"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.