The Burgraves

The fundamental conception of the drama “The Burgraves” is a dramatic struggle between two antithetical forces: fatality attempting to impose punishment on a degraded race and providence striving to pardon and to rehabilitate. The poet has embodied the force of fatality in an old slave named Guanhumara, a sorceress endowed with a knowledge of medicinal herbs. She has effected several cures, including that of Hatto the grandson of Job, who is the chief burgrave; and on this account, she is allowed much more freedom than is granted to the other slaves. Within the character of Guanhumara there is the contrast between the apparent weakness on account of her age, sex, and condition and the tremendous power that her mysterious and magical talents bestow together with her irresistible will to wreak vengeance.