Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Jonáš Lasák Judgment in Byron’s life and in The Vision of Judgment Bachelor‘s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph.D. 2013 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………..……………. Author‘s signature 2 Table of Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 4 2 Judgment and criticism in life of Lord Byron ....................................................................... 6 2.1 Leg and lack of confidence .............................................................................................. 6 2.2 Pope and his influence ................................................................................................... 10 2.3 Appearance ...................................................................................................................... 13 3 Judgment in Byron‘s poetry ................................................................................................... 20 3.1 Circumstances of the birth of The Vision of Judgment .................................................. 20 3.2 Analysis of The Vision of judgement .......................................................................... 27 4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 37 5 Works cited .............................................................................................................................. 39 3 1 Introduction Lord Byron is one of the most influential characters in the entire poetry written in English, especially critic and satiric poetry. But it is necessary to perceive him not as an unmistakable authority in the field of poetry, which often happens, but to realize that he himself was a human being, fragile and easily impressible or intimidated. He strongly cared about opinions of the people surrounding him regarding his person and often acted accordingly. The first chapter of the thesis is biographical, searching for evidence of Byron‘s dependence on the public opinion and acceptance and of his need of positive judgment, than in detail analyses Byron‘s character and certain periods of his life, events and subsequent reactions to them, in which the reader is able to understand often illogical or misunderstood resolutions, led by Byron‘s judgment. This chapter in addition to events in Byron‘s life also offers a view on chosen fears and qualities of Byron, real or imaginary, which are after the analysis clearly visible in his life and in his works. Big part of the chapter is dedicated to his club footedness, a difficulty he had to overcome and compensate for his entire life - it was one of the defining factors of his character. To this problem is also directly connected his flashiness and shyness. Several pages are dedicated to Byron‘s criticism, to his inspiration and role model Alexander Pope and subsequent comparison. Key sources for this biographical chapter are two biographies, Byron, Child of Passion, Fool of Fame by Benita Eisler and Byron, Life and Legend by Fiona MacCarthy. These biographies are detailed books with the sense of detail, especially Byron, Child of Passion, Fool of Fame is describing the life of Byron almost on day-to-day basis and gives great emphasis on the Byron‘s club footedness and his behaviour towards women, together with vivid description of Byron‘s marriage to Annabella Milbanke. 4 The second chapter begins with analysis and explanation of events that lead to the birth of Byron‘s critical masterpiece The Vision of Judgment. Further, it describes relationship between Lord Byron and Robert Southey, and briefly mentions Byron‘s role model and Southey‘s predecessor, former Poet Laureate, which is followed by an analysis of The Vision of Judgment, which shows the way in which Byron perceives the royal authority, the deceased king and Byron‘s treatment of him and the person and writing of his challenger, Robert Southey. The process of Byron‘s humanization of angels, Michal and Sathan1 is perceived and examined, and a special chapter is dedicated to Byron‘s version of the relationship between Sathan and Michael, accompanied with multiple comparisons to Southey‘s A Vision of Judgment and analysis with a base knowledge of The Bible. 1 In The Vision of Judgment, Byron used the name Sathan instead of Satan, and this thesis will too, to prevent confusion between the text of the thesis and citations. For the same reason is used word Judgment instead of Judgement. 5 2 Judgment and criticism in life of Lord Byron 2.1 Leg and lack of confidence George Byron was born on January 22nd 1788 after a long and difficult labour with a caul and malformed foot. Later, when he grew older, he blamed his mother, Catherine Byron, for this malformation of his, whether he meant her insistence of wearing corsets until the last stages of her pregnancy or her modesty during the final examinations. (Moore, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron I 183 qtd in Eisler 13) Club footedness, which he suffered of, is a deformity, involving one or both of the legs, which appear as if they were rotated internally in the ankle. The condition was, with difficulties, curable in 19th century, and Byron underwent multiple treatments during his childhood, even wearing special device, constructed by quack Dr. Lavender, which should rigidly hold the leg in the correct position. But in the end, the family doctor, Dr. Bailie, discovered the painful fact that the tormenting cast made no improvement whatsoever, that Byron underwent all the procedures to no avail, and there was even a proposal from Dr. Hunter (Bailie‘s uncle and mentor), ―that if the proper means had been taken at first in Infancy, the malformation might have been brought round‖. (Hanson narrative, MSS, qtd in Eisler 42) The fact is, that Byron was so obsessed with his clubfoot and hiding it, that even when his long-life friend, Thomas Moore, while collecting the information on his friend for purpose of writing a biography to replace Byron‘s own journals, burned by Byron‘s friends on May 17, 1824, could not come to a consensus which one of his feet was actually the deformed one. (Mc Carthy 4) Because of its concealment, there are still speculations, which one of his legs was actually clubfooted. Some people, such as his half-sister and lover, Augusta Leigh, claimed that the right leg was the deformed one, others, such as Mary Shelley, state that it was his left leg. Notoriously inaccurate Edward John Trelawny claimed to have discovered that both of poet‘s feet were stricken. (MacCarthy 4) First written proof of his disease is 6 from February 19th, 1791, in the letter of his father, Jack Byron, who wrote to his sister, Frances ‗Fanny‘ Leigh: ―…For my son, I am happy to hear he is well, but for his walking, ‗tis impossible, for he is clubfooted.‖ (John Byron to Frances Leigh, qtd in Eisler 19) For little George Byron, this foot of his would become one of the factors that affected his life since the day he was born. He would, repeatedly and very often, refer to the leg as a ―the mark of Cain,‖ or even call himself ―le diable boiteux‖, lame devil. (Eisler 13) And he began to realize his ―difference‖ and the fact that he was judged differently very soon in his childhood, for the first recorded incident, concerning his leg, occurred even earlier than he was able to read. Accosted by a neighbour, who announced ―What a pity that such a handsome little lad should be lame,‖ he struck at her with his toy whip: ―Dinna ye speak of it,‖ he ordered. (Moore, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron II 10 qtd in Eisler 21) Because of his illness, he was therefore incapable of participation in children sports concerning speed, but in Harrow, the first of his schools, he was making up for it with participation in boxing and swimming, both of which he thoroughly enjoyed, and especially in swimming he achieved several successes, which are also incorporated and repeatedly brought to mind in several of his poems, such as ―Written after swimming from Sestos to Abydos,‖ or, in the second canto of his masterpiece, Don Juan: A better swimmer you could scarce see ever, He could, perhaps, have pass‘d the Hellespont, As once (a feat on which ourselves we prided) Leander, Mr. Ekenhead and I did. (Byron, The Major Works 459) Byron obviously, because of his illness, felt constantly judged by the society and his great skill in boxing and swimming made him feel equal. When he was accepted by his 7 contemporaries, he was partially able to accept his malformation and even joke about it. Eisler writes that Byron was, in his youth, able to find one friend with similar disability in terms of walking, about whom he jokingly announced, as they set off: ―Come and see the twa laddies with the twa clubfeet going up the Broad street.‖ (Moore, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron I 10 qtd in Eisler 25) These are the first hints of Byron realizing, what a weapon words can be for protection and offense both. In this young age, he used it against his elders or critics and later in his life to ridicule his enemies. Brilliant example of him using words against those who displeased him is the first poem ever attributed to him, which he wrote in 1799 at age of ten about his great-aunt: At Nottingham County there lives at Swine Green As curst an old lady as ever was seen; And when she does die, which I hope will be soon She firmly believes she will go to the moon. (Byron, Detached Thoughts 79 qtd in Eisler 38) But his disease, even though the limp became less and less noticeable, further remained to be a curse throughout his adulthood and it did not pass away when he grew up. Because of his lack of confidence in himself, he still believed that society judges him not for his achievements, but for his lameness. He clung to the image of a cripple. Most interestingly, Byron, however he was identifying himself with other tragic and ―cursed‖ heroes, he omitted the one that would suggest the most parallels: Oedipus.