The Last Man

“‘Happy are dreamers,’ he continued, ‘so that they be not awakened! Would I could dream! but ‘broad and garish day’ is the element in which I live; the dazzling glare of reality inverts the scene for me.’”

Raymond says this to Lionel early in their relationship. Raymond is characterized primarily by his ambition, and here, Raymond claims to regret the influence his ambition has over him: He insists that the “dazzling glare of reality” beckons him, foreshadowing the way in which he will be drawn into public life.

“She felt, that, once awakened, Raymond would never return unrepining to Windsor. His habits were unhinged; his restless mind roused from its sleep, ambition must now be his companion through life; and if he did not succeed in his present attempt, she foresaw that unhappiness and cureless discontent would follow.”

Perdita has apprehensions about Raymond’s ambition, sensing that it will ultimately be his undoing. Perdita’s fears foreshadow Raymond’s eventual fate, as his ambitions will destroy their marriage and lead to his death.

“[S]ince Adrian had first withdrawn me from my selvatic wilderness to his own paradise of order and beauty, I had been wedded to literature. I felt convinced that […] no man’s faculties could be developed, no man’s moral principle be enlarged and liberal, without an extensive acquaintance with books.”

This quote highlights the importance of literature throughout the novel, bolstering the arts as a symbol of human civilization and achievement (See: Symbols & Motifs). Reading is one of Lionel’s greatest interests and helps him educate himself, while the way he credits Adrian with helping him transition from a "wilderness" to a "paradise of order and beauty” reflects the importance of companionship in tempering The Effects of Isolation.

“[Raymond] is able to contemplate the ideal of war, while I am sensible only to its realities […] I cannot follow; for I do not sympathize in their dreams of massacre and glory—to follow and to lead in such a career, is the natural bent of Raymond’s mind.”

Adrian makes these remarks to Lionel during the conflict in Greece, emphasizing the deep contrasts between the two men. While Raymond can think of war as something glorious, Adrian, as his foil, can only see the immediate destruction it causes. Adrian’s discomfort with war also reflects his commitment to the Equality of the Human Race and his tendency toward pacifism.

“One word, in truth, had alarmed her more than battles or sieges, during which she trusted Raymond’s high command would exempt him from danger. That word, as yet it was not more to her, was PLAGUE […] It was in Constantinople; but as each year that city experienced a like visitation, small attention was paid to those accounts which declared more people to have died there already, than usually made up the accustomed prey of the whole of the hotter months.”

This is the first mention of the plague within the novel, and the way it is capitalized highlights its significance. This quote also reveals how Europeans are, at first, not alarmed by reports of the plague, as there are often illnesses in Constantinople. The passage reflects the novel’s critique of English exceptionalism and the dangers of nationalistic superiority.

“The prayer of my youth was to be one among those who render the pages of earth’s history splendid; who exalt the race of man, and make this little globe a dwelling of the mighty. Alas, for Raymond! the prayer of his youth is wasted—the hopes of his manhood are null!”

Raymond says this after hearing about Evadne’s prophecy for his death. He assumes that he is going to die shortly, so he does not curtail his ambition and even behaves more recklessly than before. Though this quote is significant within the context of the war chapters, it is even more so in the context of the plague, as all the glory Raymond was obsessed with becomes even less important as humanity faces an existential threat, reflecting the theme of Humanity Versus Nature.

“It is as wise to discuss the probability of a visitation of the plague in our well-governed metropolis, as to calculate the centuries which must escape before we can grow pine-apples here in the open air.”

Ryland delivers this line when discussing the probability of plague in England. His attitude reflects the idea of English exceptionalism and a rejection of the Equality of the Human Race, as he arrogantly asserts that since London is a “well-governed metropolis,” it must be immune from the illness affecting other—and in Ryland’s eyes, inferior—countries.

“In the face of all this we call ourselves lords of the creation, wielders of the elements, masters of life and death, and we allege in excuse of this arrogance, that though the individual is destroyed, man continues for ever.”

This is one of the many times in the novel when Lionel remarks upon the flaws of anthropocentric thinking. As the plague spreads, he recognizes that humanity is in fact fragile, and that there is no guarantee that civilization will last forever in the battle of Humanity Versus Nature.

“Nature, our mother, and our friend, had turned on us a brow of menace. She shewed us plainly, that, though she permitted us to assign her laws and subdue her apparent powers, yet, if she put forth but a finger, we must quake. She could take our globe, fringed with mountains, girded by the atmosphere, containing the condition of our being, and all that man’s mind could invent or his force achieve; she could take the ball in her hand, and cast it into space, where life would be drunk up, and man and all his efforts for ever annihilated.”

The personification of nature in this quote shows how small humanity is within the scope of the universe, reflecting the theme of Humanity Versus Nature. As the plague ravages the earth, humans begin to understand just how fragile life is and how much power nature has over everyone.

“Thus long, I have cradled my heart in retrospection of past happiness, when hope was. Why not for ever thus? I am not immortal; and the thread of my history might be spun out to the limits of my existence. But the same sentiment that first led me to portray scenes replete with tender recollections, now bids me hurry on [. . .] I must complete my work.”

In writing his story, Lionel is consciously trying to leave something for posterity. He recognizes that he is “not immortal,” yet the act of writing may ensure that he can leave something behind to outlast him. His determination to “complete [his] work” reflects his tenacity in wishing to survive and to record his experiences, no matter how painful, in the hope that someone may one day discover his testimony.

“I told them exceedingly few deaths had yet been occasioned by pestilence, and gave them hopes, as we were the last visited, so the calamity might have lost its most venomous power before it had reached us. The cleanliness, habits of order, and the manner in which our cities were built, were all in our favour.”

Though Lionel is not as convinced of the idea of English exceptionalism as others like Ryland, he still uses it to pacify people around him, even while having his own anxieties about the plague. His emphasis on England’s “cleanliness” and “habits of order” also highlights some of the unwarranted xenophobic ideas contemporary to Wollstonecraft Shelley’s time.

“Pestilence had become a part of our future, our existence; it was to be guarded against, like the flooding of rivers, the encroachments of ocean, or the inclemency of the sky.”

One of the most unique things about The Last Man as a piece of dystopian literature is how it deals with the paradoxical normalcy of the plague. At certain times the plague is chaotic and immediate, whereas at other times, as shown in this quote, it is essentially a common and well-known grievance.

“Lay down your arms, fellow men! brethren! […] You are dear to us, because you wear the frail shape of humanity; each one among you will find a friend and host among these forces. Shall man be the enemy of man, while plague, the foe to all, even now is above us, triumphing in our butchery, more cruel than her own?”

Adrian makes this speech to the forces clashing with one another in London, referencing the humanity of a dead body that lies at his feet. This quote highlights one of Adrian’s most defining characteristics: his belief in the Equality of the Human Race, even when societal order starts to break down around him thanks to the plague.

“I longed to return to my old occupations, but of what use were they? To read were futile—to write, vanity indeed. The earth, late wide circus for the display of dignified exploits, vast theatre for a magnificent drama, now presented a vacant space, an empty stage—for actor or spectator there was no longer aught to say or hear.”

Lionel struggles with reconciling the devastation wrought by the plague with the “late wide circus” of “dignified exploits” that used to make up human civilization. His reflections that there are now neither “actor [n]or spectator” to witness human glories and ambitions speaks to the destruction of human civilization and its ultimate frailty in the struggle of Humanity Versus Nature.

“To some among the poor this was matter of exultation. We were all equal now; magnificent dwellings, luxurious carpets, and beds of down, were afforded to all […] We were all equal now; but near at hand was an equality still more levelling, a state where beauty and strength, and wisdom, would be as vain as riches and birth. The grave yawned beneath us all, and its prospect prevented any of us from enjoying the ease and plenty which in so awful a manner was presented to us.”

The plague eradicates distinctions of class, revealing the Equality of the Human Race in economic terms. The lower classes temporarily rejoice in having access to the fineries that were once out of their reach, but as Lionel darkly remarks, death will be the ultimate equalizing force, thereby exposing the superfluity of the class system and all worldly goods.

“Tears streamed from his eyes. ‘Again and again,’ he continued, ‘will the tragedy be acted; again I must hear the groans of the dying, the wailing of the survivors; again witness the pangs, which, consummating all, envelope an eternity in their evanescent existence. Why am I reserved for this? Why the tainted wether of the flock, am I not struck to earth among the first? It is hard, very hard, for one of woman born to endure all that I endure!’”

Adrian says this to Lionel as emigrants from their group begin to die from the plague. Adrian, who is primarily concerned with his love for all humans, is especially stricken by the losses. Though he is portrayed by Lionel as perhaps the most valiant character of the novel, this quote also shows his human weakness and the ultimate impotence of his idealism.

“This was all over, now that the ocean of death had sucked in the slackening tide, and its source was dried up. We first had bidden adieu to the state of things which having existed many thousand years, seemed eternal; such a state of government, obedience, traffic, and domestic intercourse, as had moulded our hearts and capacities, as far back as memory could reach.”

Here again Lionel laments for the parts of civilization that were once considered typical, but are now thought of as luxuries. He sees how the plague has reduced humans to their most basic needs and how, in turn, the things he has studied and cultivated have now essentially disappeared from the earth.

“Yet we were not quite wrong in seeking a scene like this, whereon to close the drama. Nature, true to the last, consoled us in the very heart of misery. Sublime grandeur of outward objects soothed our hapless hearts, and were in harmony with our desolation.”

This quote highlights how the beauties of nature last even after civilization is gone, reflecting the theme of Humanity Versus Nature. The Romantics emphasized the inherent value of nature, and here it is shown to cheer up the survivors and give them hope even as the last of them die from the plague.

“What would become of us? O for some Delphic oracle, or Pythian maid, to utter the secrets of futurity!”

This quote is reminiscent of the frame story of The Last Man, in which Lionel’s story is found transcribed as prophecies from a Sibyl. There are several other references to prophecies and predictions of the future throughout the novel, which are significant as the story is presented as a prophecy of the future.

“Were we not happy in this paradisiacal retreat? If some kind spirit had whispered forgetfulness to us, methinks we should have been happy here, where the precipitous mountains, nearly pathless, shut from our view the far fields of desolate earth, and with small exertion of the imagination, we might fancy that the cities were still resonant with popular hum, and the peasant still guided his plough through the furrow, and that we, the world’s free denizens, enjoyed a voluntary exile, and not a remediless cutting off from our extinct species.”

Lionel here discusses how he and his companions have moments of happiness despite The Effects of Isolation, as they can momentarily forget their sorrows and imagine that the world is still populated. If not reminded of his losses, Lionel knows he could be happy, especially in the midst of beautiful nature and the cultivated cities that surround them.

“And who will read them? Beware, tender offspring of the re-born world— beware, fair being, with human heart, yet untamed by care, and human brow, yet unploughed by time—beware, lest the cheerful current of thy blood be checked, thy golden locks turn grey, thy sweet dimpling smiles be changed to fixed, harsh wrinkles! Let not day look on these lines, lest garish day waste, turn pale, and die.”

Though Lionel has yet to reach the part of the narrative when he begins to write his book, this quote shows how he is already thinking of how his story will be received, if at all. Lionel’s fear that his gloomy writings could dampen the “cheerful current” of a future human being’s blood speaks to both his fears for the future of humankind and his lingering hope that his testimony will one day be discovered.

“I was rich in the so called goods of life. If I turned my steps from the near barren scene, and entered any of the earth’s million cities, I should find their wealth stored up for my accommodation—clothes, food, books, and a choice of dwelling beyond the command of the princes of former times.”

Once he is the last person left on earth, Lionel is left with all the material riches a person could ever want, yet he knows it means nothing. Here, he highlights the superfluous nature of anthropocentrism and how material goods cannot do anything to cancel out The Effects of Isolation, reinforcing the novel’s emphasis on the importance of human companionship and society.

“My thoughts had been of death—these sounds spoke to me of life.”

Lionel says this of the sounds of the animals and nature that surround him once the cities have been abandoned, once more invoking Humanity Versus Nature. Though everything related to civilization reminds him of death, the continuation of nature reminds him that humans are not the only things on earth and that nature, at least, will survive.