An adventurer is a person who bases their lifestyle or their fortunes on adventurous acts. An adventurer or adventuress is a term that usually takes one of three meanings:
* One whose travels are unusual and often exotic, though not so unique as to qualify as exploration.
* He who lives by his wits.
* The party taking a risk or speculative course of action for profit or position.
In fiction, adventure or Picaro figure can be viewed as a descendant of the knight errant of medieval romance. Like the knight, the adventurer wanders through episodic encounters, usually involving wealth, romance, or the fight. Unlike the knight, the adventurer was a realistic figure, often lower class or poor, who are forced to make their way to fortune, often by deceit. In addition, an adventurer is a picaresque hero of low social class who lives by his wits in a corrupt society. The picaresque novel originated in Spain in the mid XV. Novels such as Lazarillo de Tormes were influential throughout Europe. Throughout the eighteenth century, a large number of novels in bold, amoral protagonists, adventures, which made its way into wealth and happiness, sometimes with and sometimes without the moral conversion that generally follows the Spanish model.
Victorian morality Under the term when used without qualifiers, came to mean someone of low moral, often someone who tries to marry money.