Doc Yoder's Notes
Manfred by Lord Byron (Acts 1-2 written in Switzerland 1816; Act 3 written in Venice, finished by March 9, 1817, rewritten in response to criticism from Gifford, Murray's advisor; whole play published June 16, 1817)

Links to some paintings of Manfred on the Jungfrau:

John Martin's "Manfred on the Jungfrau"

Ford Madox Brown's "Manfred on the Jungfrau"

Thomas Cole, "Scene from Manfred"

I.i: (Scene: Manfred's Castle; midnight)

• Manfred calls up 7 spirits First, by a "written charm" -- this fails
  Second, by "the claims of him / Who is undying" -- this fails
  Third, by "the strong curse which is upon my soul" -- this succeeds
• The Spirits -- Air, Mountain, Ocean, Earth, Wind, Night, Star of Destiny appear
• Manfred asks for forgetfulness, but they cannot give it
• The Spirits tell him that he may die, but they can't say whether that will give him forgetfulness
• The Spirit of his Star appears as a beautiful female, who vanishes when Manfred tries to embrace her
• Manfred falls senseless, and a voice pronounces a curse on him, made up of his own "false tears," heart, smile, lip;
  By his own "cold breast," guile, "most seeming virtuous eye," hypocrisy, art, "delight in others' pain," and "brotherhood of Cain," Manfred's self is decreed his "proper Hell"

I.ii (Scene: Jung Frau; morning)

• Manfred hesitates on the "extreme edge"
  "I have ceased / To justify my deeds unto myself -- / The last infirmity of evil" (27-29)
  "Half dust, half deity, alike unfit / To sink or soar" (40-41)
• Chamois hunter approaches, gives objective view of Manfred, prevents Manfred's suicide "Stain not our pure vales with thy guilty blood" (111)

II.i (Scene: Chamois hunter's cottage; about 1 hour later)

• Chatty hunter asks which castle is Manfred's, and offers him wine, but Manfred sees blood:
  "My blood . . . /
  Which ran in the veins of my fathers, and in ours
  When we were in our youth, and had one heart,
  And loved each other as we should not love,
  And this was shed" (24-28)
• Manfred disclaims kinship with hunter/man; hunter is glad of it
• Manfred: "my embrace was fatal" (88); gives the hunter gold and departs

II.ii: (Scene: a Cataract in a valley of the Alps)

• Manfred summons the Witch of the Alps; he tells her his history, finally getting to his sister: "Her faults were mine -- her virtues were her own -- / I loved her, and destroy'd her" (116-117)
• She says she may be able to help if Manfred will swear obedience to her
• Too-proud Manfred refuses to obey those "Whose presence I command" (159)
• He decides to call up the dead himself

II.iii: (Scene: the summit of the Jungfrau)

• Meeting of 3 evil destinies with Nemesis who are on their way to the Hall of Arimanes for a great festival

II.iv: (Scene: Hall of Arimanes)

• Amid hymns of praise to Arimanes (the spirit of Evil), Manfred enters, but refuses to kneel
• At word from Arimanes, Nemesis calls up Astarte; Manfred begs her to "Speak to me"; she finally speaks his name, and says that "To-morrow ends thine earthly ills"
• Manfred asks for forgiveness, if they will meet again, for mercy, and if she loves him
• After Astarte disappears, Manfred is "convulsed"; the spirits that he would have been an "awful spirit," and Manfred acknowledges a debt to Arimanes

III.i (Scene: A Hall in Castle Manfred)

• Manfred is waiting for sunset to end his earthly ills
• Abbot comes to talk about rumors of Manfred's sorcery, and to offer Manfred penitence and pardon, but Manfred refuses; he "disdained to mingle with / A Herd, though to be leader" (121-122)
• Abbot recognizes that Manfred "should have been a noble creature," but that he is instead "an awful chaos" (160, 164)

III.ii (Scene: Another chamber in Castle Manfred)

• Manfred's farewell to the sun, the "earliest minister of the Almighty" (11)

III.iii (Scene: a terrace before a tower, outside Castle Manfred -- twilight)

• The old servant, Manuel, starts to tell Herman about the night that Astarte killed herself, but is interrupted by the Abbot; they try to refuse him admittance, but he insists

III.iv (Scene: interior of the tower)

• Manfred recalls a similar night when he stood among the ruins of Rome, in the Circus, "A noble wreck in ruinous perfection!" (28)
• Abbot comes in to offer Manfred one last chance to repent, but the spirits arrive to take Manfred to death
• Abbot tries to intervene, but Manfred defies the spirits: "I knew, and know my hour is come, but not / To render up my soul to such as thee" (88-89); "I do not combat against death, but thee / and thy surrounding angels" (112-113); he "was my own destroyer, and will be / My own hereafter" (139-140)
• Even as the Abbot pleads with him to pray, Manfred, saying, "Old man! 'tis not so difficult to die" (151)

Return to Doc Yoder's Literature Notes
Doc Yoder's Home