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| Character | Manfred???? | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | Male | |
| Age Range(s) | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | |
| Type of monologue / Character is | Talking to the audience, Reminiscing life story/Telling a story | |
| Type | Dramatic | |
| Year | 1817 | |
| Period | 19th Century | |
| Genre | Drama | |
| Description | Manfred reminisces his youth | |
| Details | ACT 3 Scene 4 | |
Summary
Manfred is a nobleman who lives in the Bernese Alps. He is a loner who has dedicated his life in the pursuit of science but has now given up on it. He is also tortured because he considers himself responsible for the death of Astarte, the only girl he ever loved. Manfred wants to forget his past and his pain so conjures seven spirits to help him. He is unable to kill himself to get over his sense of guilt and he constantly defies any religious offers to redeem himself. At the end, he chooses to die instead of give up his principles.
This monologue comes at the beginning of the final chapter. He knows he is going to die and reminisces an episode of his youth in Rome...
This monologue comes at the beginning of the final chapter. He knows he is going to die and reminisces an episode of his youth in Rome...
Written by Administrator
| Excerpt |
|---|
| MANFRED: "The stars are forth, the moon above the tops Of the snow-shining mountains. Beautiful! I linger yet with Nature, for the night Hath been to me a more familiar face Than that of man; and in her starry shade Of dim and solitary loveliness, I learn’d the language of another world. I do remember me, that in my youth, When I was wandering,—upon such a night I stood within the Coliseum’s wall Midst the chief relics of almighty Rome. The trees which grew along the broken arches Waved dark in the blue midnight, and the stars Shone through the rents of ruin; from afar The watch-dog bay’d beyond the Tiber; and More near from out the C sars ™ palace came The owl’s long cry, and, interruptedly, Of distant sentinels the fitful song Begun and died upon the gentle wind. Some cypresses beyond the time—worn breach Appear’d to skirt the horizon, yet they stood Within a bowshot. Where the C sars dwelt, And dwell the tuneless birds of night, amidst A grove which springs through levell’d battlements And twines its roots with the imperial hearths, Ivy usurps the laurel’s place of growth;— But the gladiators’ bloody Circus stands, A noble wreck in ruinous perfection! While Caesar’s chambers and the Augustan halls Grovel on earth in indistinct decay. And thou didst shine, thou rolling moon, upon All this, and cast a wide and tender light, Which soften’d down the hoar austerity Of rugged desolation, and fill’d up, As ’twere anew, the gaps of centuries; Leaving that beautiful which still was so, And making that which was not, till the place Became religion, and the heart ran o’er With silent worship of the great of old,— The dead, but sceptred sovereigns, who still rule Our spirits from their urns.— ’Twas such a night! ’Tis strange that I recall it at this time; But I have found our thoughts take wildest flight Even at the moment when they should array Themselves in pensive order." |
