On Tuesday, my friend and fellow Risky Regencies blogger, Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee talked about the romantic fantasy about reforming the rake, a theme we repeat over and over in our romance novels. This got me thinking about romance heroes, one of my favorite topics.

In 2006, I blogged about Romance Heroes and I thought I’d revise that blog here today.
The blog idea was sparked by a plea from the BBC:

“Are you an avid reader of romantic fiction? Has Mr Darcy made you leave your fiancé? Has Mr Rochester, Heathcliff or any other fictional hero changed your love life in a significant way? Does your partner want you to be more like these fictional male heroes?…Reader, I married him will examine the work of Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, Margaret Mitchell, Helen Fielding and Catherine Cookson amongst others, looking at how romantic novels have changed the female perception of the ideal man….”

My initial reaction to the BBC question, back then in 2006, was asking myself, has the romantic ideal ever changed? I went back to refresh my memory about ancient heroes, like in the Iliad and Odyssey, and later writings, like Tristan and Isolde, the Arthur legends, fairytales like Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and Snow White. If we think of heroes in those tales, are they so different than what we love about our present Romance heroes or the heroes listed by the BBC?

I don’t think so. I think throughout history, our fictional romantic ideals, the ones standing the test of time, have been strong men who have honor and compassion, who have the capacity to grow, and are capable of loving a woman as an equal. Heroes might be depicted with different temperaments, personality styles, and professions, depending upon the social expectations of the day, but my thought is that strength, honor, capacity to love and change, are archetypal, universal ideals that resonate throughout human experience. I’ll bet if we analyzed our favorite fictional heroes in today’s market, we would find these qualities present, just as they are present in ancient folktales.

I just don’t think this is new stuff. I think it goes deeper into those instinctual survival-of-the-fittest needs that drive more of our behavior that we’d like to believe. My idea is that romance fiction reinforces these archetypal male images, recreating them in a variety of interesting and exciting ways, and that this is part of the popular appeal that sells at least 50% of mass market books.

I found the the BBC show on YouTube (in several parts, under the title Heroes). They still make sure that the viewer is told that romantic heroes somehow spoil women for real men (there is a particularly annoying psychoanalyst who knows-it-all). I still say this is nonsense. I believe romance novels do hold men to a standard, but it is a fairly normal one. Honestly, what woman would want to say she chose a mate because he was weak and dishonorable, unable to change, unable to love? Not me! And what man would want to describe himself as weak, dishonorable, unable to change or to love? None, I hope.

What do you think? Do romance novels hold real men to an unrealistic standard? Are we all deluding ourselves to want our real men to be more like a hero in a romance book?