An Irish adventurer schemes, duels, and gambles his way from obscure poverty into the English aristocracy by marrying the widowed Countess of Lyndon, narrating his own rise and ruin without a shred of self-awareness of his villainy.
Books mentioned in Barry Lyndon (3)
Hamlet by William Shakespeare: “He used to quote passages of 'Hamlet' to his mother, which made her very angry.”
Iliad by Homer: “the child starting back from my helmet like what-d'ye-call'im--Hector's son, as described by Mr. Pope in his 'Iliad');”
The Whole Duty of Man by Richard Allestree: “The she-dragon read the "Whole Duty of Man" all the evening till bedtime;”