Post by sillierthings on Apr 15, 2015 3:04:04 GMT
Thinking about eyesofmist’s commentary on La Belle Dame Sans Mercy made me look up Gothic and Byronic heroes, and lo and behold, our Sandor meets just about every single trait. I know other people have talked about this before, but I just wanted to list it out here because after looking these characteristics, even I was surprised by how closely the character of the Hound fits the mold. The traits are taken almost word from word here:
greermiddlecollege.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Microsoft-Word-Characteristics-of-the-Byronic-Hero.pdf
1. Byronic heroes are often deeply psychologically tortured and reluctant to identify themselves as heroic—does this need evidence from the text? Sandor is a complete psychological mess with his Hound personal and his “I’m the butcher” talk. Yeah, yeah. You’re a butcher half the time. The other half you are saving little girls.
2. Byronic heroes tend to exhibit the following traits:
a. Cynicism—pretty little talking bird repeating what her septa taught her, such a bad liar. Knights are for killing
b. Arrogance—Sandor is very arrogant about his status as butcher. He takes pride in his martial success
c. Absolute Disrespect for Authority—Rather casual w/ Joffrey—does disobey him w/ Sansa. Definitely mouthy with Tyrion. Spits on knights and their vows. Even tells Cersei and the Joffrey the King that he won’t take vows when he joins the Kingsguard. When Ned sends his men off to kill Gregor, Littlefinger and King Robert both make jokes about how badly Sandor will react to that. For all that he’s called Dog and ordered about, there is a sense that everyone realizes that the Hound doesn’t care much for their court or their rules. He talks of killing rich men and lords too. Also, the very fact that he tells Tyrion to bugger himself and all of King’s Landing during BoBW—Hound out.
d. Psychological depth—definitely more than meets the eye with his sensitivity to Sansa when she his beaten, wiping her lip, sharing the story of his scars and his family, weeping.
e. Past Trauma—um…yes. That’s covered
f. Intelligence—leads men in battle, politically savvy, gives Sansa good advice for surviving, sneaks into the Red Wedding—notes that knights pay more attention to horses than to peasants.
g. Nihilism—again, this is completely covered. No gods. Get out of the way if you can’t protect yourself.
h. Dark humor—oh, yes. The man laughs when Ned is horrified that he cut down the butcher’s boy. Definitely dark. However, my favorite instance: When he’s bleeding out, practically dying in the inn after killing Gregor’s men with Arya, and he starts to make fun of her and joke that she should marry Sweetrobin.
i. Emotional moodiness—several instances of this with both Sansa and Arya. Most any scene with them shows him shifting between humor, anger, violence, caring.
j. Self-destructive impulses—passed out drunk before being taken captive by the Huntsman and traded to the Brotherhood. Taking on Gregor’s men while drunk.
k. Mysteriousness—very mysterious to most people—think of him telling Sansa about how people make guesses about his face. Not so much to Sansa.
l. Sexual attractiveness—this is debatable to some because of the face, but he’s tall, strong, not ungentle. Also, as we’ve all noted before, the Kettleblacks are described just like the Hound: black hair, big noses, tall, and one even has scars on his face. They are very attractive to the ladies. Sansa has erotic dreams about him and can't seem to get over a kiss she made up with him.
m. World-weariness—yes, made very clear by the Elder Brother’s and Meribald’s speeches.
n. Hyper-sensitivity—err. Yes. LOOK AT ME!!! How dare you close your eye when I go in for a kiss!! I’ll take out my knife and make you sing! He’s a wee bit touchy.
o. Social and Intellectual sophistication—not at first glance, but he gets around in court and again, his advice to Sansa is sound. With the Brotherhood, he demonstrates a very profound viewpoint about the nature of knights and hypocrisy. He’s no fool.
p. A sense of being exiled or out cast both physically and emotionally from the larger social world—check and check. He can’t even live in a remote village without being kicked out.
q. Byronic heroes are often committed not to action on behalf of typically noble causes of “good,” but instead to the cause of their own self-interest: selling Arya off for money (but only to her family). Or in a more minor way when Tyrion orders him back out during the riots, he says he'll go, but only to go get his horse.
r. Often seen as super human or larger than life—he his The Hound, one of the best warriors, if not the best, in all of Westeros. He stands head and shoulders above other men and took on The Mountain. Winner of the Tourney of the Hand.
s. Often the Bryonic hero is characterized by a guilty memory of some unnamed sexual crime—He stole Sansa’s song. He maybe thought about doing more.
3. Byronic heros are often capable of incredible acts of heroism and boldness (Saving Sansa from the mob), but are drawn to violence, self-doubt, impulsive action (Deserting the battle and trying to steal Sansa away) and ultimate self-annihilation or defeat (Fight at the inn was suicidal and ultimately kills the Hound).
I know I wasn’t sitting there with a check list of Byronic traits to tick off as I read the ASOIAF series, so I can see why some people do not immediately see his charm, but the Hound is a text book Byronic hero. Is it any wonder that Sansa has the hots for him? And she does—oh she does.
That being said, a Byronic hero is fascinating creature, but would you really want to marry that? I think Wuthering Heights answers that question with a big, fat NO! You do not want to marry a Byronic hero unless he undergoes a change, just like Rochester does in Jane Eyre. And I KNOW this comparison has been drawn before, probably by wiser and more knowledgeable people than I am, but Sansa just came down from the Eyrie. Why would Martin spell it like that? Aerie would be the real word. Why spell it so it is one letter off from Eyre? And we know his love of naming people Jeyne. The age difference between Sansa and the Hound is, I think, the same as that between Rochester and Jane--about 15 years? Jane was 20 in the novel and Rochester was 35 if I'm remembering correctly. 15 years separate the Hound and Sansa. Rochester is burnt in the fire and loses a hand. Only thus maimed and in losing his fortune is he equal with Jane, changed enough that they can have an equal marriage. Other people have written better comparisons about this, but in thinking about the Byronic qualities, I always go to Heathcliff and Rochester (like most people do, I suspect).
