Lord Byron: The Original 'Playboy Lifestyle'

In 1805, Byron began attending Cambridge University to fulfill his final right of passage to become a true gentleman. Once he arrived Byron began living the life of a parting college student, drinking and dancing with the most well known young Lords. He was spending more money than he had and was constantly writing letters home for money for more booze. This was just another step to how wild Byron would become. While at Cambridge he fell in love with a many young men and was crushed by his wanting and desire for people of the same sex. It probably didn’t help that Cambridge had a secret language among the homosexuals towards when and where they’d be doing things, almost like a modern day “booty call”. Had Byron been caught in the midst of homosexual relations he would have been hanged because it was not tolerated. As a way to escape from the harsh judgments in Europe he decided to study and write poetry in Greece. Once Byron arrived he went into a depression because off what he saw, the ancient ruins that we’re so great and marvelous wearing down and this has been learned through his works with the contrast between the higher class and those affected by poverty. At age 23, Byron came home after the adventure in Greece and was greeted with the news of his mother’s death. It’s not sure what made him return to hid lifestyle of partying but after his mothers death and coming home that’s exactly what he did. Byron became a living meat market, with free sex always on the menu. He had realized that now that his mother was gone he needed to marry a wealthy woman and that any scandalous public activity could ultimately damage his chances yet he still did it. He even went as far as to sleeping with a married woman names Lady Caroline, whom made his life a living hell after he left her. She would cut herself in front of him and burn his love letters in public this has been said to what drove him away from her.