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And ask them what it is we dread to be (2.2.150-2, 178-79).Manfred tells the witch that his quest depends upon communing with the dead, and hethen acknowledges that he can do such a thing himself, and so does it. Making use ofArimanes and Nemesis, he arranges his interview with Astarte. After returning fromthat conversation, he describes himself as having found the Kalon, and changed hisstate:There is a calm upon me –Inexplicable stillness! which till nowDid not belong to what I knew of life (3.1.6-8).His power is insufficient to solve his problems, and yet his knowledge brings him toAstarte, and bringing him to Astarte leads to his problem being solved. Theknowledge, then, while not being in itself the solution to his problems, is instrumentalin allowing him to reach that solution, while at the same time generally leading tosorrow. While the representation of knowledge in this drama tends towards thenegative, it is not unrelentingly so: knowledge is useful, but flawed.MortalityMortality in Manfred comprises not just the finitude of a human life, but the entireimperfection of existence: not merely being doomed to die, but being doomed to fail.The manifestation is never as pure as the ideal. Thus, for example, Manfred initiallycomplains to the Witch of the Alps that his great magical powers are unable to solvethe problem which he faces,my sciences,My long pursued and super-human art,Is mortal here – I dwell in my despair (2.2.147-9).259