My Baby by Tony Parsons. Joanne Woodman
161
Chapter 13
“Murder most Foul”: Brutus as an English hero in Voltaire’s La Mort de César Helena Agarez Medeiros
176
Chapter 14
'I have married England': Two visions of Englishness in Interwar Popular Fiction. Jessica Meyer
184
Chapter 15
Rob Roy an Anti-English Hero. Beatriz Oria Gómez
196
Chapter 16
From the Decadent to the Dandy: Conceptualising Nineteenth-Century English Male Heroism in Edward Bulwer Lytton’s the Last Days of Pompeii and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”. Marta Miquel Baldellou
207
Chapter 17
Dandyism and French Heroism in Oscar Wilde. Ignacio Ramos Gay
219
Chapter 18
Em-bodying England: John Lydgate, Henry V and Hector of Troy. Kate Ash
236
Chapter 19
Heroic Leadership, Mountain adventure and the English: John Hunt and Chris Bonington Compared. Paul Gilchrist
247
Preface
The chapters in this volume were written for the 2006 IISE (International Institute for the Study of Englishness) conference, hosted by the University of the Balearic Islands’ (Universitat de les Illes Balears) Department of Spanish and Modern Languages (Palma de Mallorca, Spain). A special issue of Identity, Self & Symbolism (2006, November) showcased a selection of the papers. This volume presents other papers presented to the conference. The title of the 2006 conference was “Englishness: Embodiment, Identity and the Hero(in)eic”. The Conference was organized by, José Prieto Arranz, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Josephine Dolan University, West of England and Chris Hart, University of Chester. This conference invited papers from any discipline to explore the relationship between Englishness and the hero(in)eic. The general aims of the conference were cast in terms of a series of questions; what makes an English hero(in)e at a given historical juncture? how far does the English hero(in)e operate to reconcile and/or expose tensions between individuality and group identities? what is the importance of the heroic ‘act’ to English identity? What difference does gender make to the relationship between Englishness and the hero(in)eic? does longevity matter? has the hero(in)e changed through time? and what does the hero(in)e embody? The authors of the chapters assembled in this volume span several nationalities, generations and subject disciplines. They were from Canada, England, Scotland, Belguim, Czech Republic, United States of America, Ireland and Spain. The conference was open to all subject disciplines, perspectives and standpoints. Literary theory, film and media studies, sociology, history and critical studies were among the many disciplines represented. This, however, was largely irrelevant given the level of detailed knowledge participants possessed of the literature on identity, nationality and the hero. Although the work and concerns of each author are heterogeneous, together they constitute a cross-section of current thinking, research and analysis on the relationships between the hero / heroine, nationality, identity and symbolism. One of the notable and striking features of this conference was the collegial community which quickly developed among the participants. All papers were presented to all delegates in the tranquil and beautiful environment of the Universitat de les Illes Balears. Over the two days of the conference 23 original papers were given. This body of work has made a major contribution to our understanding of the phenomena of the hero. It brought together for the first
time a wide, but focused, range of interpretations, standpoints and perspectives, as well as different styles and genres. The conference was an exemplar of transdisciplinarity, a genuine sharing of different research subjects and approaches to analysis from different scholarly traditions. On a personal note as editor of this volume I would like to thank my coconference organisers, José Prieto Arranz, Universitat de les Illes Balears, and Josephine Dolan, University, West of England. Without their support and encouragement this conference would not have happened. I would also like to thank the Department of Spanish and Modern Languages, Universitat de les Illes Balears, for the support they gave and for their generous hospitality. Finally, my I say thank you to all contributors for their patience given the time it has taken to produce this book.
Introduction
One of the difficulties in the study and analysis of the hero and heroine is the confusion over meaning1. The question often arises, just what is a hero? This is then commonly followed by, ‘who are your heroes? And then, “why these and not others? There are definitions and of course these do provide a reasonable starting point for the novice and seasoned analyst. At the most general level a hero (man or woman) is a character (real or imagined) who has achieved or has been ascribed a number of behavioural traits and actions which are valued in their culture, and possibly in other cultures too. There may be something almost universal about the behaviour of some types of hero. A person who is famous or has achieved the status of celebrity is not necessarily a hero. Celebrity and stardom are categories of identification in their own right and are not a necessity for the category of hero. Nevertheless they sometimes can be applied as second order categories to a hero. Most heroes, however, are known about, that is, have some degree of fame in their day. In days before television particular heroes and heroines would probably have been recognizable by the majority of the population; certainly the ruling classes and power elite would have known what they looked like (real and fictional heroes). This historical perspective raises an interesting question. How many people living today would recognize Douglas Bader, Francis Drake, El Cid, Mohandas Gandhi, Joan of Arc, Roland, or Nelson? They may be able to describe and recognize representations of say, Bilbo Baggins, Batman, Beowolf, James Bond, Nelson Mandela, Oskar Schindler, Harry Potter, Rob Roy, Spartacus, or William Wallace. We could extend both of these lists a long way. The point is real heroes, by which we mean people who actually lived, are not as numerous as fictional heroes in contemporary culture. But it is the real heroes who are the source for many fictional heroes and fictionalized accounts of heroes. For example, recent cinema has used the legends of King Arthur and Beowulf to stunning visual effect. And in many cases the actual deeds and actions which made a person a ‘hero’ become, over time, abstracted and generalized. Often, the very actions themselves, disappear to be replaced by characterisations and typifications. That this can and is often done may mean there are some common features of that which can be said to be heroic and of those which can be attributed the accolade hero. Or it could be the abstraction of features makes the telling of hero stories formulaic. This bring us back to the production of definitions. The hero and heroine displays courage, bravery, gallantry; they put the well-being of others before 1
By hero I refer to women and men.
their own safety (for example, Lord Nelson2), or reputation (for example, Mr Darcy3). Hence the hero is part of a larger group, a culture, that stands for something and is facing a threat, possibly to its very existence. The hero emerges to save, defend or protect not merely the people of their nation (or culture) but what their nation values and their way of life. The hero actualizes notions of what is generally considered noble, worthy and good in their culture. These notions of what heroes do because of what they value typically have no origin; they always seem to have been present in most cultures. In preliterate times the idea of the hero and the deeds they did for the greater good would have been disseminated via an oral tradition of story-telling. Some physical artefacts such as large stones, mounds and burrows, may be testimony to long forgotten heroes. In literate cultures the original hero “was probably based on the King who died for his people, the warrior who defeated the tribes enemies” (Bloomfield, 1975:30). Among the Indo-European cultures the early stories told of heroes that ‘protected’ and ‘defended’ while the Greek heroes were mainly mythological characters. These characters were usually the eponymous founders of the Greek city-states. Many were cast as the off-spring of the Gods and mortals; demigods. Oracles and sacred artefacts were often part of the stories which once consulted or possessed would confer superhuman powers and abilities onto the hero. The style of the hero is not a static narrative paradigm. As Fishwick (1963) observes the style in heroes changes along with everything else. The early medieval heroes such as Beowulf and Roland were cast as saviors. Both are portrayed as relatively simple men with experience of common life. They become leaders not through birth but by virtue of what they valued and their proven deeds in battle and leadership. These epic narratives ascribe to the hero the qualities of valor, loyalty, kindness, honour and military prowess. Although not as well known in Britain as Beowulf (due to the 2007 Beowulf film) Roland is an heroic character with different names in numerous cultures. In Italy he is known as ‘Orlando’, in Holland as ‘Reoland’, among the Catalans as ‘Rotlla’, and among the Basques as ‘Errolan’. It is interesting the ways in which different ethnic groups seeking autonomy from a national state have Roland as a hero. Roland was real; he lived and like many medieval heroes died in a great battle defending his people. It was, ironically with hindsight, the Islamic Basques who ambushed Roland’s forces, killing him. The medieval Church had a hero; Roland had died defending his Christian faith. The actual events, whatever they may have been, became a resource for the telling and retelling of the hero’s epic story. At some point in the stories Roland acquires an unbreakable sword and the power of sacred Christian relics. Statues, painting and place names celebrating Roland spread across European cities. Many still Lord Nelson, Commander of the British fleet. Died at the height of the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) and whose intelligence, bravery and strategy overcame and defeated superior forces to protect Britain from possible invasion. 3 Fitzwilliam Darcy, most commonly known as Mr Darcy the reluctant hero of Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice for whom honour matters more than anything. 2
exist in market places such as Bremen; erected in 1404 the statue symbolizes defiance against the oppressor, justice and the Christian faith. Roland has also found a place for fiction writers. His spirit makes an appearance in Dante’s Divine Comedy4. From the fifteenth century onwards he has been a resource for many romantic verses, operas and compositions (by the likes of Handel, Vivaldi and Monteverdi) beginning in the fifteenth century. More recently we have Virgina Woolf’s Orlando: A Biography (1928) and Michael Moorcock’s Stormbringer (1965) and Bane of the Black Sword (1977). The work of Woolfe and Moorcock are wholly fictional and have very little purchase on the traditional Roland epic. Woolfe’s Roland is a man who wakes up one morning to find he is now a woman. Moorcock’s Roland is a long dead hero, who makes and appearance, in a fantasy epic. The point is, Roland’s story and it’s re-tellings, began in the 8th century, and is still a source for contemporary literary genres. Beowulf has come to the attention of the mass market through the 2007 film of the same name5. In terms of hero stories being changed the 2007 film is a fictionalized interpretation of the epic poem. Although many of the main characters, place names and events have been retained much has been missed out and themes and personality traits added which are more in keeping with later hero genres such as the Byronic tragic hero. In the film Beowulf’s personality is given much more prominence; he is portrayed as a man with flaws rather than as the straightforward hero. Other characters are also ascribed personality and behavioural traits which cast them unfavourably. Grendel’s mother is shown as a seductress and she no longer meets Beowulf in battle. King Hrothgar has become a drunk and womanizer who thinks only of himself. Overall this is another case of the continuing practice of re-writing of a traditional story to suit the expectations of contemporary audiences. There is, of course, nothing new in this practice. Stories of other heroic figures, real (such as William Wallace6 and Edith Cavell7) and imagined (such as James Bond) have also been re-written to fit the ideological expectations of the audience. Nevertheless the sense of adventure, daring and danger expressed in the original Beowulf manuscript was retained. Later narratives focused more on the individual. Sir Gawain8, in the later romantic literature, is no longer fighting to protect his way of life and tribe but for his own honour and revenge. The idea of the personal quest dominates wherein the individual must face a series of challenges to demonstrate their For Dante’s works consult, http://www.danteonline.it. Beowulf. (2007) Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. and ImageMovers. 6 William Wallace or Sir William Wallace was a Scottish knight and landowner. Wallace is an authentic hero. Although the actions and events of Wallace’s life and achievements were accurately recoded fictionalized tellings of his story, such as the 1995 film Braveheart, contain numerous errors, omissions and inaccuracies. Academy awards are not given for telling the truth but for commercial success and ideology. 7 See Rosie White, Chapter One in this volume. 8 Burrow, J.A. (1965) A Reading of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. An electronic version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is at http://rodent.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/green.htm 4 5
chivalry, trust and faith. The story of Gawain involves external and internal quests. Externally Gawain’s quest is to find the Green Chapel and internally to resist temptations. Seeking the Green Chapel Gawain takes refuge with another knight, Bercilak. Bercilak asks Gawain not to break his trust in him and should his wife offer him anything Gawain is to refuse her. The knight’s wife tries twice to seduce Gawain but he turns her down; remaining faithful to the trust of his host. On a third attempt Bercilak’s wife offers Gawain a girdle that has the power to protect whoever wears it in battle. He takes the girdle. Gawain has thus given in to his own needs and failed his internal challenge. Meeting the Green Knight in battle Gawain is protected from two blows of his opponents sword. A third blow cuts him and the Green Knight, who is actually Bercilak, tells Gawain he is a fallen man for taking the girdle. Yet he does not blame Gawain because it was not done for sex but because he loved his own life. Gawain, however, does not accept responsibility for his actions; he blames Bercilak’s wife! He compares himself with other great men like Samson, David and Solomon who were also shown to be imperfect because of a woman. But this is not the end of the story. Gawain, a knight of Kings Arthur’s round table, convinces Arthur to leave Camelot and battle with Lancelot. The reason being, Lancelot in rescuing Guinevere killed three of Gawains brothers who were guarding her. In Arthur’s absence Mordred imposes his power. Gawain returns with his men to battle Mordred’s army. Gawain is described as a blood-thirsty, vicious and physically powerful man. Gawain is losing the battle yet continues to fight. He is killed by Mordred who then praises Gawain. His praise is for Gawain’s fighting skills, for his bravery and courage as a warrior. Like Roland and Beowulf Gawain’s story has undergone many manifestations, being used to create stories and characters in their own right. Listing the features and qualities of the hero shows how the use of the words makes for the difference between heroes and stories about them. There is a sense of essentialism embedded in the social construction of the narratives. That essentialism resides in the recourse to common points of reference as reliable and recognizable characterisations. The ‘tragic hero’ and Byronic hero’ are two such resources. For Aristotle, while discussing literary genre, the tragic hero can only be shown through drama. The tragic hero cannot, argues, Aristotle, be talked about in terms of an historical narrative because history recounts what happened while drama relates what may happen. The hero then is universal; the part the hero plays is not predetermined or fixed. What may happen is due to a multitude of factors of time, place and circumstance. What could happen within the complex of cause and effect is variable. The idea of the plot is therefore important here. By plot Aristotle means the ways in which various incidents are arranged to give structure and meaning to the play. The drama is for Aristotle a coherent whole; it can have several plots, arranged with incisive moments, which cause and effect other parts. Eventually a climax is reached within the plots and complications of events and possible outcomes are not all resolved. The issues or threats running through the plots are not equal. The
main plot is the one that is the most serious and has features which are universal to the human condition. A resolution or ending is provided that is selfcontained, that is, it stays within the drama and does not extend beyond what has been shown. Although all of this is grossly simplified the main features of the hero are, according to Aristotle; nobility (by birth) or/and wisdom (by experience), able to make errors and learn from them and/or have flaws in character which lead to their downfall, have a reversal for fortune from bad to good and eventually from good to bad, and finally, the actions and character of the hero must be such that others can feel both pity and fear of them. In addition to these four main characteristics the hero of tragedy tends to die at the end of the plot (the final episode in their mortal life). Honor is an important aspect of the heroes death; they must accept it with courage. Lord Byron’s hero is also flawed and sometimes representative of tragedy. Byron’s hero figures, although somewhat self-created reconstructions of himself, exhibit, as would most peoples self styled idealisations the following characteristics; social and intellectual intelligence, charisma and authority, social and sexual prowess, ambivalence to authority and rank, ability to be flexible in social situations, and self-reflection. In addition the Byronic hero has a troubled past, often mysterious, struggles with the notion of integrity, is on the outside of society and is prone to self-destructive actions. Byron picked from this list to produce various narratives within the paradigm of choices for the hero. Given the characteristics listed and developed by Byron others followed with their own take on the kinds of choices the Byronic hero could face and chose from. In the The Hunchback of Natre-Dame9, for example, there is a twist in the format with the development of the anti-tragic hero and the tragedies their actions bring to others. In brief, the Archdeacon of the cathedral, Claude Frollo rescues a baby, that has sever physical deformities, but not before initially thinking about throwing the baby down a well. Frollo cares for the baby and protects Quasimodo as he grows. Frollo has strong sexual passions but being a Catholic priest has sworn vows of celibacy. He is a highly educated man and scholar. Yet even his position in the Church cannot save him. After becoming obsessed with alchemy people believe he is a sorcerer. On seeing the beautiful Esméralda, a young gypsy woman, Frollo allows his sexual passion to override his sense of duty. Esméralda rejects the advances of Frollo, finding him repulsive; much like others find Quasimodo repulsive. Frollo undoes all his good deeds when he attempts to kill, Captain Pheobus, the man Esméralda loves but who only wants her for sex. Frollo flees the scene leaving Esméralda to face the authorities. Believing Pheobus is dead (he is not but does not make this known to the authorities) the court first torture then sentence Esméralda to death by hanging. Quasimodo saves Esméralda but she is later re-captured and hanged. While being hanged, Frollo, at the top of the north tower of the cathedral, is seen by Quasimodo in a demented state watching Esméralda, in a white dress, writhe in strangulation. Quasimodo hurls Frollo from the tower to 9
Notre Dame de Paris, by Victor Hugo (1831) (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame)
his death. In terms of the hero here we have the Byronic tragedy of choices. Frollo showed he had the moral integrity to be a good person but chose otherwise. After saving and protecting Quasimodo his own failings led to his death. It also led to the death of others, including Quasimodo. For at the end of the book, two years after the execution of Esméralda two bodies are found, embracing, in the crypt. One is female in the remains of a white dress and the other a deformed male. Both Aristotle and Byron provide a substantial resource of understanding the plural aspects of the hero. They provide a frame of reference for the context in which meaningful analysis can and has been made of the hero, of both real and fictional heroes. Some of the most famous contemporary tragic heroes may be said to include, MacBeth and Hamlet, The Doctor (Dr Who), and Captain Ahab (Moby Dick). So-called high and low culture are represented here. The use of the Byronic hero may be said to have been more influential in popular culture. Stein’s (2004) Film, Fiction and Television, makes a strong case for the links between nineteen century Romanticism and contemporary popular culture. She shows how characters from a diverse range of cinema and television continue the heritage of the Byronic hero. Pale Rider, Unforgiven, The Terminator, Aliens, Angel, and Star Trek: Next Generations all have core characters that exhibit the heroic features listed by Byron yet personally face internal conflicts and have problems interacting with others. Stein (2004) makes the following keenly perceived observation of contemporary popular fictional heroes, The Byronic hero is a loner and an outcast; he can be arrogant, contemptuous of human beings, bad-tempered, overbearing, cold, ruthless, and emotionless. He may even initially appear as an agent of oppressive institutional authority, who yet draws the admiration of his audience due to his awesome abilities. He then becomes transformed into an agent of revolt against the institutions that created or employed him. As such, admirable as he is for his abilities and his willingness to take on the powers that be, he is alien to his audience; they find no shared basis for sympathy. (Stein, 2004:2) The theme continues and will continue; the hero is a rich resource both practically and theoretically. The telling and re-telling of stories the hero is a vibrant force in contemporary culture. The Dark Knight, King Arthur, and Spiderman maintain the lineage that spans over two hundred years. Yet not all heroes are fictional, far from it. All around us are the monuments, once celebrating now documenting, of the heroic of the past two millennium. Nevertheless the hero and the heroine is a pivotal figure central to the stories we tell. The hero and the heroine cuts across popular histories, myth, contemporary culture and popular fictions in a variety of media. The hero(in)eic speaks of individual courage and/or high achievement and/or special regard and/or popular fame and can not be confined by the parameters of
truth/fiction boundaries. The hero/heroine can be a historical person enshrined in public memory: it can be a mythical entity that alludes to a mystical past beyond the reaches of conventional histories: it can be a contemporary person accorded a degree of fame or celebrity for endeavor in any field: it can be the central protagonist of a fictional narrative that accrues the viability of a living person. However mobilised, the hero, the heroine is the embodiment of specialness: the unique qualities through which 'the individual' is constituted and affirmed. At one and the same time, the hero, the heroine is representative of group identities such as class, gender, race, nation. The hero(in)eic therefore operates as an intersection between individual and group identities exposing the tensions both within and between these social formations.10 In this volume a staggering array of heroes and heroines are discussed. In the chapters that follow we see that the hero, both fictional and real, is far from simple or one-dimensional. They are complex multi-dimensional characters that often act as vehicles for us to reflect on our own and the general dilemmas of the human condition. Many contrasts and choices are thrown into the arena for inspection, debate and argument; oppressor and oppressed, good and bad, life and death, cause and effect, and desire and self-control. References Bloomfield, M. W. (1975) ‘The concept of the hero in the early Middle Ages’. In Burns, N.T. and Reagan, C.J. (eds.) Concepts of the hero in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Albany: State University of New York Press. Fishwick, J, G. (1963) The ethos of the song of Roland. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins. Stein, A. (2004) The Byronic Hero in Film, Fiction and Television. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2004. Moorcock, M. (1968) Stormbringer. London: Collins; New Ed edition. ----------------- (1977) Bane of the Black Sword. New York: Daw Books.
10
I would like to thank Josephine Dolan for the text in this paragraph.
