The Missolonghi Manuscript: Analysis of Major Characters
The Missolonghi Manuscript offers a rich exploration of significant characters surrounding Lord Byron, capturing the complexities of their relationships and personalities. Central to the narrative is Byron himself, depicted as a quintessential Byronic hero, grappling with existential questions and a relentless pursuit of purpose amidst personal turmoil. His character oscillates between charm and chaos, reflecting both beauty and destructiveness, as he engages in political endeavors driven by an inner desire for self-discovery.
Percy Bysshe Shelley serves as a foil to Byron, characterized as a serious yet tender figure, while Countess Teresa Guiccioli embodies the romantic intrigue of Byron's life, providing a glimpse into his tumultuous affairs. Edward John Trelawney, with a mix of admiration and disdain, presents a duality that unsettles Byron, showcasing themes of vulnerability and self-reflection. Meanwhile, Leigh Hunt's humorous yet flawed demeanor adds a layer of complexity to the social dynamics, culminating in memorable exchanges that highlight their contrasting natures. Lastly, Prince Mavrocordato represents the Greek nationalist spirit, enriching the narrative with themes of camaraderie and guarded respect. This multifaceted character analysis invites readers to consider the intricate interplay between personal relationships and broader historical contexts.
The Missolonghi Manuscript: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Frederic Prokosch
First published: 1968
Genre: Novel
Locale: Greece, England, Switzerland, and Italy
Plot: Biographical
Time: 1824, with flashbacks covering 1809–1824
George Gordon, Lord Byron, the flamboyant British poet. In this novelistic account, Byron becomes a haunted man searching for a deeper purpose, a “spiritual call,” or “a dedication.” Byron sees himself in these fictional notebooks as “beautiful,” as “perverse and destructive and tortured,” and as “childishly happy and childishly gloomy, childishly affectionate and childishly venomous.” He lives by instinct and is forever being caught up in emotional messes and sensual debauchery. The impulse to political action that leads to his death in Missolonghi is part of his fruitless search to escape spiritual sloth. He concludes that he has no “definite or identifiable character” and that his political careering in Greece springs from his need “to discover the other creature, if there really is another, who is hiding within me.” The Byron of this novel is a true Byronic hero.
Percy Bysshe Shelley, another British Romantic poet and a friend of Byron. A humorless prig, Shelley is given to “little bursts of a warbling ecstasy.” Despite what he perceives as Shelley's “absurdity,” Byron appreciates the “sudden tenderness” that Shelley often reveals and senses in him the “presence of purity.”
Countess Teresa Guiccioli, Byron's mistress. The beautiful Teresa, married to an elderly husband, becomes Byron's mistress after his brutal marriage to Annabella Milbanke and the liaison with Claire Clairmont (which produced their daughter, Allegra). Teresa entertains Byron in their menage à trois in Ravenna before he takes her to Pisa to become a part of Shelley's circle.
Edward John Trelawney, one of Shelley's intimates. Byron finds the “virile, piratical” Trelawney an “ominous and oppressive” figure. Trelawney is a satyr who gives off a “dark intention, a rather sinister intimacy,” and he disconcerts Byron, who comes both to love Trelawney and to hate him because he sees in him his own weaknesses.
Leigh Hunt, a poet and minor man of letters, depicted as a “rather mischievous sort of man” with repulsive personal habits. Hunt presents himself with his family at Byron's Casa Lafranchi in Pisa, and Byron impulsively invites them all to stay as his guests. Hunt emerges as incompetent and ludicrous but quick with a retort. When Byron complains about Hunt's indifference to personal cleanliness, Hunt responds: “You have scolded me for the infrequency of my baths. Are your callousness and promiscuity to be excused on the grounds of poetry?”
Prince Mavrocordato, a Greek nationalist leader. The “wicked, equivocal Mavrocordato,” as Byron calls him, shares drink and banter with Byron. Their relationship is too guarded to become intimate, but their mutual respect is satisfyingtobothmen.