Analysis

Download PDF PDF Page Citation Cite Share Link Share

While in exile in Italy—having fled England’s repressive cultural and political milieu—Percy Bysshe Shelley received news of the Peterloo Massacre. Learning details from newspapers and word-of-mouth reporting, he pieces together a story that horrified him and sparks a desire to write, ultimately leading to “The Mask of Anarchy,” a poem subtitled “Written on the Occasion of the Massacre at Manchester.”

Though the poem was composed in direct response to Shelley's learning of the event and completed shortly thereafter, it went unpublished during his lifetime, deemed too radical even for radical publications to risk charges of seditious libel. For Shelley, an advocate for free love, vegetarianism, and free expression without censorship, the intensely political perspective was none too extreme—especially given the tragedy it was to memorialize.

On August 16th, 1819, roughly 50,000-80,000 disenfranchised working-class people gathered in St. Peter’s Field in an attempt to force parliamentary reform and expand suffrage. However, the peaceful gathering soon dissolved into violence after the British cavalry charged into the crowd, urging them to disperse. The ensuing chaos resulted in the deaths of over a dozen unarmed civilians and the injury or arrest of hundreds more. 

Given the poem's overt references to the massacre, a general understanding of the event is essential to understanding the poem. 

Organized by the Manchester Patriotic Union and led by orator Henry Hunt, the rally sought to further the rights of the working class. Fearful of the masses but unwilling to capitulate to their demands, local leadership ordered the arrest of the rally’s leadership. In their attempt to arrest Hunt, a child was killed. 

Armed cavalry were then dispatched to disperse the crowd, resulting in the loss of even more lives. Several women were beaten to death, and many of the men died of saber wounds or were trampled by cavalry horses. Some of those arrested died in confinement.

The citizenry of the region was outraged by the massacre, which was widely reported on across England. Rather than reform, however, the rally and massacre sparked a crackdown that included charges of sedition against Hunt and other organizers, who were jailed after trial. Contrarily, the cavalry officers were acquitted of all wrongdoing. Both the government’s actions during the rally and their behavior in court represented miscarriages of justice to Shelley.

“The Mask of Anarchy” portrays a wartime victory parade in which the ruling elites become perversely personified figures of Murder, Fraud, and Hypocrisy, led by the personification of anarchy. Their smug demeanor and abusive actions recall the behavior of the cavalry, displaying the immoral lengths that these particular figures (and their entire cadre of the landed elite) will go to in the name of protecting their standing and the social order that maintains it. 

This macabre parade stomps across England until it is confronted by the personification of Hope, a desperate woman who lays herself down before the parade in a radical act of nonviolent resistance. Her actions inspire a great mist called the Shape, which destroys the parade of anarchy. The Shape is likely the personification of Love, which conquers all evil. But beyond its metaphorical significance, the Shape also acts as a call to action, showing readers the importance of Hope's actions and setting a path toward freedom, one sparked by the courageous and defiant actions of just a few and buoyed on by the support of the masses. 

Afterward, Earth, who has borne witness to the parade and its dramatic end, speaks, enticing the people to action against tyranny in all its forms, equating the human plight of slavery to the plight of animals. Earth then demands action in the form of mass assembly and nonviolent protest against tyranny. 

Concluding her monologue, Earth claims that liberty and justice will prevail and that the shame of misdeeds will haunt the tyrannical, keeping them always in a state of isolation from good men and women. The poem ends with Earth repeating her initial call to action: 

Rise like Lions after slumber, 

In unvanquishable number, 

Shake your chains to earth like dew

Which in sleep had fallen on you—

Ye are many— they are few.”

Get Ahead with eNotes

Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.

Get 48 Hours Free Access
Previous

Summary