Topic > Romantic Politics: Writing Politics in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and Percy Shelle's Poetry

Revolution was a key idea to the philosophy of Romantic writers, be it social, cultural, or aesthetic. The poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley, however, that the most blatantly revolutionary political statements are made while Frankenstein, his wife Mary's masterpiece novel, interacts with politics through countless layers and allegories literature intertwines, although there are specific differences in the way which this connection is established in their contrasting works. Say no to plagiarism Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Was not present. Percy Shelley's nature is to turn a blind eye to the injustice he saw in the world, but instead directly attacks those who impose tyranny. As Paul Foot observes in his introduction to Shelley's Revolutionary Year, "Shelley's enormous talents were not used to flatter the rulers of society... but to attack those rulers from every vantage point." This open political confrontation is evident in his sonnet "England in 1819" in which Shelley directly attacks and criticizes the political establishment. The opening line, “An old, mad, blind, despised, dying king” immediately serves as a caricature of the monarchy. giving a critical tone to the poem Later in the poem Shelley calls the British government "rulers who neither see nor hear nor know", demonizing Parliament and highlighting their ignorance and ignorance. incompetence. Because of this highly derogatory description of the dominant forces in Britain, Shelley defines the Crown and the government as the villains of the poem, unfit to rule the masses, cruel and obsolete figures with only their own selfish intentions at heart, as shown “as leeches to their fainting country.” But Shelley, like the poet, provides salvation for the masses, claiming that the horrors of the ruling classes have become “graves from which a glorious Ghost may/burst.” brighten our stormy day." It is here that Shelley presents ideas that will be further explored in his “A Defense of Poetry,” that “poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” Shelley is fully aware that he, the poet, is inviting the masses, and therefore the reader, to rise up in revolution in the final lines of "England in 1819", thus making poetry, as a form, an overtly political tool. The political implications of Frankenstein and how they interact with the text are subtly presented by Mary Shelly. The creator and creation narrative present throughout the novel offers the reader a variety of ways to engage with the text from a political perspective. In a way that Mary Shelley provides an allegorical exploration of the French Revolution, similar to Jane Austen in Sense and Sensibility, Victor Frankenstein, after creating his monster, is unable to control and contain the horror he released in the world. The monster in many ways. he is representative of the strength of the Revolution itself: he was created from corpses, a symbol of the famine and poverty of the French people, he is driven by the need to take revenge on the cause of his pain, highlighted by an almost indulgent violence; and the monster does not cease his fury until his persecutor has lost everything and then he himself ends. The Revolution is often seen as a monstrous period in French history, full of new possibilities but ultimately as corrupt and unsuccessful in its goals as it is a monster to its creator. By presenting Victor Frankenstein as incapable of fully understanding the implications of his actions or the control he had released into the world, Shelley lopresents himself as a representative of, as Fred Botting notes, “revolutionary alchemists or Enlightenment philosophers whose dangerous experiments disrupt all order by unleashing the dark and chaotic forces of evil,” or, in other words, revolutionary ideology. Mary Shelley, in direct contrast to the position taken by her husband in his poetry, presents through her work a much more hesitant attitude towards the concept of revolution, as demonstrated by her depiction of the most immediate example to her and her writing. While Percy is direct and definite in his pro-revolutionary stance, using poetry as a form of overt political expression, Mary is more subtle and hesitant in suggesting the use of caution to avoid the way the revolution is presented in her novel. As Botting observes, "the monster constitutes the horrific result of the allegorical actions of Victor Frankenstein, a revolutionary mob that leaves a trail of terror across Europe." Mary Shelley would rather the world avoid having to face the political demon she created in her work. While Frankenstein's violence is used, on the one hand, as a representation of what comprises a revolution, both Shelleys use it as a symbol of morality. decisions and a catalyst towards the improvement of a political philosophy. In “The Masque of Anarchy,” Percy Shelley uses the brutality of government forces in the Peterloo Massacre as a motif for perhaps one of his most unconventional and radical political ideas. First, it presents the massacre as enacted by an apocalyptic force, including politicians such as Viscount Castlereagh, Baron Eldon, and Henry Addington as members of the Four Horsemen, the final horseman being Anarchy. Anarchy, declaring that “I AM GOD, KING AND LAW!” he is a critical representative of all the ruling powers in Britain who forces his subjects to repeat the previously mentioned phrase, thus cementing him as the all-powerful ruler of the country. Just as he did in “England in 1819,” Shelley intentionally uses satirical elements to dehumanize the government and separate them from both himself and the reader who is assumed to sympathize with Shelley's point of view. Once again, Shelley has positioned the reader in opposition to the government and thus includes him in the “Men of England, heirs of glory” who are addressed by an anonymous “maniac maid” who professes the political statements Shelley attempts to convey. These political statements revolve around the idea of ​​nonviolent resistance to government oppression, as the maid declares that when soldiers march and attack those who are protesting, they will encounter people who "stay calm and resolute." This passive resistance aims to make soldiers question their own morality and sense of justice. This new form of political dissent is important not only in the way it influenced political thinkers and activists (Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi are among those inspired by the poem) but in the way it shifts the political role of the poet. In contrast to 'England in 1819', where Shelley presents himself simply as a critic and observer of the world, detached but still ideologically involved, 'The Mask of Anarchy' engages Shelley, and therefore the poet, directly with philosophy politics. Shelley transcends the role of poet and political thinker by providing lyrical direction for the masses, thus underscoring his later belief that “poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” “The Mask of Anarchy” is a clear example of how the poet and his form of expression are able to express political criticism and ideology in a way that captures the imagination like no other. As Mark Kipperman states in his essay Shelley and the Ideology of the.