… 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
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