Victorian Hero Archetype

Victorian literary hero's archetypes:

The ideal Victorian male should have certain characteristics such as honour, loyalty, intelligence and having a good income. This was the societal ideal of a Victorian literary hero and to many authors of the Victorian era their heroines could only marry a man with such characteristics to secure a happy life.
Rochester has many of these characteristics such as honour and loyalty, we saw this when he still stood by Bertha even when he didn’t necessarily have to. He wasn’t your typical hero,   he gives us a more real idea of a hero which wouldn’t be heard of much in the Victorian era.
The idea of a Hero/Gentleman was changing towards the end of the Victorian era. It began to take on a moral sense and the role of a literary hero began to focus more on conduct than on just wealth and station, more 'ordinary men' could also be classed as heroes.


Elizabethan literary hero archetypes

In the Elizabethan era men held the power and provided money for their families. A high status meant wealth and wealth meant power. All men were expected to live up to the standards of their titles and were viewed as higher than women in everything that they did.
A hero in Elizabethan literary would be a man usually of noble birth and higher status who has a considerable amount of money and he would be highly respected by others. He would also have a tragic flaw that leads to a downfall, he then has an increase of self-awareness then the audience feels pity for the character.
Benedick is not your typical hero as sometimes he's mocked by other people in the play and isn't took very seriously, but he does have certain flaws and his attitude towards love and Beatrice in the start of the play would be a typical characteristic for a hero to have in that era although this appears to be a flaw in the 21st century. By the end of the play his attitude has changed completely along with his views on women and he no longer appears to be a typical...