Publications of the Modern Language Association of America (36) Book

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1921 Excerpt: ...The resemblance in the characters is close enough to enable us to identify nearly all of Shelley's characters by comparison with other satires in which they appear under their own names. The identity of Swell-foot with George IV, Iona Tau rina with Caroline, the Ionian Minotaur with John Bull, and the Swine with the people is so evident from the play itself that it is taken for granted by even the casual reader and therefore requires no demonstration. It is generally agreed also, from their parallel functions in the play and in George's government, that Purganax is Lord Castle reagh; Laoktonos, Wellington; and Dakry, Lord Eldon. All these characters appear in the contemporary satires in much the same light as in Swell-foot, and often together. Shelley's picture of Eldon's canting tearfulness is no more graphic, for instance, than the lines in Royal Bumping, in which, "Bewigged, begowned, bewildered, weeping," he is described as one who Would damn his Q... n and with a sigh, Damn her again and, whimpering, cry. Since these characters are generally accepted in the ascribed meanings, it is not worth while to go into detailed quotations in order to establish their identity. The characters as yet undetermined are Mammon, ArchPriest of Famine, who fills one of the principal roles in Swell-foot; the Gadfly, the Leech, and the Rat, agents of the ministers, especially of Purganax (Castlereagh) in persecuting Iona; and Moses, Solomon and Zephaniah, respectively the Sow-Gelder, Porkman and Pig-butcher, to whom Swell-foot delivers his swinish subjects, and who are minor characters in the play. John Todhunter,7 the only writer who considers Mam A Study of Shelley's Poetry, p. 207. mon's identity, says that it is equally likely that Mammon may be Lord Liverpool...