Manfred

Manfred is the protagonist of Manfred, and his thoughts and conflicts drive the plot of the drama. Manfred struggles with profound ambivalence over his own guilt and what penance he owes for it throughout the play. To Manfred, salvation via nature, religion, or supernatural forces all require him to relinquish some measure of personal agency, and Manfred ultimately decides to maintain agency by submitting to death rather than accepting salvation from an external source. Desperate for absolution yet unable to forgive himself or accept forgiveness from others, the brooding Manfred feels doomed, plagued by feelings of guilt for his relationship with Astarte. The cause of this guilt is never explained directly, but there are suggestions that their relationship was incestuous, and that Manfred feels torn between his love for Astarte and his shame over the relationship. Manfred’s tortuous ambivalence is sustained from the beginning to the end of Manfred, and is what drives Manfred to invoke dark spirits, seeking a way to speak again with the deceased Astarte and find a way to relieve his guilt. When Astarte tells Manfred he must die at the end of Act II, her condemnation is the only external evaluation of his guilt that Manfred accepts unconditionally.