Manfred

“I lean no more on Superhuman aid, / It hath no power upon the past.”

Manfred feels lost, unsure of where to turn to ease his torturous feelings. Throughout the drama, he rejects spiritual or religious solace, feeling it will fail him. Here, he complains that the supernatural or spiritual powers cannot erase the guilt he feels over his past relationship with Astarte. Yet Manfred also contradicts his own rejection of the superhuman/supernatural by invoking dark spirits to help him in his quest to overcome his shame.

“How beautiful is all this visible world!” 

Manfred is in many ways a stereotypical work of Romanticism, exemplifying some of its key themes, including an appreciation for the natural world. When Manfred spends time in nature, he appreciates his surroundings for their dramatic beauty. However, that beauty remains external, belonging to the “visible world,” rather than his inner or spiritual life, which is tortured. This exemplifies Romanticism’s theme of a separation between flawed humanity and the ideal purity of nature.

“Oh, that I were / The viewless Spirit of a lovely sound, / A living voice, a breathing harmony.” 

When Manfred is out in the Alpine wilderness, he hears a shepherd’s pipe echoing through the mountains. He expresses a longing to be that invisible music, suggesting a desire to rid himself of his own dark, tormented feelings and be like the simple, joyful shepherd. At the same time, his desire to be an invisible spirit points to his desire to end his life and join his deceased beloved, Astarte.

“When we were in our youth, and had one heart / And loved each other as we should not love.” 

Talking with the Chamois Hunter, Manfred becomes delirious when he is offered wine. He vaguely rants about his past relationship with Astarte, and his feelings of guilt over it. Though he never states that their relationship was incestuous, Manfred alludes to that possibility by stating that he and Astarte “loved each other as [they] should not love,” suggesting something was forbidden about their union.

“I need them not, / But can endure thy pity.” 

The Chamois Hunter is an example of a stock character type of Romanticism one ruled by a good heart and innocent motives. Manfred, by contrast, represents an entirely different type of character, darker, brooding, and tormented. However, Manfred shows a faint indication that his character is redeemable when he does not criticize or reject the Chamois Hunter for his words of concern and pity. This and similar examples in Manfred encourage readers to feel sympathy for the drama’s tortured protagonist.

“I know thee for a man of many thoughts, / And deeds of good and ill, extreme in both”

When Manfred goes to the Witch of the Alps for help seeking to erase the memory of his relationship with Astarte, and thus purge his guilt, he finds that his reputation has preceded him. The witch describes Manfred as both a man of great learning and a person with dark inclinations. Manfred’s combination of erudition and a willingness to dabble in the supernatural invites comparisons with the folkloric character Faust, known from Renaissance literature as well as works contemporary to Byron, like German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s play Faust.

“My joy was in the Wilderness, to breathe / The difficult air of the iced mountain’s top.” 

Manfred is wracked by guilt and feels his fate is doomed. Yet as he spends his final hours walking about the Alps, he recalls how nature, in his past, gave him feelings of joy and experiences of beauty. An appreciation for nature as evident in Manfred is a typical feature of the literature of Romanticism, as is the sense, like Manfred has, that humanity, because it is flawed, can no longer hope to attain the beauty and sublimity of nature.

“The thirst of knowledge, and the power and joy / Of this most bright intelligence, until—”

Talking with the Witch of the Alps, Manfred again refers to his insatiable, Faustian thirst for knowledge. Yet he reaches a point where his speech is interrupted by his own thoughts, implying that his intelligence failed to prevent him from making a mistake in having loved Astarte. The hyphen interrupting the sentence emphasizes Manfred’s shame and unwillingness to talk about exactly what he is guilty of. Even when the witch urges Manfred to continue his story, he falters.

“We are the fools of time and terror: Days / Steal on us and steal from us; yet we live, / Loathing our life, and dreading still to die.” 

After sending the Witch of the Alps away, disappointed that she cannot help him rid himself of the memory of Astarte, Manfred begins an emotional monologue. The passage expresses his woes and torturous feelings of guilt and terror, and a sense of impending doom. Yet even though Manfred loathes his life and believes he will be punished with death, he does not go to death willingly. This conflict foreshadows the final scene of Manfred, in which he does die, but only after a dark spirit points out how he seems surprisingly unwilling to greet his end.

“Mortals dared to ponder for themselves, / To weigh kings in the balance, and to speak / Of freedom, the forbidden fruit.” 

One of the Destinies criticizes humans for thinking they have intelligence, the power to judge, or freedom. The Destinies words are a comment on Manfred, who boldly pursued knowledge but wound up corrupted. Yet at the same time, they speak more generally to Romanticism’s idea that humans are flawed and will falter, always unable to live up to ideals.

“I know it; / And yet ye see I kneel not.” 

When Manfred is among a group of dark spirits, he refuses to bow to and worship their leader, Arimanes. This shocks the spirits, who criticize Manfred and humanity as a result. The episode shows that while Manfred is certainly tormented by feelings of guilt, convinced that he is doomed, and aware that his egotistical quest for knowledge led him to ruin, he does not entirely shed his sense of pride.

“Bid him bow down to that which is above him, / The overruling Infinite.” 

Even after the dark spirits rebuke him for refusing to bow down and worship Arimanes, Manfred doubles down by suggesting that Arimanes instead bow down to him. The haughty suggestion implies that Manfred, in his own mind, has elevated himself beyond the level of his humanity. However, his suggestion that the Infinite is superior even to the powerful Arimanes ties Manfred’s comment to his general rejection of spiritual authority, whether religious or otherwise.

“No other Spirit in this region hath / A soul like his—or power upon his soul.” 

Ultimately, the dark spirits stop criticizing Manfred’s refusal to bow to Arimanes. They accept that Manfred’s boldness indicates that he is a powerful individual worthy of respect. They suggest that Manfred is exceptional because there is no one else with a soul like his, yet they also imply that Manfred’s power can be attributed to the forces that overwhelm him: the “power upon his soul.”

“She is silent, / And in the silence I am more than answer’d.”

For much of the drama, the protagonist seeks a meeting with his deceased beloved, Astarte, hoping to find a path to relieving his guilt. When Astarte’s spirit is finally conjured by Arimanes, however, she is silent. Her silence once again thwart’s Manfred’s attempts to find relief. He sees the silence as confirming his belief that he must bear the punishment for the crime of their relationship.

“Rumors strange, / And of unholy nature, are abroad.”

The Abbot of St. Maurice greets Manfred much as the Chamois Hunter does, by showing concern for the lord’s dark and unstable personality. He notes that word has spread of Manfred’s dabbling with conjuring spirits and convening with the Witch of the Alps and other figures—the “unholy” rumors. Like the spirits of the Destinies, the Abbot shows that Manfred’s reputation precedes him, but while Manfred’s actions are admired by the spirits, the Abbot is concerned.

“Old man! There is no power in holy men.”

Throughout the drama, Manfred rejects the possibility that religion can provide salvation or rid him of the guilt he feels over his relationship with Astarte. The Abbot of St. Maurice reaches out to Manfred to offer solace, but he rejects the offer. Manfred scorns the possibility of salvation not only by saying that “holy men” like the Abbot have “no power,” but also by calling him “[o]ld man,” thereby belittling him.

“‘Tis strange—even those who do despair above / Yet shape themselves some phantasy on earth, / To which frail twig they cling, like drowning men.” 

Despite Manfred’s repeated refusal to accept religion as a way to rid himself of his guilt and dark urges, the Abbot of St. Maurice continues to show concern for the tormented lord. The Abbot even suggests that Manfred could construct a reason to live on earth, a “frail twig” cling to, if he will not accept religion. The Abbot notes it is “strange” that Manfred will not devise such a reason to survive, implying he fears that Manfred has completely lost hope.

“Fare thee well! / I ne’er shall see thee more.” 

The second scene of Act III of Manfred is comprised almost entirely of a long monologue by Manfred, in which he sings a hymn to the sun. The hymn depicts the sun as a life-giver that gladdens the hearts of people and suggests the beauty of the world. However, Manfred believes that his fate is to lose his life as punishment for loving Astarte, and so the hymn is a farewell. As the sun sets, Manfred sees it as a metaphor for the impending end of his own life; he expects to die that night and never see the sun again.

“I learn’d the language of another world.”

Alone in the tower of his castle, Manfred contemplates his life and recalls feeling more at home in the dark than in the world of humankind. He connects this to his quest for knowledge, which led him to the dark arts, the “language of another world,” being a supernatural one. Now, however, he only looks back on that learning with regret, as a mistake which has doomed him.

“What art thou, unknown being? answer!—speak!” 

After Manfred again refuses his help, the Abbot still remains with him, even as Manfred invokes a dark spirit. At first, the Abbot cannot see the spirit, but when he does, he is shocked by the spirit and attempts to banish it, while also being awed by Manfred’s power. The Abbot’s efforts to save Manfred are shown to be equally useless against the spirit as they are with Manfred himself. 

“Waste not thy holy words on idle uses, / It were in vain; this man is forfeited.” 

The spirit conjured by Manfred at the end of Byron’s drama is unfazed by the Abbot of St. Maurice’s order to leave. He directly states that the Abbot’s attempt to save Manfred is “in vain.” Thus, the spirit’s rejection of religious salvation echoes Manfred’s. The dark spirit implies that Manfred is guilty and must be punished, seemingly confirming how Manfred feels about himself.

“Can it be that thou / Art thus in love with life? the very life / Which made thee wretched!” 

Shortly before his death, Manfred hesitates, and states that he does not feel he will go to death willingly. This causes the dark spirit he has conjured to respond with surprise (or mock surprise) that Manfred, who has believed that he must die as punishment, has begun to question himself. The question, and Manfred’s hesitation, provide a sign of his ambivalence; while he feels guilty for having loved Astarte, he also cannot deny that love, and so he remains connected to having been on earth and loved her there.

“The hand of Death is on me—but not Yours!” 

At the moment of his death, Manfred recovers his boldness. He refuses to accept that his death comes as a result of dark spirits’ punishment. Instead, Manfred insists that he alone is responsible for his undoing, that he alone has destroyed himself. Thus, Manfred asserts his will, even while acknowledging his flawed character.