Anti-hero: Difference between revisions

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A hero lacking in the qualities that commonly make up a heroic individual.
An anti-hero is a hero who lacks the qualities that are normally found in heroic individuals.


Characteristics of an anti-hero include someone who is "incompetent, unlucky, tactless, clumsy, cock-handed, stupid, buffoonish (Literary Terms & Literary Theory 42-43)" yet the reader is drawn into feeling sympathy for the anti-hero none the less. The anti-hero was a rare character in early literature but has become more common in modern times. Some of the earliest examples include "the endearing figure of the eponymous knight of ''Don Quixote'' (1605, 1615) (Literary Terms & Literary Theory 42-43)" and in "Hylas, in d'Urfe's very successful Astrée (1627) who is a contrast to the conventional hero Céladan (Literary Terms & Literary Theory 42-43)."
Anti-heroes normally share characteristics such as "incompetence, unluckyness, tactlessness, clumsyness, cock-handedness, stupidness, buffoonish (Literary Terms & Literary Theory 42-43)" yet the reader is drawn into feeling sympathy for the anti-hero none the less. The anti-hero was a rare character in early literature but has become more common in modern times. Some of the earliest examples include "the endearing figure of the eponymous knight of ''Don Quixote'' (1605, 1615) (Literary Terms & Literary Theory 42-43)" and in "Hylas, in d'Urfe's very successful Astrée (1627) who is a contrast to the conventional hero Céladan (Literary Terms & Literary Theory 42-43)."


"A non-hero, or the antithesis of a hero of the old-fashioned kind who was capable of heroic deeds, who was dashing, strong, brave and resourceful. It is a little doubtful whether such heroes have ever existed in any quantity in fiction except in some romances and in the cheaper kind of romantic novelette. However there have been many instances of fictional heroes who have displayed noble qualities and virtuous attributes. The anti-hero is the man who is given the vocation of failure (Literary Terms & Literary Theory 42-43)."
"A non-hero, or the antithesis of a hero of the old-fashioned kind who was capable of heroic deeds, who was dashing, strong, brave and resourceful. It is a little doubtful whether such heroes have ever existed in any quantity in fiction except in some romances and in the cheaper kind of romantic novelette. However there have been many instances of fictional heroes who have displayed noble qualities and virtuous attributes. The anti-hero is the man who is given the vocation of failure (Literary Terms & Literary Theory 42-43)."
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