I cannot live in this world of misery
That the forward-looking and sunny Elizabeth harbors such gloom within her
reinvokes the dark tones that have been insistently arising in what has
seemed at times a text promoting the happiness of domestic enclosure.
Mary Shelley brings the first volume, the first third, of her novel to a
close with her central characters in something approaching complete despair
over the efficacy of political and social systems.
- Characters:
- Contexts:
- Themes:
