Revolution was a key idea in the philosophy of Romantic writers, whether social, cultural, or aesthetic. Percy Bysshe Shelley's poetry, however, makes the most overt revolutionary political statements while Frankenstein, his wife Mary's masterpiece novel, interacts with politics through countless layers and allegories. Through their work, politics and literature intertwine, although there is one. specific differences in how this connection is made in their contrasting works.Say No to Plagiarism Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayIt wasn't in the Percy Shelley's nature to close his eyes. He looked at the injustice he saw in the world, but instead directly attacked those who imposed tyranny. As Paul Foot notes in his introduction to Shelley's Revolutionary Year, "Shelley's enormous talents were not used to encourage the leaders of society...but to attack." these leaders from all points of advantage. This open political confrontation is evident in his sonnet "England in 1819", in which Shelley directly attacks and criticizes the political establishment. The first sentence, “A mad, blind, despised, dying old king,” immediately serves as a caricature of the monarchy. giving a critical tone to the poem. Later in the poem, Shelley calls the British government "rulers who neither see nor feel nor know", demonizing Parliament and pointing out their ignorance and incompetence. in Britain, Shelley presents the Crown and government as the villains of the poem, unfit to govern the masses, cruel and outdated characters who have only their own selfish intentions at heart, as shown by the "bloodsuckers who cling to their vanished country.” Shelley, as a poet, brings salvation to the masses, declaring that the horrors of the ruling classes have become "tombs from which a glorious ghost may / Rise, to light our stormy day." It is here that Shelley presents ideas that will be explored further in his “Defense of Poetry,” that “poets are the unsung legislators of the world.” Shelley is fully aware that he, the poet, is calling on the masses, and therefore the reader, to rise up in revolution in the final lines of "England in 1819", thus making the poem, as a form, an instrument overtly political. The political implications of Frankenstein and how they interact with the text are subtly presented by Mary Shelly. The narrative of the creator and creation present throughout the novel offers the reader a variety of ways to approach the text from a political perspective. In a way, Mary Shelley offers an allegorical exploration of the French Revolution, similar to Jane Austen in Sense and Sensibility, having created her monster, is unable to control and contain the horror he has unleashed on the world . in many ways it is representative of the force of the Revolution itself: it was created from corpses, symbols of the famine and poverty of the French population; he is driven by a need for revenge on the cause of his pain, underlined by an almost indulgent violence; ; and the monster continues to rage until his persecutor has lost everything and then he himself ends. The Revolution is often seen as a monstrous period in French history, full of new possibilities but ultimately corrupt and a failure in its own goals, much like the monster for its creator. By presentingVictor Frankenstein as incapable of fully understanding the implications of his actions or control if he released him into the world, Shelley presents him as a representative, as Fred Botting notes, of the "revolutionary alchemists or Enlightenment philosophers whose the dangerous experiments disrupted the entire order by unleashing the dark and chaotic forces of evil,” or, in other words, the revolutionary ideology. Mary Shelley, in direct contrast to the stance taken by her husband in his poetry, presents through her work a much more hesitant attitude towards the concept of revolution, as shown in her depiction of the most immediate example. to her and her writing. While Percy is direct and definite in his pro-revolutionary stance, using poetry as a form of overt political expression, Mary is more subtle and hesitant in that she suggests exercising caution in order to avoid the way the revolution is presented in his novel. As Botting notes, "the monster constitutes the hideous result of the allegorical actions of Victor Frankenstein, a revolutionary mob that spreads terror across Europe." Mary Shelley would prefer that the world avoid having to confront the political demon she created in her work. While Frankenstein's violence is used, from one point of view, as a representation of what encompasses a revolution, both Shelleys use it as a symbol of morality. decisions and a catalyst towards the improvement of a political philosophy. In "The Mask of Anarchy", Percy Shelley uses the brutality of government forces during the Peterloo Massacre as the motif for one of his most unconventional and radical political ideas. First, it presents the massacre as being carried out by an apocalyptic force, including politicians such as Viscount Castlereagh, Baron Eldon and Henry Addington as members of the Four Horsemen, the last horseman being Anarchy. Anarchy, which declares that “I AM GOD, AND KING, AND LAW!” is a critical representative of all the ruling powers in Great Britain who forces his subjects to repeat the previously mentioned phrase, thus cementing him as the omnipotent governor of the country. Just as he did in "England in 1819", Shelley intentionally uses satirical elements to dehumanize the government and separates them from himself and the reader who is supposed to sympathize with Shelley's point of view. Once again, Shelley has positioned the reader in opposition to the government and thus includes him in the "Men of England, Heirs of Glory" addressed by an anonymous "maniacal servant" who professes the political statements Shelley attempts to transmit. These political statements revolve around the idea of ​​nonviolent resistance to government oppression, as the handmaid states that when soldiers march and attack those protesting, they will be met by people who will "remain calm and resolute." . This passive resistance aims to make soldiers question their own morality and sense of justice. This new form of political dissent is important not only in the way it influenced political thinkers and activists (Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi being among those inspired by the poem) but in the way it shifted the political role of the poet. . Unlike “England in 1819” where Shelley presents himself as a simple critic and observer of the world, detached but still ideologically invested, “The Mask of Anarchy” involves Shelley, and therefore the poet, directly in political philosophy. Shelley transcends the roles of poet and political thinker by providing lyrical direction to the masses, thus emphasizing his.