The Last Man, by Mary Shelley
The Blip Report for Monday, August 26th 2024
During this summer’s vacation, when I unplug from electronic restraining devices and go off the grid, at the top of my reading list was ‘The Last Man’ by Mary Shelley, that I thought would be a nice follow-up, after my presentation on her book, ‘Frankenstein’.
Before opening the book, I first read how many of the other reviewers preoccupy themselves with trying to belittle her writing skills, and by trying to focus on saying that this character is really Percy Shelley, that that character is really George Byron, and that this other character (the book’s narrator) is really Mary Shelley, herself. While certain obvious similarities to these characters do stand out, and I’m sure that much of her inner musings are auto-biographical, I think that too much emphasis has been placed on this ‘connecto’ type of interpretation, and not enough emphasis is placed on the real theme of the novel – the purpose of life.
Without giving away any of the plots [no spoiler alerts], I’ll just touch on a few tidbits that, upon reading, caused me to do a double-take.
First of all, the book’s introduction opens with a strange tale of finding and translating pages, that were found in the Sibylline caves at Naples, Italy, in the year 1818. But the story that unfolds from these Sibylline leaves occurs in England, over 250 years into the future!!! At a time when England has changed from a monarchy to a republic!!!
“In the year 2073, the last of the kings, the ancient friend of my father, had abdicated in compliance with the gentle force of the remonstrances of his subjects, and a republic was instituted. Large estates were secured to the dethroned monarch, and his family; he received the title of Earl of Windsor, and Windsor Castle, an ancient royalty, with its wide demesnes were a part of his allotted wealth.”
Perhaps it struck me with a tingling of the prescience of events told by the Sibyl, but nonetheless, it did seem to somehow mysteriously foretell the changing of the name of the royal British dynasty from the ‘House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha’, to the ‘House of Windsor’, that came about in the year of 1917 – a hundred years in the future!!!
The book goes through the battle over the election for Protector of the republic; through Lord Raymond’s ambitions and his destiny in supporting the Greeks’ battle against the Ottoman Empire; and through Adrian’s leadership and his destiny in raising up the morale of the people in the battle against the plague!
And I couldn’t help but think that this final battle against the plague, is Mary Shelley’s continuation of her father’s [William Godwin’s] fight against Thomas Malthus, that there is a higher purpose to our existence.
[from Malthus’s ‘Essay on the Principle of Population, as it Affects the Future Improvement of Society, with Remarks on the Speculations of Mr. Godwin …’]
“The discouragements to marriage, the consequent vicious habits, war, luxury, the silent though certain depopulation of large towns, and the close habitations, and inefficient food of many of the poor, prevent population from increasing beyond the means of subsistence; and, if I may use an expression which certainly at first appears strange, supersede the necessity of great and ravaging epidemics to repress what is redundant. Were a wafting plague to sweep off two millions in England, and six millions in France, there can be no doubt whatever, that after the inhabitants had recovered from the dreadful shock, the proportion of births to burials would be much above what it is in either country at present.”
And lastly, at the end of the book, as we’re wondering, what if the plague could not be contained, what would become of the hopes of men, and we read of Lionel, the last man, who was the only man in England (and probably of Europe) that survived the plague. After passing one forlorn year, all alone in Rome, he realized that no one will come there to find him, and so he must leave, and he must try to visit ‘the whole extent of earth’ if necessary, and hope to find another survivor. Lionel no longer thought of his destiny as being the last man, but he discovered his destiny as being the first man. And on his quest, he took with him two books - Homer and Shakespeare.
Mary’s writing has so many pages filled with metaphors, like an artist painting with vivid illustrations of the external scenes and with insightful descriptions of the internal scenes. And one of the many wonderful quotes that I liked best, is:
“… Music [is] the language of the Immortals, disclosed to us as testimony of their existence.”
You must read Mary Shelley’s ‘The Last Man’, and …