Beauty in Sorrow

Ikram DJAOUD.

   Every now and then in a lifetime, you come upon a book that speaks to your very soul: rich in terms of plot, detailed and oddly personal when it comes to character development, in such a way that you nourish a peculiar intimacy with each character portrayed throughout the tale; an attachment often fatal to our souls, when the object of our admiration brutally joins the choir invisible.

   Who isn’t familiar with Frankenstein? Mary Shelley’s most distinguishable work, molding horror and awe in their most odious and abominable shapes. Mary’s feather however did not quit producing after acquiring fame. This time, she resolved to wretch our hearts in a different, yet no less doleful manner; proving thus that creativity she did not lack.

    Let us take a moment and attempt to envision the worst misery that could possibly befall a mortal. Some will say the loss of health: a most precious, albeit non-renewable resource. Many will plead in favour of a brilliant career: a vocation one worked excessively hard for, in vain. Others will claim nothing equals in agony the perdition of a tender lover, an affectionate parent or a delicate child. However, elements that can awaken woe in a human spirit vary in a wider manner than we care to admit. From the loss of a faithful friend: a brother to the soul, to whom one turns in their hour of need; to the fading of hope, the decay of purpose and the decadence of what once was an unshakeable belief; to the ultimate loss: that of one’s self, the withering of one’s identity in the tumult of inner and outer trepidation. All of which are to a surprisingly high degree accurately portrayed between the fine lines of the seemingly endless pages of the massive triple volume novel in hand: The Last Man (1826) by one of the world’s most regrettably underrated authors, although a prominent pre-Victorian literary romantic novelist and poet, Mary Shelley.

The Last Man is a post-apocalyptic fantasy set in the 2090’s, which –along with her earlier novel Frankenstein- makes of Mary Shelley, one of the very first writers of the futuristic science fiction genre. She spends the entire first volume, describing the development of the main characters. Lionel, orphan at the age of five, is initially reckless and wild, baring untamed resentfulness to the nobility for discarding his father, causing him and his sister of two: Perdita, to subsist in pitiable poverty and therefore seek employment at such an early age and live off charity. During his thoughtless youth, causing trouble in the village and protecting his calm and self-sufficient sibling Perdita seemed to be his sole occupations. Until Adrian -former prince of England and currently earl of Windsor- made his appearance, befriended the helpless and lawless Verneys and tamed their savageness. Through Adrian, Lionel learns to be a polished young man; he develops thirst for knowledge and bestows a refined taste in arts and music. Perdita, on the other hand, learns to be much more open to the outside world after she was isolated in her own little bubble; thanks to Idris, Adrian’s younger sister and Lionel’s future affectionate spouse and devoted life companion.

   Raymond, a national hero who led the Greek troops into victory, conquered not only Turkey but also Perdita’s heart. The glorious warrior did not lack aspiration, for ambition was his eminent trait. Raymond’s popularity permitted him to win the latest elections against the other candidates. All five companions got along extremely well and lived in complete harmony and delightful bliss through serene, peaceful and unruffled days of absolute ecstasy in an Edenic paradise, for roughly five years. At the term of which, a series of misfortunes started to rain on their hitherto cloudless brows.

   It is of utter relevance to appreciate the degree of implication of Shelley’s private life in her text and the reflection of her personal experiences in the lives of her semi-fictional characters. Indeed; Lionel, Adrian and Raymond are respectively based on herself, her husband Percy Shelley and their friend Lord Byron.  The three of them were influential leading figures in the movement of romanticism during the early XVIII th century.

   The second and third volumes of the novel are much darker. Raymond’s ambitious nature, his passion and thrive for action took him back to Greece where he ardently fought and nobly lost his life, stabbed not by the hand of man, but by that of a greater fiend; an enemy to all humanity, a sinister pestilence that discerns not the virtuous from the wicked, the good from the mischievous, but seizes all in an indiscriminative manner. This incident has been tremendously sorrowful to Lionel, for Raymond had been a worthy friend. Perdita, unable to endure her husband’s loss, put an end to her own days, for days were insufferable without her soulmate by her side. Lionel, now burdened not only by the loss of a faithful companion but also by that of a sister, his only blood relation since boyhood, returned to Windsor, full of despair, yet glad to retrieve sweet Idris and their babes, as well as his truest friend and benefactor Adrian.

“ Lord Raymond, by some unlooked-for chance, became the possessor of an immense fortune in England, whither he returned, crowned with glory, to receive the meed of honour and distinction before denied to his pretensions. His proud heart rebelled against this change. Power therefore was the aim of all his endeavours; aggrandizement the mark at which he for ever shot. In open ambition or close intrigue, his end was the same--to attain the first station in his own country...Among his other advantages, Lord Raymond was supremely handsome; every one admired him; of women he was the idol. He was courteous, honey-tongued--an adept in fascinating arts. What could not this man achieve in the busy English world? ... The brow of the ambitious Raymond might be encircled with the magic ring of regality.”                 -The Last Man- Volume1; Chapter III.

   Lord Byron was an English nobleman, poet and politician. He unquestionably was an intricate personage. He was depicted as a "mixture of affectionate sweetness and playfulness, by which it was impossible not to be attached" oddly mingled with "silent rages, moody sullenness and revenge". Byron himself wrote: “I am so changeable, being everything by turns and nothing long - I am such a strange mélange of good and evil that it would be difficult to describe me”. Given that he had journeyed extensively across the continent, and
died of a severe fever caught in Aetolia –Ottoman Empire (present day Aetolia- Greece), we can effortlessly see Mary paying tribute to his ardent enthusiasm in Lord Raymond, the latter succumbed in similar circumstances to those by which Lord Byron passed away. Raymond’s wild spirit and tameless passion are inspired by Lord Byron’s self-willed nature, as Lady Caroline Lamb -one of his many lovers- epitomised him in the brief yet staunch phrase "mad, bad, and dangerous to know".

(Illustration here-opposite: Portrait of George Gordon Byron, by Thomas Phillips- 1813.).

   The tale only got more morose from there: an enormous calamity arose from a most detestable event; a plague had made its appearance in the east, and progressed in stour steps towards our protagonists’ native England. Needless to say that chaos and fear have reigned over the globe. It was the most alarming emergency case that the world had ever hosted. People began to die, and those who didn’t, had to witness their loved ones perish one after the other. People abandoned their accustomed occupations, rulers forsook their subjects and merchants left their trades. It became common to see lonely spirits on the streets mourning the perdition of their lovers, children or parents.

   Adrian had hitherto isolated himself for the sake of his idealistic ideas, in the pursuit of his noble goals, he dreamt of a fairly flawless impeccable society with pure faultless morals:

 “In solitude, and through many wanderings afar from the haunts of men, he matured his views for the reform of the English government, and the improvement of the people. It would have been well if he had concealed his sentiments, until he had come into possession of the power which would secure their practical development. But he was impatient of the years that must intervene; he was frank of heart and fearless. He gave not only a brief denial to his mother's schemes, but published his intention of using his influence to diminish the power of the aristocracy, to effect a greater equalization of wealth and privilege, and to introduce a perfect system of republican government into England. … Adrian felt that he made a part of a great whole. He owned affinity not only with mankind, but all nature was akin to him; the mountains and sky were his friends; the winds of heaven and the offspring of earth his playmates; while he the focus only of this mighty mirror, felt his life mingle with the universe of existence. His soul was sympathy, and dedicated to the worship of beauty and excellence.” –The Last Man; Volume1- Chapter III.

   However, he is later brought back among his fellow mortals of flesh and bone, by Lionel, with whom he lived his happiest days, alongside his cherished sister and the others, notwithstanding a near sorrowful outbreak of a deadly pestilence. When the latter progressed to its spike, and when the general rule was “every man for himself”, Adrian took the reins and led the survivors: the remaining of humanity, to what seemed to be a safer place: the altitudes; for their cool atmosphere was unfavourable to the survival of the invisible foe. We can clearly appreciate how wisely Adrian proceeded, when faced with a situation of emergency; not any emergency, it was a situation in which every human life was in constant jeopardy. He prioritised unity over separation, for the latter only leads to chaos among the survivors, while the former increases their chances of survival for more minds working in unison are more likely to come up with an adequate solution to the issue in hand.

   As mentioned above, Percy Shelley is mirrored in Adrian. The latter reflects much of the socio-political views that Percy nourished during his mournfully short life. In addition to being a romantic and philosophical poet, he exhibited uncompromising and stubborn disapproval of society’s injustice in favour of his unconventional and radical idealism. He was also a lead figure in the movement of nonviolent resistance. Percy died at the age of twenty-nine, drowned, and so did Adrian. Mary Shelley was fond of her husband; she admired his poetry and cherished his singular features. He, on the other hand, delighted in her intellectual ability and held her genius in high esteem. It had been a marriage of sense and wit before being that of hearts and flesh.

(Illustration here-opposite: Portrait of Percy Bysshe Shelley, by Alfred Clint – 1829.).

 Mary paying homage to Lord Byron and Percy Shelley and immortalising them through Lord Raymond and Adrian in her tale is strong evidence of her deep grief at their loss.

   As the title of the book suggests, a single man only remains on the face of earth: the narrator, Lionel Verney. The latter has hitherto been bitterly and melancholically relating his tale of wonders, from his –not so tender- infancy, through numerous years of absolute joy, happiness and fulfilment, to others of utter sorrow and misery, only to conclude with endless years of ultimate solitude and complete wretchedness.

“The ocean has robbed me of them--stolen their hearts of love from their breasts, and given over to corruption what was dearer to me than light, or life, or hope.

I was an untaught shepherd-boy, when Adrian deigned to confer on me his friendship. The best years of my life had been passed with him. All I had possessed of this world's goods, of happiness, knowledge, or virtue—I owed to him. He had, in his person, his intellect, and rare qualities, given a glory to my life, which without him it had never known. Beyond all other beings he had taught me, that goodness, pure and single, can be an attribute of man. It was a sight for angels to congregate to behold, to view him lead, govern, and solace, the last days of the human race.”-The Last Man; Volume 3- Chapter X.

 Now surrounded by no voice but that of abysmal remorse and piercing anguish, an agonising spirit roams blue brine and dry land with nature-and all it offers of flora and fauna- as his sole company. Seascapes and landscapes all belong to him. Yet all the splendour of creation exhibited before him could not fill the void in his irreversibly damaged heart. Indeed, the injury afflicted to his very soul was everlasting. Through Lionel’s misery at the eradication of his entire species, we perceive Mary’s own anguish and distress; for when she wrote this novel, all of her peers were defunct: her friends were gone, her lover had joined his maker, her fellow romantics were deceased; she was the final survivor of an entire literary generation.

(Illustration here-above: Portrait of Marry Wollstonecraft Shelley, by Samuel John Stump- 1831)

   She laments her many misfortunes: first, the loss of her three children and later that of what she called the community of the “elect” leaving her in a society of individuals with questionable integrity of intellect and sharpness of judgement. Accordingly, Lionel had lost his three children and their gentle mother, in addition to his comrades endowed with a benevolent nature, remarkable moral awareness and nobility as well as genuine goodness.

   All things considered, it goes without saying that this story is dismal, dreary and gloomy. Indeed, it intimately depicts man’s deepest sorrows and most momentous afflictions. Ironically nevertheless, the tale is embedded in laud of art, nature, magnificence, beauty of creation, companionship, devotion, human value and good humour to lighten the heart. These gay and colourful aspects of the novel contrast the deeper desolate intoxicating series of tragedies it relates. The whole pays allegiant homage to reality as it is: for stainless goodness and pure evil are seldom found separately.