On Heroes - Thomas Carlyle (Summary) PDF

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Summary

Brief summary of every single chapter of the book, including essential traits and facts about the personalities represented and talked about. ...

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Thomas Carlyle’s On heores, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History, lectures that present us the role of the hero throughout history and what actually defines a hero in his perception. •

First of all, this work consists of 6 lectures that were held in 1840 and later published in London in 1841. Lectures, as he says, on heroes that „have shaped themselves in the world's history”.

The central point of the lectures is represented by the concept of Great Man, at which point it becomes rather synonymous with his heroic definition. Carlyle emphasizes the nature of the hero, rather than his accomplishments. The lectures also contain a lot of biographical information in regards to the historical figures represented, even though some facts might be presented from a subjective point of view. And, somehow odd, they also contain a romantic, anti-democratic and anti-scientific view. As we learnt from the course, this attitude announces a series of extreme ideologies of the 20th century like Fascism and Communism. The type of hero that Carlyle tries to present is probably not the embodiment of what we understand of a hero today. William Henry Hudson, in an introduction to Carlyle’s work, published in 1934, gives a better understanding of the reason individual men were needed for progress. "The masses of the people can never be safely trusted to solve for themselves the intricate problems of their own welfare. They need to be guided, disciplined, at times even driven, by those great leaders of men, who see more deeply than they see into the reality of things, and know much better than they can ever know what is good for them." •

The first lecture presents us with the embodiment of the Hero as a God, as divinity: Odin, the almighty god in the Norse Mythology. He is, as the author mentions, "a Hero, of worth immeasurable; admiration for whom, transcending the known bounds, became adoration."

Carlyle makes a strong point about how Odin came to be considered a god. He talks about the communion of man with the powers of the universe, and also presents him as the light that came upon the “great dark vortex of the Norse mind”. He affirms that this is the primary seed of Norse religion, this response of the people’s hearts to Odin’s message and also some of the characteristics of the so-called hero: he is supposed to be valiant, fearless. •

Next we have Mahomet, the hero as a prophet. In another introduction, David Sorensen, describes this acknowledging of the legitimacy of Islam as rather controversial for Carlyle’s time.

He himself confesses that he doesn’t believe Mahomet to be the truest of the all prophets, but he doesn’t question the truth of his heart. Mahomet is perceived, in Carlyle’s eyes, as a light born into darkness, he mentions that “Arabia first became alive by his means”. What he also admires about Mahomet is his wilderness, his nature of presenting himself as something that he just is: There is no pride in him, but he also doesn’t go much about humility. The historical context of Mahomet’s journey is also mentioned and reinforced.

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Coming up, the hero as a Poet, Carlyle stops upon two of the greatest figures of literature, Dante and William Shakespeare. He considers this heroic figure to be present throughout all ages. He also makes some bold statements in regards to these two, calling them out on their geniality, on their intellectual, “Saints of Poetry”, there was and will never be anyone like them.

Dante — softness, tenderness, combined with sharp contradiction, isolation, hopeless pain – a battle against the world; Shakespeare — "the chief of all Poets", greatest intellect, his dramas are a product as deep as Nature itself.

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Next on the list we are presented with the hero as a priest, with the admirable actions of Martin Luther and the Scottish John Knox. Carlyle reflects upon their great courage, their braveness, their integrity. He describes Lutheras an Alpine mountain, — so simple, honest, spontaneous, not setting up to be great at all; there for quite another purpose than being great. And calls of John Knox to be "the bravest of all Scotchmen"; He goes on to say that "in heartfelt instinctive adherence to truth, in sincerity, as we say, he has no superior (…) and also a part that I was personally fond of about this man: “He lies there,” said the Earl of Morton at his grave, “who never feared the face of man.”

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The fifth lecture focuses upon the hero as a Man of Letters. (I recommend for you to read the lectures in order to understand to a certain extent Carlyle’s perspective on these men, because there is a lot of information on all three of them).

Carlyle uses a lot of analogies to describe these men. He calls them, in Fichte’s words, people unfolding the Godlike to men. He goes on to mention: They were not heroic bringers of the light, but heroic seekers of it. They lived under galling conditions; struggling as under mountains of impediment, and could not unfold themselves into clearness, or victorious interpretation of that “Divine Idea.” It is rather the Tombs of three Literary Heroes that I have to show you. From this lecture we can also gain a better image of the anti-democratic attitude we were talking about, as he repeatedly mentions: "The world has to obey him who thinks and sees in the world." •

The last of the lectures focuses on the personalities of Oliver Cromwell and Napoleon. The hero as a king here is perceived, as he says, as "the summary for us of all the various figures of Heroism; Priest, Teacher, whatsoever of earthly or of spiritual dignity we can fancy to reside in a man";

Neither of them were kings, Carlyle applies to an etymological definition of king, that rather means someone that is able to do something. He also presents Sincerity as the ultimate, as the dominant quality a Great Man should possess. I call them, all three, Genuine Men more or less; faithfully, for most part unconsciously, struggling to be genuine, and plant themselves on the everlasting truth of things. This goes in contrast with his attitude towards falsehood and its effect on human fate: "Not Hunger alone produced even the French Revolution; no, but the feeling of the insupportable all-pervading Falsehood which had now embodied itself in Hunger, in universal material Scarcity and Nonentity, and thereby become indisputably false in the eyes of all!"

As a conclusion, the most notable aspects, that I managed to understand, at least, from this work, and also aspects that are outstanding for each one of the heroes mentioned: •

Sincerity as the intrinsic characteristic of every great man. - "I should say sincerity, a deep, great, genuine sincerity, is the first characteristic of all men in any way heroic."

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Falsehood as the greatest enemy of the world, as we mentioned earlier.

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Individualism above the unorganised masses; as we mentioned in the brief introduction, people need someone to guide them, someone who knows what is best for them, since anything else would lead to pure anarchy.

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and another important aspect Carlyle strongly focuses on is represented by hero-worship. Hero worship, he says, represents the act of accepting that there exists something divine in the presence of your brother, and the act of adoration, of bending before men, that should extend from divinity to the lowest regions of life....