McIntyre - The Later Career of the Elizabeth An Villain-Hero

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The Later Career of the Elizabethan Villain-HeroAuthor(s): Clara F. McIntyreReviewed work(s):Source: PMLA, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Dec., 1925), pp. 874-880Published by: Modern Language AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/457527 .

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XL. THE LATER CAREER OF THE ELIZABETHANVILLAIN-HEROThe "villain-hero," as he developed in the plays of Marloweand in those of some later Elizabethans, is a distinct and im-portant type of character. Moreover, he did not make hisfinal exit with the ending of the Elizabethan period, but hasreappeared at various times since, especially during the Ro-

mantic Revival at the end of the eighteenth century. This"Romantic Movement," as we are accustomed to call it, wasin many ways a revival of the earlier Romantic spirit which wecall Elizabethanism. Nothing shows the resemblance betweenthe two periods more strikingly than this habit of taking forthe dominating figurein the story a man of great power, stainedwith crime.The first step in this, as in the Romantic method of novel-writing in general, probably may be credited to Horace Walpole,though his first step was a hesitating one. His tyrant was crueland calculating, but aside from this he had little individuality.Like the other characters, he was a mere puppet introduced towork out the supernatural elements of the tale. Mrs. Radcliffe,who took Walpole's crude beginnings and shaped out of them adefinite type of literature, now passe, it is true, but in its ownday powerful, was the person really responsible for the revivalof the Elizabethan villain. It was she who passed on thischaracter to later romanticists, and for that reason it may beworth while to examine somewhat carefully the treatment whichit receives in her stories.

First, let us consider for a moment just what is meant by the"villain-hero." Perhaps the most concise and satisfyingdefinition is that given by Clarence Boyer, in his book, TheVillain as Hero in Elizabethan Tragedy:Wemay say, then,thata villain s a manwho,fora selfishend,wilfullyanddeliberately iolatesstandards f morality anctionedby the audienceor ordin-aryreader.Whensuch a characters giventheleadingr61e, ndwhenhisdeedsformthe centre of dramatic nterest,the villain has becomeprotagonist,andwe have the type play with the villainas hero.

Every one of Mrs. Radcliffe's stories presents a character whosatisfies pretty thoroughly this requirement. In each of them874


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LATER CAREER OF ELIZABETHAN VILLAIN-HEROwe find a person "who, for a selfish end, wilfully and deliberatelyviolates the standards of morality sanctioned by the ....ordinary reader." And in the later books, more than in theearlier, we find it also true that "the villain has become pro-tagonist." Malcolm, the villain in The Castles of Athlin andDunbayne, does, it is true, by his injustice and cruelty bringabout all the action of the story, but he himself is not so prom-inent as some of the other characters. Again, in A SicilianRomance the Marquis is a cruel husband and father, and sofurnishes the impulse for Julia's flight, but the main interestlies in the wanderings of the lovers. The Romanceof the Foresthas two villains: La Motte, who sins through weakness andcowardice, and the Marquis of Montalt, who is a representativeof the "philosophic villain." Montoni, in The Mysteries ofUdolpho, comes nearer being the protagonist than any of hispredecessors. His dark and mysterious personality, in harmonywith the gloom of his castle, leaves perhaps the most powerfulimpression we get from the book. But it is Schedoni, in TheItalian, who approaches most nearly the Elizabethan idea ofthe villain as hero. We might say that at times at least herises to the heights of real tragic conflict, of the sort defined byMr. Boyer:

When a villain possesses powers that are great, aesthetically good-suchas great courage and great intellectual ability-and when these powers comeinto conflict with moral forces in the universe so as to produce a struggle whichleaves the issue in doubt, we have a tragedy which moves us to admiration,terror, and sadness. When these powers also come into conflict with qualitiesin the nature of the villain which are morally good, we have a struggle whicharouses the highest degree of tragic pleasure, because to the other emotions isadded pity for the mental suffering of the hero.Such an inward struggle occurs when Schedoni is about tomurder Ellena. Some compunctions stir him and cause himto hesitate, even before he makes the discovery which convinceshim that she is his daughter. There is a suggestion of strugglewhen Schedoni, on the seashore, sustains the fainting Ellena:

The conflict between his design and his conscience was strong, or, perhaps,it was only between his passions.Indeed, the character of Schedoni illustrates perfectly the typeof villainy which Mr. Boyer calls "Machiavellian." In dis-cussing Marlowe's Barabas, Mr. Boyer pronounces him "egotis-

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tical, cruel, faithless, remorseless, murderous, and a poisoner."These characteristics, he continues, "are important becausethey practically set the type for later villains." Again, heremarks that "ridding one's self of accomplices is the veryessence of Machiavellism. It was the practice of Caesar Borgia,and is discussed in The Prince, Chapter VIII. Barabas adoptedthe same policy, and it became characteristic of Machiavellianvillains."

Now, all these characteristics are found most powerfullyexpressed in Schedoni. His egotism is evident in his assuredbearing with the Marchesa and his contemptuous treatment ofVivaldi. He thinks of them only as they can minister to his ownambition; he is as self-centred as any of Marlowe's heroes. Hiscruelty cannot be questioned when we consider his advocacy ofthe innocent Ellena's death. He seems, indeed, the villain who,as Mr. Boyer expresses it, "has no regard whatever for humanbeings, but sweeps them away as though they were so manyflies." He is faithless in his dealings with the Marchesa, and hedies without any real remorse; for his behavior toward hissupposed daughter is inspired by natural affection rather thanby repentance for evil intentions. Schedoni appears in the r6leof a poisoner, three different times. At his suggestion, appar-ently, Ellena is furnished with poisoned food. He gives hispoisoned dagger to the peasant who has been his guide, hopingthat the man may meet Spalatro, and, in defending himself,give him a fatal wound. And in the end he poisons both himselfand the revengeful monk Nicola, who has been the cause of hisbetrayal.Moreover, Schedoni is triumphantly and unmistakably theleading figure in the book. The German translator who renamedthe story Die Italienerin certainly was guilty of a stupidblunder. One is reminded of Iago when reading of Schedoni'sskilful handling of the Marchesa:

So far was he fromattempting o soothehersufferings,hathe contrived oirritate her resentment,and exasperateher pride;effectingthis, at the sametime, with such consumnateart, that he appearedonly to be palliatingtheconductof Vivaldi,andendeavouringo consolehis distractedmother.He

wascautiousnot to speaktoofavourably f Vivaldi'sconduct,which,onthecontrary,he represented s muchmore nsultingthanit really was; .... Yet

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they act not so much from personal malignity as from an un-wavering determination to further their own interests If self-interest demands the brushing away of human flies, they donot hesitate. But unless some personal revenge comes in, as inthe cases of Nicola and Schedoni, they will confess their crimes,when they are no longer useful, as indifferently as they haveperformed them.No doubt The Robberscontributed something to Mrs. Rad-cliffe's villain-heroes, especially Montoni and Schedoni, who ina sense are outlaws from society. But it has also been pointedout that the Elizabethan influence upon Schiller was strong.Charles and Francis de Moor are only variations of the earliervillain-hero "who, for a selfish end, wilfully and deliberatelyviolates standards of morality sanctioned by the audience orordinary reader." And although Mrs. Radcliffe to a certainextent changed and added to the character-at least in the caseof Schedoni-the type which she handed down to Byron was,after all, the type which had flourishedin that earlier Romanticperiod, the Elizabethan Renaissance.It is hardly necessary here to enter upon an elaborate com-parison of Mrs. Radcliffe and Byron in their treatment of the"villain-hero," for the resemblance has often been noted. It willbe sufficient to remark that both writers make their charactersconform closely to the idea of villainy which Mr. Boyer givesin his definition quoted above. With both of them, too, this.character has become the protagonist; usually the main interestof the poem or the novel centres in him. Byron, perhaps,emphasizes specially the spirit of revolt against society, ofrebellion against the ordinary conventions of life. But hisvillain-heroes have all the qualities of Mrs. Radcliffe's: they areselfish and unscrupulous; they have great personal strengthand are brave even to rashness; they have a fierce and for-bidding manner which inspires dread in all around them; andoften a dark mystery conceals their early life. There seemslittle doubt that the character which Mrs. Radcliffe hadinherited from the Elizabethan plays, modified by the German,was in large measure responsible for the "Byronic hero" whohad such vogue in the early nineteenth century. It may evenhave influenced somewhat Byron's conception of himself. Weare told that Lewis, on reading The Mysteries of Udolpho,

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naively imagined that he saw in the grim Montoni a likenessto himself. Byron seems to have had in him something of thesame tendency to think himself more fascinatingly wicked thanhe was; although in his case, unfortunately, less effort of theimagination was required. The Byronic hero was an expressionof the author's personality as he felt it, and he seems to havefelt himself more of a moral outlaw, more of a rebel against con-ventions, than he actually was.

I havenot loved heworld; or he worldme,-But etuspart air oes.Byron's heroes, as truly as Marlowe's, are in arms against theworld. In their egotism, their lust for power, even their love ofwandering and adventure, they suggest the spirit of the Renais-sance.

Lewis's Monk, of course, is an extreme example of this typeof villain. His character is drawn with more psychological skill.than any of Mrs. Radcliffe's, but he frankly owned his obligationto her. Scott owed much to both Mrs. Radcliffe and Lewis,though the tone of his mind was too healthy to allow him tofollow them very far, and his main interest did not lie, usually,in the portrayal of crime. Marmion is the character whichperhaps shows most plainly the influence of the villain-hero type.Shelley, in his early romances, gives us romanticism run mad.Zastrozzi reads like a burlesque; it seems impossible that anyoneshould have written it with any serious artistic purpose. Butwe know that Shelley in his youth devoured the books of MrsRadcliffe and her followers, and perhaps it is not strange thatthe untrammeled imagination of a boy, subjected to such acourse of reading, should produce wild results. In his laterwork, Shelley's heroes show the characteristic noticed in Byron's-the spirit of revolt against the conventions of society.Indeed, we may say that the villain-hero, after he was handedover by Mrs. Radcliffe to the later Romanticists, was definitelymodified by the social theories of the time, and returned moreor less to the original conception of Marlowe-the man whotakes up arms against the world. The influence of this characterpersisted in early nineteenth century novels, and was shown byart interest in criminal themes. Through the work of BulwerLytton and Dickens this interest in crime is continued. In

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CLARA F. MCINTYREAmerican literature direct influence is shown in the novels ofCharles Brockden Brown and in the work of Poe and Haw-thorne, the last two, of course, carrying the theme into the realmof psychology.The interest which seemed to have scattered over criminalthemes in general was concentrated again in a definite herotype, in the work of the Bronte sisters. Here we have a curiousmanifestation of the earlier spirit, and a curious difference ofresult. Charlotte, trying to attain a certain degree of realismand to approach the tone of everyday life, made Rochesterunconvincing and created what has rather aptly been calledthe "gorilla type" of hero. Emily's Heathcliffe, on the contrary,is a wonderful conception. He, like the earlier villains, shrinksat nothing to attain his ends; he brushes away "human flies"with brutal unconcern. But there is one variation from theearlier type; he is moved, not by worldly ambition but by agreat and consuming passion for the woman who cheats himout of what she knows is rightfully his. Wuthering Heightsis a story of revenge, and so quite in the Elizabethan mood;but the revenge is spiritual rather than earthly.What I have attempted to say in this brief discussion is thatthe Elizabethan villain-hero did not cease to exist when theElizabethan playwrights had finished their work. The so-called"Gothic" novelists, and especially Mrs. Radcliffe as theirstrongest representative, brought him forward again, andhanded him on to later Romanticists like Byron and Shelley.Through these men, once more, he influenced the general courseof literature and played his part in the development of the nine-teenth century novel. Whether he will have another period ofactivity is uncertain. The modern psychologist is apt to lookfor more complexity of motive. But at least, his career so faris an interesting example of a recurring literary tradition.

CLARA F. MCINTYRE

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McIntyre - The Later Career of the Elizabeth An Villain-Hero

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