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Part of the Byronic Hero’s assurance of guilt is his certainty that he would perform thesame action again, which means that he cannot pretend repentance, as seen in theGiaour’s killing of Hassan (G 1036-41). Nonetheless, in not pretending repentance,he is being honest about his guilt. Thorslev notes of the Gothic Villain, one of theprecursors to the Byronic Hero, thatHe fits into the morality of the age: unlike the Romantic hero, heacknowledges the moral codes of society and his own wickedness in violatingthose codes, and he therefore never engages our sympathies with hisrebellion. 348The Byronic Hero does much the same: he acknowledges his wickedness in violatingthe moral codes, and makes no attempt to improve his ways. This violation of themoral code forestalled the sympathies of many contemporary critics, but his faithful,expiatory love made him the darling of the public. More interestingly, his selfawarenessand honesty before God could actually be reasonable, honourable, and thusadmirable. This is particularly true for Conrad, who refuses to turn to God out ofmere desperation:My sole resources in the path I trodWere these – my bark, my sword, my love, my God!The last I left in youth! – he leaves me now –And Man but works his will to lay me low.I have no thought to mock his throne with prayerWrung from the coward crouching of despair[.] (C 2.14.476-81).This refusal to petition God insincerely is not a refusal to acknowledge God. Conradis simply being honourable, which he is to a fault, as in his refusal to murder Seyd inhis sleep. The Giaour and Conrad both acknowledge God, and recognise their guiltbefore God, but are sure that they cannot be forgiven:348 Thorslev, p.53.222