What kind of hero is Fabrizio del Dongo?

We find ourselves "rooting" for the "hero" of Stendahl's The Charterhouse of Parma (1839), Fabrizio del Dongo, but doing so seems to be an act of wishful thinking or paddling against the stream. Time and again, Fabrizio seems like a nice young man, handsome and attractive to women, obedient to the will and whims of his elders, and courteous and even witty in conversation even w/ "higher-ranking" royalty. He's also brave and daring, has at least a strand of political commitment - his desire to e part of Napoleon's army - and feels remorse when he hurts others, physically or otherwise. At about the half-way point in the novel, F, while traveling incognito headed for Austria, is attacked by a jealous rival whom he fights valiantly and leaves for dead (at least he thinks so; Stendahl at least over the next several chapters leaves the death unconfirmed), and F feels not only that he has to cross the border and not risk arrest for murder but feels some guilt for killing the man, even though it was a life or death fight. All this said, Fabrizio also seems to be a reed that bends with the wind. At the suggestion of his aunt and her lover, he has studied theology and become a "monsignor," but he seems completely unsuited for any sort of religious life. He seems clearly to be love with his aunt - who is not all that much older than he - and she w/ him, but he's unable to act on his feelings. Except for the flight to France and service in Napoleon's army at Waterloo - kind of a farce, in that his battlefield wounds were inflicted by fellow soldiers in the French army - he goes w/ the flow, even when that means subservience to various corrupt and self-centered princes and other nobility. It seems that, despite his good intentions, he will be drawn into the swamp ; he's not a deep enough or strong enough character to resist the temptations all around him or to defy the expectations of his social set. 



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