Abstracts Language, Literature, and Linguistic

Byron, Don Juan, and catharsis

by Wanda S. Greene

This thesis seeks to explain how Lord George Gordon Byron achieves catharsis through the writing of his truth in Don Juan. In the poem the narrator expresses Byron's innermost emotion while at the same time the protagonist, Juan, relates to readers on a more conscious level. The ability that Byron has to work through the narrator in Don Juan provides him with an avenue of expression for his suppressed and frustrated emotions that are largely subconscious and inexpressible. Byron's poetry, and especially Don Juan, is poetry in which the scope of human experience reaches into every aspect of life as he shares with readers his innermost emotion, emotion that is significantly more intense than that of most 19th century writers. Studying Byron may be considered a study of life itself and an opportunity for literary and historical experience on a uniquely intimate level. Byron left England with his friend Hobhouse to travel through Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and Italy in 1809. At this time he wrote Childe Harold, which brought him great fame after his return. The second and final time Byron left England was in 1816. At this time the intense emotional experience and social criticism contained in his poetry brought on severe public criticism which caused him to leave in self-exile. During Byron's second exile he traveled throughout Italy, Turkey and Greece. He ultimately died in Missolonghi, Greece, in 1824 while helping the Greek people fight in a civil war with the Turks. Byron felt that it was important to remain in Greece and help the people, even though his health was failing, ultimately resulting in his death. Byron sought a hero through the writing of Don Juan, and the catharsis he achieved as a result of writing his truth uncovered the hero he was seeking.