Manfred
p. 588
Plot
• Count Manfred—German nobleman who
is tortured by the limitations of mortality
and by guilt over his lost love
• Studies black magic to transcend human
limitations
• Conjures the dark spirits to provide
forgetfulness
Plot
• Spirits instead leave him with a ―curse‖
―Nor to slumber, nor to die‖ (1. 1. 254)
• Attempts suicide in the Alps and is saved
by Chamois Hunter
• Tells his story to the Witch of the Alps
• Persuades Arimanes to call up ghost of
Astarte
Plot
• Astarte’s prophecy: ―Tomorrow ends thine
earthly ills‖ (2. 4. 152)
• Abbot of St. Maurice suggests repentance
and offers God’s forgiveness
• Dark spirits arrive to claim Manfred’s soul
• Manfred defies God and the spirits to die
on his own terms— ―Old man! ’tis not so
difficult to die‖ (3. 4. 151)
Setting
• The Swiss Alps—snow and high
mountains
Setting
• Swiss Alps—snow and high mountains
– Isolation
– Spiritual death, coldness
– Ambition, superiority
• Manfred’s Gothic Castle
– Isolation
– Loftiness
– Power
– Imprisonment
Setting
• The Tower
– Ambition, superiority
– Imprisonment
• The Forbidden Room
– Forbidden knowledge
– Guilt
Manfred as Byronic Hero
• Noble/Superior—p. 601, 2. 2. 50-96, p.
608, 2. 4. 51-72
• Outcast/Wanderer
• Self-Reliant/Individualist
• Defiant—defies Witch of the Alps,
Arimanes, religion, the dark spirits, death,
pp. 620-621, 3. 4. 80-153
Manfred as Byronic Hero
• Amoral—follows own moral code
• Enigmatic—mysterious past, nameless
curse—incest, p. 602-603, 2. 2. 100-121
Manfred as Byronic Hero
• Melancholy/Moody—p. 596, 1. 2. 36-47
• Man of Action
• World weary—p. 589, 1. 1. 1-26