the Roman à Clef

"I had . . . instituted myself the subject to fate, and the servant of necessity,
the visible laws of the invisible God--I believed that my obedience
was the result of sound reasoning, pure feeling . . ." (464).
M. Shelley's The Last Man (1826)

Points for Reflection

Mary Shelley's The Last Man, chps 28-30

1. Lionel foreshadows, once again, that he will eventually be the last living being on the planet, and argues that he will become a kind of Oedipus “whose agonizing pangs, and sorrow-tainted life were to be the engines, wherewith to lay bare the secrets of destiny, and reveal the meaning of the enigma, whose explanation closed the history of the human race” (427). Does Lionel, in the novel’s remaining pages, “reveal” an “enigma” which would explain the erasure of humanity?
2. what is Lionel describing in euphemistic terms in the following passage concerning Clara and Evelyn? “[A]ll of love of which our nature is susceptible, is not yet awake within them: we cannot guess what will happen then, when nature asserts her indefeasible and sacred powers . . .” (427).
3. is there a plausible explanation for why Clara loses her joie de vie—her happiness—as she leaves Milan, grows timid around Lionel and Adrian, and hangs out only with Evelyn for a time (432-33)?
4. which scenes in today's reading most clearly delineate the supremacy of Nature over humanity?
5. why does Clara feel peace in the midst of the storm that ravages their boat during their attempt to cross from Venice, Italy to Greece? [sec 01: Rishit G]
6. does Lionel's emotional reaction, once he realizes he is alone, seem psychologically plausible?
   what do you make of Lionel's actions once he is alone?
7. does Lionel ever reconcile himself to and embrace the isolation foisted on him by circumstance?
8. do the Arts continue to seem irrelevant and inadequate as the novel draws to a close? [sec 02: Angie S]
9. which proves more powerful in his solitude, Lionel’s imagination or his powers of reason? [sec 02: Ethan G]
10. recall that Lionel once approached a bestial, animal-like state in the days before meeting Adrian (18). Does he return to such a state during his year in Rome?
11. why does Lionel not commit suicide? [sec 01: Jeremy G]
12. could this story be made into a film? Would it be well-received if it were?
13. which moments late in this novel seem so passionate that they appear to resemble the personal outcry of an author who has actually experienced what she is describing?
14. did Adrian at any point in the novel manifest faults or character flaws?
15. in this roman à clef, what real-life individuals did each of the main characters represent?
    
    
    
    "Venice: Buildings" (1839)
    J. M. W. Turner
    

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu