Manfred (Byron)

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Johann Peter Krafft : Manfred's hour of death , oil on canvas, 1825

Manfred is the title of a dramatic poem in three acts by Lord Byron that was first published in full by John Murray in June 1817 . It is one of the most important works not only of Byron, but of all of Romanticism .

History of origin

The work was created between 1816 and 1817 and is visibly inspired by Byron's stay in Switzerland in 1816, during which he undertook numerous hikes in the high Alps .

Byron began work on the poem in July 1816 and published a first version of the Incantation ("conjuring," a "chorus from an unfinished witch drama that began a few years ago") as a standalone text in The Prisoner in December 1816 of Chillon and Other Poems . This incantation found its way into the opening scene of the later complete works in three acts, which Byron completed in May 1817 and published for the first time in full form in June 1817 in a revised form.

Byron's work was created in the tradition of the Gothic Novel and, together with the novel Frankenstein by the friend Mary Shelley, is one of the most important works of horror literature in English Romanticism.

action

Ford Madox Brown : Manfred on the Jungfrau , painting 1842

first act

The protagonist Manfred is in a Gothic gallery in the middle of a necromancy . He desires to be forgotten by the elementals who appear . When the ghosts cannot fulfill his wish, Manfred collapses. The next morning he wakes up on the summit of the Jungfrau in the Bernese Oberland . He wants to throw himself to his death, but is stopped by a simple chamois hunter.

Second act

Manfred leaves the chamois hunter and meets a fairy at a waterfall , to whom he complains of his suffering. Here the reasons for Manfred's Weltschmerz become clear: insufficient knowledge of the world and the death of his beloved Astarte. Then he returns to the mountain and meets spirits and the goddess Nemesis there , who, at Manfred's plea, agrees to call his beloved Astarte from the realm of the dead so that he can speak to her. However, Astarte only speaks his name and says his suffering will end the next day. Manfred wants to know from her whether his sins have been forgiven, but he receives no answer.

Third act

Manfred is visited at his castle by an abbot who has heard of Manfred's connections to dark forces. Manfred gratefully but firmly rejects the abbot's attempts to make him repent. In the evening, the servants Hermann and Manuel talk about their master's earlier mysterious experiments. However, these relationships are not clarified in the course of the drama. In the last scene the abbot reappears and finds Manfred, near death, in his room. However, Manfred rejects the new attempts of the abbot to move him to repentance and thus to the salvation of his soul. At the same time, however, it also defies dark spirits who, in agony, already regard it as their property. He had succumbed to death, but not to hell. The demons disappear, Manfred dies. The abbot closes the drama by expressing his anxious uncertainty as to where Manfred's soul would now end up.

interpretation

The incantation scene at the beginning places noticeably little emphasis on the introduction of the protagonist . Only in the course of the drama do Manfred's past and motives for action become apparent.

The scene shows significant parallels to Goethe's Faust , where the protagonist, also due to insufficient knowledge, conjures up a spirit he wants to resemble. Byron wanted his drama to be understood as an answer to Goethe's Faust.

Manfred is a prime example of the tragic character of Byron's hero . He may be emotionally confused and emotionally unstable, but ready to face the consequences for all of his actions. The fact that he finally rejects both the threats of the spirits and the abbot's blessing emphasizes his claim to complete individuality .

In addition to this emphasis on individuality, the wild and romantic alpine scenery and the presence of ghosts and medieval buildings can also be recognized as typical elements of romanticism.

reception

Gustave Doré : Manfred and the Gemsjäger , wood engraving, 1853

literature

Byron's work influenced poets like Edgar Allan Poe and had a formative influence on the film with its powerful visuals .

painting

The romantic painter Johann Peter Krafft depicted various scenes from Manfred in oil paintings (see illustration above). The English late romanticists Thomas Cole and John Martin also took on the subject.

There are prints by Gustave Doré that depict scenes from the play (see illustration on the right).

music

The work was processed by various musicians.

Radio plays

Byron's work has been adapted twice for radio in Germany.

Both audio documents have been preserved.

literature

  • On the origin of Manfred in: Byron's life (= Lord Byron's entire works , vol. 1), Sauerländer, Frankfurt am Main 1830, pp. 178-183.

Web links

Wikisource: Manfred, a dramatic poem  - sources and full texts (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Prisoner of Chillon and Other Poems (1816), p. 46.
  2. ↑ See Ernest Hartley Coleridge: Introduction to Manfred. In: Ernest Hartley Coleridge (Ed.): The Works of Lord Byron. Poetry, Volume IV , John Murray Verlag, London 1901, online [1] . On: Project Gutenberg , accessed on July 23, 2015. See also Manfred: Incantation . From: Representative Poetry Online , University of Toronto , accessed July 23, 2015.