'The History of Heroes is the History of Youth': The Construct of the Youthful Hero in the work of G.A. Henty and George MacDonald

The following article is an examination of the hero figure in the work of G.A. Henty (1832-1902) and George MacDonald (1824-1905) in order to reassess the current critique of their writing as oppositional and to demonstrate that their work reflects some foundational preoccupations of the period in which they wrote. The central hypothesis is that the complementary characteristics of the hero figure found in both of these writers constructs a complete identity commensurate with the ideal Victorian hero.