During the course of events, human beings have always distinguished themselves from other beings for their sense of the limit, which is part of the human condition. Some of them, whether real or fictional, were able to overcome those limits.
The Overreachers are defined as people who want to go beyond human limits, challenging God’s power and social rules. In the course of literature there are many examples of these individual, going from Ulysses in the Odyssey to the Goethe’s Prometheus.
There are many kinds of overreachers, which depend on the limits that they're facing or overcoming: there's the spiritual overreacher, who's against the power imposed by God; the scientific overreacher who goes beyond the laws of nature; and the social overreacher, who decides not to live within the standards imposed by their society.
Enjoy the reading!
JOHN MILTON
Satan in Paradise Lost
John Milton, whose masterpiece Paradise Lost is one of the main texts in British literature, chose to represent the figure of the anti-hero, who is of course Satan, for the first time. The first within the angels is clearly an overreacher, as he chooses to challenge the power of God; in fact, he believes to be equally intellectually powerful as his creator, though not as phisically mighty, so he tries to steal his power with the help of other angels. The rebellion fails, so God throws Satan and the angels who betrayed him to Hell. Even when he’s in Hell, Satan still tries to overcome his limits, that now are even physical. In the end, Satan manages to corrupt Eve and Adam, so they commit the Original Sin.
In this work we see Satan as an anti-hero, virtuous and sinful at the same time. He has a great power, although he can’t recognize his limits. For example, when he’s in Hell, he affirms in the famous Satan's speech that he lost against God for his physical strenght, by saying:
"Whom reason hath equall'd, force hath made supreme
Above his equals"
. Furthermore, he says that his hellish condition is better than Paradise, even though we know that this statement derives from his incapability to accept his limits; in particular, he affirms:
"To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in hell, than serve in Heav'n"
The biblical passage of the Genesis is also based on the human instinct to overcome limits. In this passage Satan takes the classic form of the snake, encouraging Adam and Eve to go beyond their limits, so in a certain way we could consider Adam and Eve as overreachers. So Lucifer is seen negatively because his ignorance towards his limits, but he’s also admired for his dialectic and for his intelligence, which made of him an overreacher.
JONATHAN SWIFT
Gulliver in Gulliver's travels
Jonathan Swift also wrote a story where the main character is an overreacher: Lemuel Gulliver from Gulliver’s Travels. Swift decides to underline since the very beginning that Gulliver is the typical european citizen, who lives within the standards of western society; in fact, he’s a middle-aged man who maintains his family and works as a seaman. However, during his travels he finds himself in many different societies, from the Lilliputians in the South Pacific to the society of Brobdingnag, located in Alaska. These realities teach Gulliver new ways to live, new values and new costumes. So, when he returns to England, he’s unable to live in a society whose values are restrictive, so he feels displaced and alienated.
In this case the limits are represented by the western values, so we consider Gulliver an overreacher because he abandons the European and British values, in order to have a new and more open-minded understanding of reality. This novel can be read as a critic to European society and politics.
HENRY FIELDING
Tom Jones
Henry Fielding’s masterpiece is Tom Jones. The protagonist is Tom, an orphan boy adopt by Mr Allworthy. Tom falls in love with his neighbour' s daughter,Sophia Western, and she with him, but their relationship is opposed by her father who rejects the idea of marrying his daughter to a foundling. Blifil, who wants to marry Sophia, spreads lies about Tom who is then compelled to leave Mr Allworthy' s house. Tom goes to London where he has many adventures. It also describes Sophia's perilous journey to the capital in search of Tom. At the end it turns out that Tom is the illegitimate son of Mrs Bridget and can happily marry Sophia.
“It is much easier to make good men wise, than to make bad men good.”
In this novel there are two Overreachers, the first is Tom who, out of nothing, without a mother or father, can grow up and become a mature boy. The society he is surrounded by does everything to hinder him, but he manages to overcome the limits imposed by the ideals of the time. Willpower and love swear Tom in this adventure.
Also Fielding (the author) is the Overreacher, because he wrote a novel that breaks down numerous boundaries.The impossibility of stereotypical categorization, in terms of genre, Fielding cannot decide whether his novel is a "philosophical History," a "Romance," or an "epi-comic prosaic poem." In another example of broken stereotypes, Fielding's characters cannot be distinguished by "masculine" or "feminine" traits: in this novel both men and women fight and cry
“An author ought to consider himself, not as a gentleman who gives a private or eleemosynary treat, but rather as one who keeps a public ordinary, at which all persons are welcome for their money.”
RENAISSANCE AND NEW LEARNING
Humanism changed in a certain way the role of the individual in the world. This philosophy came from Italy, and influenced the whole Europe, by upending the Ptolemaic system and the concept of the 'Chain of being', where mankind had an established role between angels and animals.
During this period a new interest in the individual being, who was considered to be able to change his own destiny, in the idea of the self -development through action.
So the overreacher is the individual himself, as he's the center of the world, without any limitation or established role.
ENLIGHTENMENT PHILOSOPHY
The Enlightenment was a European intellectual movement that developed in the 1700 and 1800 with the aim of freeing man’s mind from ignorance. Reason was developed by education.
The Enlightenment Philosopher aimed at discovering the original natural state, and they rejected traditions. They believed in the strength of the human mind, they incited man to overcome tradition and to discover new things.
"We are born weak, we need strength; helpless, we need help, fools, we need reason." (Jean-Jacques Rousseau)
The Overreacher in this case is the human kind, all man wanted to know and to overcome the limits imposed by the society and the tradition
"A man is free when he wants to be free." (Voltaire)
MARY SHELLY
Frankenstein
With her gothic novel Frankenstein, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly has created a rebellious and unconventional character called Victor Frankenstein.
Victor Frankenstein is defined as "The Modern Prometheus" in the subtitle of the novel. As Prometheus defied Zeus stealing the fire from him to bring it back to mankind, the Swiss doctor, protagonist of the novel, wants to create a living being from scratch. The figure of Prometheus recalls in general to the idea of the overreacher, as we can see him as well in Goethe's work
To give life to an inanimate body he must go against every law of nature and fulfill the task of generating life, which usually belongs to God. For these reasons Dr. Frankenstein is an overreacher because he tried to go beyond the limits imposed to mankind by God or Nature.
“The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone.”
Here you can see some reinterpretations of the iconic character of Victor Frankenstein
WILLIAM BLAKE
Songs of Experience
The Tyger is a poem written by the English poet William Blake published in 1794 as part of the Songs of Experience collection.
The tiger represents the power of creation and becomes the symbol of an overreacher who tries to create something over the limit. He creates evil through the tiger, but it’s necessary, because Good can’t exist without its opposite, Evil. It’s the same reason why God created heaven and hell, to show what heaven is by contrasting its opposite.
In this poem there is an abundance of fiery imagery that summons the idea of the myth of Prometheus, the divinity who stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind. From that act of transgression, man’s development followed. Blake’s question ‘What the hand, dare seize the fire?’ and the Tyger seems to embody, in part, this transgressive yet divine spirit.
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
The power of imagination
Wordsworth saw imagination as a powerful, active force, interpreting the way we view the world and influencing how we react to events.
"Imagination is the means of deep insight and sympathy, the power to conceive and express images removed from normal objective reality." (William Wordsworth)
Wordsworth associates imagination with the creative power or the poetic principle. He selects moments from humble and rustic life for the themes of his poetry. He uses imagination to make them appear in an unusual light. It is a transforming power, it has the ability to change the usual and the ordinary in an unusual and uncommon way. Wordsworth has always given importance to thought and reason. He calls imagination a ‘higher reason’ or ’reason in her most exalted mood’. He stresses on the importance of imagination in the process poetic creation. For him, it is the most important gift that a poet can have. Imagination to him is a divine power. He thought that only the poets can be the Overreachers, because they can go beyond the limits of the normal life.
Is but another name for absolute power
And clearest insight, amplitude of mind,
And reason, in her most exalted mood. " (William Wordsworth)
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” in 1798 this is his greatest poem. This is the first poem of the collection Lyrical Ballads and tells of a symbolic voyager.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner relates the experiences of a sailor who has returned from a long sea voyage. The mariner stops a man who is on his way to a wedding ceremony and begins to narrate a story.
The nature in this poem is very important and seems to be a character itself. During the story the mariner kills the Albatross and he committee a crime against the creation and against the positive life-force. He is an overreacher because he challenges nature and God.
“...] With my cross-bow
I shot the Albatross.”