The Plague as a Metaphor in Shelleys The Last Man :: Shelley The Last Man

The Plague as a Metaphor in Shelleys The uttermost(a) Man The Last Man was Mary Shelleys most ambitious and observational work. Necessitating that a plague, which decimates mankind, is justified in its pursuit, Mary Shelley creates a world where utopian rarefieds can cause the destruction of mankind, if they are not checked by moral and ethical standards. Published in 1826, the raw was widely pilloried by a public who found its gloomy tone and high Romanticism to be out of touch with a more progressive society. Mary Shelleys concept of humanity decimated by a deadly plague affronted progressive politicians as godless and as a result, the novel was banned in Austria and became more of an in topic at dinner parties than a book to be seriously read. Since its publication, Mary Shelley scholars have ignored The Last Man and concentrated on Frankenstein because of the novels reflection of the influential Romantic circle of Lord Byron and Percy Shelley. It wasnt until the feminist m ovement of the 1970s that the novel underwent a rebirth and became critically judged as a work far superior to Frankenstein. Written three years after the death of Percy Shelley, The Last Man is a reflection of the political define of William Godwin and the Romantic ideals of Lord Byron and Percy Shelley. Despite her initial desire to dedicate the work to the ideology of these men, The Last Man serves as Mary Shelleys repudiation of the utopian ideal perpetuated by Godwin, Shelley and Lord Byron. The plague serves as a metaphor for the failure of the utopian ideal to support the traditional needs of the family. As a biographical and political novel, The Last Man is Mary Shelleys quest to understand her husband, father and Lord Byrons political ideals and their subsequent failure to support her and her children. Mary Shelley led a most extraordinary life. As the daughter of the radical writers, Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin, it appeared to be Marys destiny to earn a livi ng through her musical composition. As she states in her 1831 usher in to Frankenstein, It is not singular that, as the daughter of two persons of distinguished literary celebrity, I should have very early in life thought of writing (Hindle 5). After the death of Percy Shelley in 1822, Mary spent the next three years trying to atone for what she believed were her sins against Shelley.