My Heroes: Alpha Male, Romantic Hero, Byronic Hero, Tragic Hero, Anti-Hero or Other?

I did some soul searching and tons of research after some 'not so nice' comments from Casslyn, Claire and my Judas-of- a-sister all of whom accused me of being ripe with lust for the Alpha-male hero type. I would concede to liking a strong complex hero, but it would only fall on deaf ears so I’ve written this in my defence.

All of it based on facts, even if it is a little biased.

For starters, Alpha males only exist in the minds of the socially lazy and for zoological purposes, what with wolf packs and the like. Now that leaves us with the Romantic, Byronic, Tragic or the Anti-Hero with whom to compare my male lead.

So here's how I'll do it.

I’ll tell you the basic characteristics of my heroes and then tell you how it compares with what I’ve learned from my research of the already established literary archetypes.

1.) My heroes are always intelligent, often cunning and are able to adapt well to change in circumstances, which, according to my reseach, makes then mostly Romantic and Byronic.
2.) He is also introspective, sophisticated and mindful of others; traits that make him a little of all the archetypes.
3.) The gentlemen in my stories are all educated, magnetic and charismatic so in this they are again like the others.
4.) I insist that he be a decent fellow whose integrity is vital to his sense of self and this of course makes him decidedly Romantic.
5.) At heart my heroes embody a sensual creatures which puts them on par with most all of the others.
6.) More than all of that is his ability to love. He loves his family, he loves the heroine and he loves himself. In this he is at odds to some degree with the other archetypes, most of whom are too concerned with their own hubris... except, of course, for the Romantic who usually love some poor creature to both their detriments.

After all, half of them are emotionally conflicted, which is fine but then more often than not it leads to a dreadful case of narcissism and despite what Claire says there is no such thing as healthy narcissism. In fact, I think that’s the precise definition of an oxymoron...Love yourself, by all means but once your loving yourself brings to mind any images of Narcissus well… healthy, it is not.

• As for the rest, my heroes lack the bipolar tendencies and or moodiness of the Byronic hero.
• He hasn't the distaste for social institutions which seems to be the norms for the Anti-Hero
• He also lacks the doom and self-tormented impulses of the Tragic Hero
• And unlike the Romantic Hero, he believes the privilege his birth and rank allows him to be an honour and most often treats it as an extention of his duty to his family
• He is quick to laugh and is only dark when necessary which makes him more human and true to life

Not Alpha, Beta, Tragic or Anti-Hero... just one woman’s interpretation of the ideal male lead...

Have a happy wednesday,

Simone