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Self Reliance as a Virtue in Manfred

 

He is alone in his suffering and cannot rely on other people or human culture to help him deal with what grieves him - the memory of his passed half sister, Astarte, whom he loves:.
             "Astarte! my beloved! speak to me:/ I have so much endured, so much endure "/ Look on me! the grave hath not changed thee more/ Than I am changed for thee. Thou lovedst me/ Too much, as I loved thee: we were not made/ To torture thus each other, though it were the deadliest sin to love as we have loved./ Say that thou loath'st me not "that I do bear/ This punishment for both "that thou wilt be/ One of the blessed "and that I shall die- (II. 3. 118-126). .
             His incest with his half sister is very against the norms of society, and lead to her bloodshed and death. His extreme love for her eventually lead to his coming death as well. "As my first glance/ Of love and wonder was for thee, then take/ My latest look: thou wilt not beam on one/ To whom the gifts of life and warmth have been/ Of a more fatal nature. He is gone;/ I follow- (III. 2. 25-30). After this quote, just two small scenes later to be the death of Manfred in the interior of the tower. Manfred lives in solitude, in his own isolated castle in the Alps with a few servants. The whole society in the nearby town knows of his living there, and frowns upon him and his solitude. "I know that with mankind,/ Thy fellows in creation, thou dost rearely/ Exchange thy thoughts, and that thy solitude/ Is as an anchorite's, were it but holy- (III. 1. 39-42). .
             Manfred is indeed self-reliant. He says what he feels, and is not affected or intimidated by anyone, even the immortal spirits, destinies, and Gods when doing so. When he raises the seven spirits, they cannot comply with his wish for forgetfulness. They are to be his slaves because he has summoned them. He is infuriated when they do not grant his wish and yells at them without intimidation, even if they are immortals and have powers which call death upon him.


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