The nineteenth century was the age of skepticism and disbelief. People not only questioned religious institutions but they also challenged political ideologies and the cultural mores of the time. DISCUSS.

How God Died:
An Analysis of Beyond Good and Evil and Manfred
The nineteenth century was the age of skepticism and disbelief. People not only questioned religious institutions but they also challenged political ideologies and the cultural mores of the time. The “Gothic era” emerged as a result of this “Enlightenment” movement and consisted of various literary topics, ranging from the natural to the supernatural, from nationalism to the “every-day man.” For the purposes of this discussion, we will examine two literary works: Beyond Good and Evil, written by Friedrich Nietzsche, and Manfred by Lord George Byron. The philosophies posed in Nietzsche’s atheistic writings will be a framework to analyze and reveal Manfred as an anti-hero, because both writings abandon Christian ideologies.
In Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche tackles an array of topics, which mainly deal with perspective versus absolutism, evolution versus God, self-discipline versus reason, and nobility versus humility/piety. He addresses the role of religion and the “masters and slave mentality,” which is essentially a reevaluation of humanistic beliefs that suggest there is “objective morality.” In essence, while religious institutions may try to garner the moral high ground by suggesting God gives humanity its deeper sense of morality, Nietzsche believes the “masters” of society actually dictate what is “good” and what is “evil.” The following passage best surmises his viewpoint: “Every elevation of the type ‘man,’ has hitherto been the work of an aristocratic society and so it will always be—a society believing in a long scale of gradations of rank and differences of worth among human beings…” (257).
Essentially, since the ruling classes will always shape those values, and thereby make “objective morality” impossible to achieve, mankind must accept these cultural evolutions and decide upon their own humanistic beliefs outside of religious/political institutions. Being a devout atheist, Nietzsche gives humanity a reason to abandon religious tenets, seeing as those morals are just manipulated by the “masters” of society anyways.
Now that we have a general understanding of Nietzsche’s philosophical ideals, let’s use them as a framework to analyze Lord George Byron’s work, Manfred. The protagonist Manfred is an anti-hero because he challenges the traditions and cultural mores of Christianity by defying both God and satanic forces, just like Nietzsche does in Beyond Good and Evil. Manfred abandons all forms of religious precepts in the same spirit of Nietzsche—only he does so to obtain selfish desires, not to gain moral reasoning. While Nietzsche forsakes religious notions as a whole, Manfred still acknowledges the existence of those spiritual forces, but denies them the power to rule over him.
Manfred only interacts with the supernatural because he is depressed and suicidal and seeks to obtain forgiveness, forgetfulness and death. Cursed with immortality, Manfred defies all spiritual entities because he has learned through the centuries how to conjure and manipulate the dark forces. For example, he is not only irreverent to the seven spirits of nature he summons (1. 1.), but he is also disrespectful to the Spirits and Destinies when he requests to see his deceased lover, Astarte. When Manfred first enters the dark abode, the following scene unfolds:
THIRD SPIRIT. Bow down and worship, slave! What, know’st thou not
Thine and our Sovereign?— Tremble, and obey!
ALL THE SPIRITS. Prostrate thyself, and thy condemnèd clay,
Child of the Earth! or dread the worst.
MANFRED. I know it; And yet ye see I kneel not

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