Because Lord Byron’s Manfred was produced in 1817, during the tail end of Enlightenment, the supernatural elements present in it connote different meanings had it been published during an earlier time. Since Enlightenment pushed for individualism as well as a rise in educational pursuits, the presence of the supernatural would have been more likely interpreted in a more scientific concern than a spiritual one. Whereas a reader in the seventeenth century may have believed the spirits and sorcery as magical or religious acts, a reader from the Enlightenment period may have had further ability to see past the glitter of the spells in order to examine the connection they have with the storyline and characters. Therefore, Lord Byron’s time could have understood how the incorporation of the supernatural could be determined as a reflection of Manfred’s mental disunity.
Act One’s introduction of the seven spirits Manfred conjures up reveals his inner turmoil, introducing this idea of the supernatural as a more psychological source than sorcerous or demonic one. While the first six spirits represent nature, such as clouds and earthquakes, the seventh spirit ruled the “star which rules thy destiny” (I. I. 110), therefore the seventh spirit serves as a manifestation of Manfred’s fate and life choices. Manfred views his own life as a desolate one, meaning that the seventh spirit serves as a looking glass back on how Manfred considers his own choices. This notion is especially exhibited when the seventh spirit says, “Thou worm! who I obey and scorn” (I. I. 125), which can be perceived as mirroring Manfred’s own self-disgust as he continually wishes for death. However, Manfred’s defensiveness towards the spirits indicates his pride and, thus, his dichotomous thoughts in regards to his power and his past. His inability to invoke his own oblivion suggests that he is too weak to control his destiny, and yet he berates the spirits, as he says, “Ye mock me—but the power which brought ye here / Hath made you mine. Slaves, scoff not at my will!” (I. I. 153-154). This interaction makes it clear that Manfred’s pride at being able to make the spirits suffer at his hand contrasts with his remorse and inability to end his own suffering, exposing a factor of his inner struggle.
Because Manfred seems only able to promote suffering in his life, he easily threatens to bring the spirits pain rather than focus on attaining what he truly desires. Through this, too, the psychological imitation between the spirits and Manfred is tightened as they remind him that they are “immortal, and do not forget” (I. I. 50), just as Manfred is seeking a way to either forget his past or die so that he is no longer immortal and with memories of Astarte. Manfred’s connection to the seventh spirit is further intertwined with his following claim: “The mind, the spirit, the Promethean spark, the lightning of my being, is as bright, pervading, and far-darting as your own” (I. I. 155-157)—a feature that the seventh spirit had just claimed it was itself. And this may serve as an explanation for why Manfred is not granted his oblivion; the duality of his wanting to die and yet retain and flex his power is emulated by the spirits’ inability to offer his death but ability to offer him riches. The supernatural, thus, serves as a reflection and heightened expression of Manfred’s inner conflict.
Act Two’s introduction of the Witch of the Alps connects another psychological tie to Manfred as she bounces back his own thoughts and forces him to think back on his history. This mental connection to the supernatural can be displayed by the witch when he soliloquys his story to her, namely when he says, “From my youth upwards/ My spirit walked not with the souls of men/…though I wore the form / I had no sympathy with breathing flesh” (II. II. 56-57) and she later responds, “Thou dost forego / The gifts of great knowledge, and shrink it back / In recreant mortality—Away!” (II. II. 126-128). The witch mimics Manfred’s sentiment against humanity after he states it—she rewords his opinions and thoughts, thus serving as a source for his own views to be further confessed and recognized. With this connection to Manfred’s mindset, she additionally shows his disharmony as she faces a similar situation the spirits did; Manfred rejects her when she tries to make him submit to her. The difference between the Witch of the Alps and the spirits, though, is that she does offer Manfred some form of aid: “It may be that I can aid thee…if thou / Wilt swear obedience to my will” (II. II. 152-153, 158-159). But Manfred’s refusal to submit to her once again contributes to the idea that Manfred’s pride gets in the way of his end goal. His sending the witch away despite her offered help shows that he is not psychologically ready for the insensibility and forgetfulness he says he desires most. Her supernatural ability, therefore, exposes his mental unpreparedness at achieving his greatest desire.
Act Three does show a new side, and possibly the most growth, in Manfred’s psychological state, as represented by his conversations with the Abbott. Manfred indirectly confesses that he understands the responsibility he holds over his life as he claims that “I bear within / A torture which nothing could gain from thine: / The mind which is immortal makes itself / Requital for good and evil thoughts, — / Is its own origin of ill and end” (III. IV. 128-131). This signifies that he has come to terms with the fact that he has governed his own “ill and end.” Since he is to “bear” his destiny “within,” Manfred is thereby shedding light on the fact that his mentality is becoming more unified as he is no longer pleading with the supernatural to change his past, present, or future. This becomes even more apparent as he exclaims, “I have not been thy dupe, nor am thy prey— / But was my own destroyer, and will be / My own hereafter” (III. IV. 138-140)—he reclaims his destiny as his own and accepts that only he will change it. Only after he recognizes that do the supernatural elements in the story disappear. Once he becomes psychologically sound and unified, the supernatural entities vanish from him as they no longer have a psychological tie to his inner conflictions.
The physical structure of the work also helps the idea that the supernatural is connected to Manfred’s sense rather than being their own conscious entities. The fact that the Abbott in Act Three has much larger spaces of dialogue than the supernatural do in earlier acts suggests that the Abbott has his own consciousness and is not merely mirroring Manfred’s thoughts. The short length of the supernatural’s dialogue in previous acts juxtaposes Manfred’s lengthy soliloquys, emphasizing the fact that, in those conversations, Manfred holds most of the discussion. This could lend to the idea that the supernatural is just a figment of Manfred’s conception, and that in those conversations Manfred is simply talking or thinking to himself, as the spirits give few replies other than what Manfred already knows or states.
It could be said that some of the supernatural elements in Manfred are sentient beings, especially when pointing to Nemesis, Arimenes, and Astarte. Nemesis’s ability to conjure up the phantom of Astarte, while Arimenes serves small dialogue goading on the situation, in front of a seemingly powerless and begging Manfred could be regarded as Manfred falling victim to the supernatural using their magic for him rather than his mind imagining Astarte’s phantom. Nemesis saying “She’s gone, and will not be recalled” (II. IV. 157) highlights Nemesis’s command over the supernatural situation, rather than Manfred’s, as Manfred implores Astarte for words she does not give. Had Astarte fed into Manfred’s yearning, her disappearance could be easily discerned as an extension of Manfred’s subconscious feeding into a supernatural form of imagination in which he gets exactly what he hopes. However, because Nemesis seems to manage the phantom spirit and Manfred’s wishes go unfulfilled, this scene could be used in argument against the theory that Manfred explores the supernatural as a form tied with psychology.
Although this story’s supernatural aspect can be argued as having its own life, a majority of it is reflective of, and thus related to, Manfred’s mental fractures. As the Seventh Spirit and the Witch of the Alps offer changes to Manfred’s future, he rips that opportunity away from them in order to stay in charge of himself, possibly out of fear that he cannot control what happens to him. However, after Nemesis exerts his supernatural power in bringing Astarte’s apparition back, Manfred submits to his future and accepts that he cannot turn to the supernatural to change his mistakes. While the supernatural entities of the spirits and the witch can be seen as linked to Manfred’s mind, they can also be recognized as propellants for Manfred’s reclamation of his life. Still, though, much of the supernatural events and entities can be understood as extensions of Manfred’s mental state as they echo his views of himself and lack agency to do what Manfred cannot either. Only when the supernatural being has agency, while Manfred does not, can the supernatural be deemed as its own, sentient being uncontrolled by and untied to Manfred’s mind.
Works Cited
Lord Byron, and George Gordon. Manfred. 1817.