47 pages • 1 hour read
Mary ShelleyThe Last Man
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1826A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Volume 1, Chapter 11-Volume 2, Chapter 3 Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Volume 1, Chapter 11 Summary
Lionel, Idris, and especially Perdita are grieved at the loss of Raymond and Adrian, and Lionel convinces them to travel around Britain to distract them. After returning to Windsor, Lionel turns to literature and tries to comfort Perdita. Despite all his efforts, Perdita still resents Raymond and does not allow the others to say his name around her. Clara, now eight years old, is curious about her father.
After a year, Adrian returns to England and tells the others that Raymond has become a hero among the Greeks. Though he believes in the cause, Adrian also sees their enemies in Turkey as his brothers. While Raymond can “contemplate the ideal of war” (180), Adrian only sees war’s bloody realities.
After Adrian returns, Raymond goes missing and is believed to be a prisoner of war. Perdita decides to go to Greece to find him, and Lionel agrees to accompany her.
Volume 2, Chapter 1 Summary
On the way to Greece, Perdita is now prepared to reconcile with Raymond. When they arrive in Athens, Lionel learns that Raymond is alive but has been taken captive. Two months later, Raymond is released on the verge of death. All of Athens celebrates his freedom. Raymond and Perdita reconcile and he asks Lionel to stay longer in Greece. Raymond tells them of the war and how he has heard rumors of a plague in Constantinople.
They leave Athens for a nearby town. Perdita and Clara stay in the city as Lionel follows Raymond closer to the war zone, where Raymond’s forces win a battle. After the battle, Lionel reflects on all those who died and the cruelty of war. Passing through the battleground, Lionel finds someone dressed as a Greek soldier dying. It is Evadne, who has come to be with Raymond. She prophesies Raymond’s death.
Volume 2, Chapter 2 Summary
Lionel buries Evadne the following morning. He learns the army has orders to go to Constantinople. Raymond intends to stay in Greece until the war is over and asks Lionel to stay a month longer. Lionel tells Raymond about his brief meeting with Evadne and how she prophesied his death. Convinced he will not live much longer, Raymond asks Lionel to take care of Perdita and Clara. He tells Lionel to take them back to Windsor, and to not mention Evadne to Perdita.
As the Greek troops descend upon Constantinople, they face little resistance. They quickly discover that the city is overwhelmed by the plague. Raymond still plans on conquering the city, but his soldiers fear entering the town gates. Raymond plans to go himself to plant a cross on its mosque, thinking he will soon die regardless. The troops begin to desert, so Raymond asks Lionel to send reinforcements.
Raymond enters the city. After he enters, Lionel hears an explosion and sees a fire raging in the city. Lionel goes into the destroyed city to look for Raymond. He eventually collapses from exhaustion.
Volume 2, Chapter 3 Summary
Lionel tells Perdita he cannot find Raymond, but Perdita insists on finding his body. Lionel goes back into the city with a few soldiers. Raymond’s dog attracts their attention and leads them to his body.
Perdita tells Lionel where Raymond wished to be buried in Athens. She also tells Lionel she will stay in Athens, in a cottage built beside Raymond’s grave. Lionel tries to dissuade her, but Perdita is adamant. Lionel tricks her into coming back to England against her will, but on the boat to England, Perdita jumps overboard and drowns. Lionel retrieves her body and sends it to Athens, to be buried alongside Raymond.
When Lionel and Clara arrive in England, they hear the story of a ship from America. The ship recently came into harbor with only one living crew member, who was said to have died of the plague upon reaching land.
Volume 1, Chapter 11-Volume 2, Chapter 3 Analysis
During the war in Greece, the theme of the Equality of the Human Race is especially predominant, with the polarized perspectives of Raymond and Adrian once more representing the tensions between pragmatism and idealism. As Adrian explains, Raymond “is able to contemplate the ideal of war, while I am sensible only to its realities” (180). While Raymond is motivated by achieving feats of heroism, fueled by “dreams of massacre and glory” (180), Adrian regards war as little more than sordid bloodshed.
While Adrian believes in the Greek cause, he views all of humankind as brothers, and therefore all are of equal value. He argues that their Turkish enemies “are men; each fibre, each limb is as feeling as our own, and every spasm, be it mental or bodily, is as truly felt in a Turk’s heart or brain, as in a Greek’s” (179). Lionel too understands this sentiment later on when he approaches the battlefield and sees the dead bodies of soldiers from both sides, reinforcing the idea that war is neither glorious nor heroic, only a human tragedy for all involved. The characters will contend with this theme again and again throughout the novel, as different battles ensue between people of the human race as the plague unleashes its chaos.
The emptiness of ambition is also exposed in these chapters. When Raymond receives his prophecy of death, he exclaims that “the prayer of his youth is wasted—the hopes of his manhood are null!” (215). He knows that his ambitions of greatness will come to nothing as he will soon be dead, and later in the novel his glory becomes even less significant in the scope of humanity’s existential struggles. Though he wins freedom for Greece and conquers Constantinople, the city explodes and he is killed just as he reaches his goal. Greece does not even get to enjoy its freedom for long, as the country still falls victim to the plague shortly after. Compared to Adrian’s broad hopes for equality and peace among all humans, Raymond’s ambitions seem small, unnecessary, and ultimately futile.
The memorialization of the dead is an important motif in The Last Man (See: Symbols & Motifs) and is especially prominent in these chapters. Perdita’s insistence on retrieving Raymond’s body, and the way in which she and Lionel lovingly bring his body back to Athens, speaks to the importance of honoring the dead. The people of Athens build a pathway to Raymond’s grave to make it easier for them to pay their respects, showing how important he was to them. When Perdita drowns herself, Lionel shows the same concern toward her body, ensuring it is retrieved and sent back to Athens so that she can be buried next to Raymond. Similarly, Lionel also makes sure Evadne is given a proper burial so that her memory is preserved, saving her from being just another nameless soldier who died in battle.
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