Manfred

Manfred, a poetic drama by Lord Byron, published 1817.

Manfred, a Faustian figure, ‘half-dust, half deity’, lives as an outcast in a castle in the Alps, and is tortured by guilt for ‘some half-maddening sin’. He summons the spirits of the universe, who offer him everything except the oblivion he seeks. Eventually, overcoming his terror of death, he tries to hurl himself from an alpine crag, but is dragged back by a hunter. He invokes the Witch of the Alps and reveals his sin—his incestuous love for his sister Astarte. He descends to the underworld, the Hall of Arimanes, and encounters a vision of Astarte, who promises him death on the morrow. Back in his castle an abbot begs him to repent, but he cannot. He denies the power of the demons who summon him, and when they vanish he dies.