Violence, Class Consciousness, and Ideology in Byron's History Plays

Abstract

It is a critical commonplace that Byron's history plays reverberate with political and topical overtones. It is seldom recognized, however, that these are not the major concerns of the plays, but only the outward trappings of deeper, more far-reaching considerations. The flurry of letters sent back to England during and after the composition of the plays assured Byron's friends that these dramas were not what people thought they were, and that the criticisms aimed at them would dissolve when people understood them better. As he told Murray when the tenor of criticism was unusually high-pitched even those corners that had always and without question supported him: have a notion that if understood they [the plays] will find favour (though not on stage) with the reader (BLJ 8, 218).1 They have not yet been understood as Byron hoped they would be, mainly because readers have tended to concentrate on exterior issues or on one or another formal element without considering the underlying experiences that Byron was trying to dramatize. The plays, I believe, are meant to be read as studies the fundamental values which bind society. I believe moreover that proper attention to this social nexus will show the plays to be more consistent their aims than has been recognized, and addition will help promote the favorable response that Byron hoped would in time be given them.

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