SOURCE: Lessenich, Rolf P. “The Danger and Vanity of Human Passions.” In Lord Byron and the Nature of Man, pp. 57-98. Köln: Böhlau Verlag, 1978.

In the following essay, Lessenich explores Byron's characterization of love and war as vain and perilous pursuits, designed to tempt death.

A) the Danger and Vanity of Love

Though, in Byron's work, love and military glory appear as contrary passions with contrary moral values, they have this in common: their pursuit is both vain and dangerous.

The sufferings of Mazeppa, tied up and turned away on a wild horse, are too obviously reminiscent of the sufferings of the Ancient Mariner to escape notice¹. But, unlike Coleridge's bird-slaughterer, Byron's hero suffers for loving, not for killing². To the old scarred and battle-steeled soldier Mazeppa passing his life in review, his love-affair with Theresa has proved the most dangerous adventure of all his long...