Introduction

48
Vanessa Mangione
parent similarities between Elinor and Lamb herself could be noted as they both
(supposedly) played Byron “because she, too, is a darkly alienated poet, known to
have been Glenarvon’s mistress, thus set apart by obligatory crime and guilt”
(166). However, Judson continues, differences become more and more apparent.
Elinor starts to function as the “authenticity of Gaelic culture in stark opposition
to the mummery of the Byronic hero” (166). Correspondingly, it has been argued
that Lamb empathised with the political emancipation of Ireland and its longing to
liberate itself from a too domineering England, since she recognised parallels between
the repression of the Irish and the female struggle for autonomy. 30 Consequently,
the Irish rebellion against the English in Glenarvon has been read as a
metaphor for a female revolt against an oppressive patriarchal system; both have
been caused by the appearance of the Byronic hero.
Elinor’s function as a Byronic heroine has barely been commented on although
it is noticeable. Judson states that, in a real Byronic fashion, she renounces
every conventional rule, starts to wear men’s clothing, shatters her obligation of
filial obedience, and chooses to live under her dying father’s condemnation rather
than going back to old values and restrictions (167). She possesses enough passion
and devotion for the Irish cause to gain the rebels’ confidence and to qualify as
their leader. She is, like the Byronic hero, a fighter for justice who actively considers
isolating herself from society in order to gain freedom. Nevertheless, Judson
concludes “where the Byronic hero’s “involuntary fault” is presented as confirmed
hypocrisy and self-seeking mobility, St. Clare’s rebellion against the corrupt institutions
of family, colonial society, and British power is commended as heroic
martyrdom in the best tradition of Roman virtue” (169). Where Glenarvon functions
as the Byronic hero gone berserk, Elinor is his counterbalance, a fighter for
equality and against oppression; as someone who detached herself completely
from everything, whether they be conventions, or even love. Thus she says to
Glenarvon:
“Alice dead – Calantha discarded! I heard the tale, but it left no credit with.
– Can there be hearts so weak as thus die for love? … [B]y thyself, thy
[Glenarvon’s] glorious self, I swear I will never return to virtue … by these
eyes … by these shining looks … by these lips, which prest by yours, have
felt the rapturous fire and tenderness of love – virtue and I are forsworn:
and in me, whatever I may appear, henceforward know that I am your enemy.”
(255-256)
However, critics have commented that there was no place for such an independent
woman in English Regency society and that the future “holds no place for this
proleptic figure of sexual and political liberty, who remains a prophet without
honor in her own country” (Judson 168). 31
30 For a further discussion see Barbara Judson and Ghishlane McDayter (“Hysterically Speaking”).
31 See Ghislaine McDayter and Barbara Judson among others.