Discuss the significance of historical heroes (such as Napoleon and Douglass) in nineteenth-century culture

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Nineteenth-century intellectuals celebrated the heroic personality, especially in its dedication to the causes of liberty and equality. And so, the figures of Napoleon and Frederick Douglass were ideal manifestations of this personality, as they each fought risky battles for the goals of freedom. Napoleon represented the hero in both idealistic ways (spreading the revolutionary ideals of liberty, fraternity, and equality throughout his empire) as well as physical (stunningly successful military campaigns). His self-conscious individualism, a sense of personal power, and unbridled egotism fit well with the idea of how a Romantic hero should behave.
Douglass was an American Promethean hero, a champion of liberty in nineteenth-century America, crusading against the institution of slavery. Although abolitionists, such as Douglass, would never have thought of themselves in these terms (as perhaps Napoleon would have), history reveals them to be heroes of their time. Like Prometheus, slave rebels mounted outright attacks against their owners and masters in their efforts to gain a prized privilege: freedom.