"Manfred" and "Cain" : Byron's Romantic Dramas
Abstract
Before any true representation of the work it is first necessary
to establish a few facts about Byron the man. Much scholarship has
been devoted to portraying Byron's life, to vividly rendering the pageant
of his bleeding heart, his adventures and misadventures - to the point
where it is difficult to consider his literature at its own merits. And
while I want to deal with his works as works of literature, there must
be some statement or understanding of the complexity and contradiction
peculiar to Byron which has bearing on his work, and which, while necessary
to a full appreciation of his contribution, must not render the
works subordinate to biographical legend or classify them as byproducts
of an admittedly spectacular life. Byron is much too complex,
too sensitive, his interests, feelings and energies too diverse to be
dismissed as the shallow, flashy, glory-gathering dilettante that he
is often portrayed as.