This essay examines the romantic character as a literary archetype, tracing its origins in late 18th-century European culture to its manifestation in two major works: Alexander Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades" and Walt Whitman's poetry. The paper argues that while both works celebrate individualism—a core romantic value—they present contrasting visions of the romantic hero. Pushkin's Hermann emerges as a parodic figure whose pursuit of absolute knowledge is undermined by base financial motives, whereas Whitman's poetic persona transcends isolation by embodying the collective voice of humanity. Through analysis of characterization, symbolism, and thematic structure, the essay demonstrates how each author interprets romantic idealism within their specific cultural and historical contexts.
Romanticism is a cultural current that manifested itself in the late 1700s and quickly swept throughout Europe. One of its defining characteristics is its universality: its field of manifestation was widespread, spanning painting, art, music, and literature. The Romantic current generally has common features that can be traced across all its areas of expression, including its sources of inspiration (generally folklore and popular art) and the nationalistic themes present in romantic works—for example, the French Romantic paintings full of such imagery.
Some Romantic works, especially the literary ones, drew upon the Middle Ages as a source of inspiration, a period that best encouraged the Romantic imagination. However, one of the most important elements of the Romantic Movement is the romantic character himself. A romantic character generally possesses several common characteristics that make him recognizable from the very beginning. One of these defining traits is individualism.
The rise of capitalism and mercantilism destabilized the old medieval patterns. The new bourgeois often refused to fit into the old order and "developed their own tastes in the arts and created new social and artistic movements alien to the old aristocracy." The direct effect this phenomenon had on art and literature was significant: if before the Church and aristocracy usually shared the same ideas and tastes, the new society presented a numerous association of individualistic people. Any artist or writer could now find a sympathetic audience willing to pay for his work. Thus, the individualism developing in society reflected itself in the arts and literature as well, and every artist could now create according to his own beliefs.
Literary heroes like Faust helped create and better define the romantic hero. Such characters either cannot find their place in everyday society or have been rejected by it. Most often, these are powerful characters that find the will to fight the misfortunes of life, change the rules, create new rules, and "self-define and self-invent" themselves. In other situations, the romantic hero appears as an inadaptable character of his times, someone who has been rejected by society and lives alone, isolated. Yet most romantic characters believe "that the best path to faith is through individual choice, the idea that government exists to serve the individuals who have created it."
Pushkin's The Queen of Spades draws upon many characteristics of the romantic hero through its main character, Hermann. From the very beginning of the short story, Hermann appears out of place in the high Russian society of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. First, his German origin makes him a foreigner, even though his father had settled in Russia and even though many Germans later occupied important functions within the Russian Empire. Nevertheless, a foreigner remains regarded as such, at least in the collective consciousness.
The second distinctive characteristic that makes Hermann seem out of place is his social and financial position. The story depicts a society where fortunes are gambled and lost in a single evening. Hermann does possess money—"Hermann was the son of a German who had settled in Russia and left him a small fortune"—yet he deliberately chooses not to spend his inherited wealth. As Hermann himself declares, "I am not in a position to sacrifice the essential in the hope of acquiring the superfluous." This deliberate restraint further isolates him from the social world around him.
The card-playing setting at the story's beginning, with its players and their games, introduces the mysterious legend of three cards: how the old countess once regained her fortune in Paris through a game of chance. From this point onward, Hermann becomes the romantic hero par excellence. Shut out or at least marginalized by society, Hermann begins his quest for the absolute. However, everything in this particular short story seems to operate as parody. The absolute, in Hermann's case, is merely the secret to guessing three cards in a row. Unlike the great romantic heroes such as Faust, who quest for eternal life, Hermann's ideals are extremely limited and material. His goals are mundane: to gain a large sum of money to ensure his well-being for the rest of his life. We are left uncertain whether to sympathize with or laugh at this diminished romantic hero.
The framework for Hermann's quest bears romantic similarities, beginning with the "courtship" theme—Hermann's attempts to win over Lizaveta. However, as throughout the short story, this too approaches parody. In general, Romantic love is something ideal and pure, often elevated to the level of shrine. In Pushkin's narrative, it becomes a mere means that Hermann intends to use to achieve his dream. It is a rather bitter perspective on love and feelings, one that undermines traditional romantic idealism.
To understand the full romantic characteristics of the story, one must examine its conclusion. Perhaps this is the most "romantic" part of the narrative, with Hermann going mad and constantly repeating the three cards as he lives the rest of his life in a mental institution. The romantic hero has bitterly and unfortunately ended his quest for happiness. The world has not been prepared for him and has not been ready for his ideals—conclusions typical of a romantic story. However, we must remember what Hermann's actual quest has been and what his conception of the absolute and ideals truly was. Hermann lacks something other romantic heroes possess: a noble ideal.
Notable toward the story's end are the supernatural elements (the spirit of the old countess, etc.), another hallmark of romantic writings. The symbolic significance of the Queen of Spades resonates throughout, as suggested by the motto at the story's beginning: "the Queen of Spades means secret hostility." It is also characteristic of romantic writings to show how dream and reality converge, as occurs here when the three "lucky cards" appear to Hermann in a dream rather than through waking revelation.
In Whitman's poem, the celebration of the individual and the self begins from the very first lines: "I CELEBRATE myself; / And what I assume you shall assume; / For every atom belonging to me, as good belongs to you." However, the Whitman romantic individual carries within him the voices of the entire society. The individual in Whitman's poem functions as a speaking trumpet for the entire society.
In some ways, this differs from the classic image of individualism that other romantic writers present. Whitman's romantic hero is not necessarily isolated from society or history but integrated within it and, more powerfully, speaks a common language for others to understand. The romantic hero in this case takes it upon himself to let the world know what generations of oppressed voices have to say: "through me many long dumb voices, / Voices of the interminable generations of prisoners and slaves, / Voices of the diseased and despairing and of thieves and dwarfs, / Voices of cycles of preparation and accretion."
Some critics have argued that Whitman's poem is fundamentally Marxist, with the poet taking it upon himself to express the misfortunes of the oppressed. The above lines seem to support this interpretation, as Whitman speaks on behalf of prisoners, slaves, and the diseased. However, confining Whitman's poem solely to a Marxist reading would be reductive. The image is much larger: the voices are of humanity itself—past, present, and future. The whole of humanity is brought together in this poem through the voice of the poet, transcending any single ideological framework.
"Comparative analysis of parodic versus grandiose romantic heroes"
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