16 thoughts on “TBT: Byron (2003)

  1. Bipolar probably explains Caro Lamb as well as anything can. The poor woman was not normal and the affair with Byron certainly didn’t help her mental balance.

    1. I read a bio on William Lamb/Lord Melbourne and she was def bi-polar, at the least…they did not exaggerate her behavior…

      1. It’s hard to blame Byron for cutting and running. Melbourne on the other hand deserves all kinds of credit for standing by his wife.

        1. Melbourne refused to divorce her despite severe family pressures…he was extremely loyal indeed…and never would turn his back on her no matter what she did or said. Very unusual for his day as he likely could have “put her away”.

          1. Her upbringing probably had a lot to do with Caro’s mental state. She was the niece of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Her mother was Henrietta, Countess of Bessborourgh, known for her many love affairs, mainly with Lord Leveson-Gower, by whom she had two children (who later married Georgiana’s second daughter Harriet). Definitely need a program to keep track of all the folks in this menage!

  2. Oooo, I really liked this Byron (& you beat me to a full review of it, hah!). It paints him in a very sympathetic light, tho’ I suspect he was more of an asshole. And re: bisexuality, from what I’ve read, he was a dabbler & experimenter, willing to try anything once or twice. But he liked the ladies mostly.

  3. I pity any woman who got involved with this infamous cad. I suspect the assholian portrayal of him in “Mary Shelley” is a bit closer to the truth, unfortunately. Haven’t seen this. May or may not.

  4. I’ve always seen cropped hair like how Lady Russell’s hair did in Persuasion (1995), and now I know there was an actual style it copied, and not at all the clean cut that she had.

  5. And he was the father of Lady Ada Lovelace, mathematician and inventor of the computer.
    I may have seen it. Don’t remember much but will watch again

    1. Just a point of clarification: Ada Lovelace didn’t invent the computer. She was the first computer programmer. She programmed Charles Babbage’s invention – the Babbage engine – which is considered to be the first computer.

  6. I also felt that it was sadly lacking in the Villa Diodati episode, I feel that it was an important moment for most of the group and inspired two important works ‘The Vampyre’ by Byron’s physician as well as Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ : and for Byron it was a period when he had been forced to leave England and live in exile in Switzerland after some major scandals (including several allegations of Sodomy) at home so it must have had some effect on him.
    I do also feel that his bi-sexuality was seriously under played – it was more prevalent when he was younger, but he continued to have the odd affair with men through out his life – Shelley being the most obvious, although that seems to have been an on and off fling and mixed up with Byron’s affair with Claire Clairmont (Shelley’s sort of step sister in law type thing). But obviously his male affairs were less obvious for the simple reason that it was illegal and had to be hidden for safety. I have read of various free love episodes involving threesomes/foursomes and such like being mentioned; so that Switzerland episode, with them all enclosed together, must have really been quite interesting! Actually it sounds a tad like my university years!!! ;)

  7. Lord Byron’s separation from Annabella Byron was just horrible. According to the court records and gossip of the time, he forced himself on her right after giving birth. She claimed when he realized that she was unable to receive him “naturally” he used her “unnaturally”. As Ada grew older, Annabella forced her to study mathematics for long hours to steady her and to suppress her father’s influence.

  8. I see this Caroline and remember Sarah Miles playing her in that dreadful 1972 movie isn’t tooooo bad but it could be a lot better I remember her hair looking like I don’t know Anna karenina post illness but worse

  9. I am a bit of a Byron fangirl, and I remember watching this at the time! I was really disappointed in the lack of the Villa Diodati in this, as it was effectively during a self-imposed exile due to the scandal around his divorce from Annabella, and the allegations made about Augusta were ruining her life and reputation. Basically, Byron never met a scandal he didn’t embrace and quite often let people believe things about him that were quite untrue because they added to his legend.

  10. Byron is no favorite of mine. He introduced a particular kind of angsty, self involved, I’m-so-misunderstood hero/love interest that’s been afflicting romantic fiction ever since.

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