On Heroes, Hero Worship and the Heroic in History

Carlyle classifies heroes into six different types: divinity, prophet, poet, priest, man of letters, and ruler. What these six different types have in common, according to Carlyle, is sincerity in their beliefs and principles. In this rhetoric, taken from his lectures, Carlyle examines such subjects as the individual’s role in the whole of society, Marxism, and how the Marxist movement was tragically led by “heroes” which turned the concept into a tragedy. Though Carlyle is certainly not a historian, this work is an important piece for us today, as it reminds us that individuals, no matter how small they may think themselves, play incredibly significant roles throughout history when it comes to social change and progression, or digression.