The Romantic Era was a time when poets and intellectuals challenged the emphasis on reason and science espoused by the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. Lord Byron, or George Gordon Byron, was a major Romantic poet who lived in the nineteenth century and was best known for his epic poem Don Juan. Byron's poem follows the life of a young man, Don Juan, as he is exiled from his home and travels across the Mediterranean. Don Juan is a satire whose aim is to criticize the social norms and conventions of the nineteenth century. At one point during Juan's journey, his ship sinks in the middle of the Mediterranean. Stranded in the middle of the ocean with no hope of rescue and a ravenous hunger that comes with it, a number of the men aboard Juan's ship resort to cannibalism. Those who participate in the consumption of the chosen man, the priest Pedrillo, eventually go mad and die. Juan is the only survivor of the shipwreck and the only man who does not succumb to cannibalism. This cannibalistic episode challenges pre-Romantic concepts of nature, spirituality and individuality. When life and death hang in the balance, reason, religion, science and God no longer matter. This cannibalistic episode is but one of many instances in which Byron seeks to challenge social norms throughout the epic. These episodes, along with extensive characterization of Juan, powerfully satirize and censure society's control over the individual. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Revolutionary thinkers like Byron abstracted and complicated nature beyond the boundaries of science and reason. Nature is not described in scientific terms, Byron instead describes it in a metaphorical and symbolic way. Byron writes describing the ocean: "And the sea opened around her like hell, and she sucked the swirling wave with her / Like one who grapples with his enemy / and strives to strangle him before he dies" (Wordsworth, 231). Here the ocean is described as a man struggling to defeat an enemy, in this way nature is presented as a force to be reckoned with and not just as a scientific reality. Byron then introduces nature as the dominant force of the episode alluding to the fact that it will be the cause of much of the ensuing action. Nature produced both the storm that sank the ship and the hunger that drove humans to kill and eat another human being. As Byron writes, “It was nature [that] gnawed them to this resolution / Whereby none was allowed to be neutral / And the lot fell on Juan's unfortunate guardian” (Wordsworth, 232). Byron states that it was nature that exasperated sailors to the point of allowing them to consider cannibalism. While polite society and religion would deem cannibalism unthinkable and unforgivable, nature dominates with its relentless hunger. Byron is clearly constructing a vision of nature that goes beyond theory, equations, and reason. Nature at work here is mysterious, elusive and omniscient; it cannot be reduced to a single interpretation and cannot be tamed by society. Nature dictates that sailors do anything and everything in their power to survive, which meant killing and eating another human being. Byron is building a world in which nature, and not God or humanity, rules. It is a world where nature should take the place of religion. Byron sought a retreat not only from a rational interpretation of nature, but also from adherence to organized religion and its institutions. Before Pedrillo is killed and eaten, Byron writes: “He [Pedrillo] died as born, Catholic in faith, / Like themost in the belief in which they are brought up, / And first kissed a little crucifix, / And then held out the jugular and the wrist” (Wordsworth, 232). Byron underlines Pedrillo's religiosity; he was born Catholic and clings to his religion until his last breath. It is no coincidence that Byron chooses to kill the only religious figure on board. Pedrillo's position as a priest should have prevented men from choosing him as a victim, but this is not the case because they no longer care about religion and its precepts. At this moment these men are overwhelmed by nature and are slaves to its will. While society upholds a clear distinction between what is sacred and what is animal, in the struggle for survival this distinction has no weight. The blurring of these lines challenges organized religion and its control over culture and society. Byron states that humans must shape nature to survive because nature, not God, controls the universe. Similar to the shift of attention from God to nature, Byron's Don Juan also introduces a shift of attention from the soul to the self. While it is compelling to read the story of a sea voyage gone wrong, the real task of the piece is to focus on the characters' internal dialogue. Byron concludes this section of Don Giovanni by saying: "If enemies are food in Hell, at sea / It is surely right to dine with our friends, / When the brief indemnity of shipwreck becomes too meager, / Without being much more horrible than Dante ” (Wordsworth, 234). By referencing Dante's Inferno, which details an allegorical journey through hell and deals with the afterlife and existence of God, Byron challenges the relevance and existence of God on earth. He is clearly stating that God and religion could not prevent the cannibalism that took place here and that the actions that take place are consequences of individuals and their needs. The poem deals with Juan's particular reactions to cannibalism and his actions in response to it. While the ship is sinking, Juan tries to save all the people dear to him. He helps Pedrillo into the lifeboat, saves his dog, and unsuccessfully tries to save his servant Pedro, before even bothering to save himself. Before Pedrillo's gruesome end, Byron writes, "It was not to be expected that he, / Even in the extremity of their disaster, / should dine with them with his shepherd and his master" (Wordsworth, 233). Juan failed to save Pedrillo, but the least he could do was refrain from eating his own priest. Juan is the only character who has enough of a moral compass to not only stop him from eating another human, but to cause him to try to save others. Juan adheres to polite society's conception of what is morally acceptable, yet he is considered a social outcast. At a young age, Juan is removed from home due to the illicit sexual relationship he has with a married woman. Polite society has rejected Juan for his infractions, yet when it matters most, he is courageous, generous, loyal, and moral. Byron therefore exposes the hypocrisy of society's control over the individual. Byron criticizes society with humor and irony. Halfway through the second canto which tells the story of the shipwreck, Byron writes: “It is said that people who live on annuities / Are longer-lived than others - God knows why, / Unless they afflict the grantors - and yet it is so true it is / That some, I truly think, never die! /” (Wordsworth, 229). In the middle of the poem describing a dramatic shipwreck Byron inserts a seemingly unrelated anecdote about moneylenders and borrowers. By including “God knows why” Byron pokes fun at the prevalence of God in matters, 2005, 228-234.