From reading previous threads, it looks like the consensus is that he was a bit of a doomsayer, but did he really see himself like this? How did he become the figure he did in his life?

I’ve spoken to people who think he was something of a socialist (or the equivalent of the time). I’m sure that’ll make some people upset to for me to even suggest it, but it has me curious about what we have wrong about him. What parts of the story were turned fantastical and dramatic and what parts actually WERE fantastical and dramatic?