Mary Shelley, 饾槇饾槸饾槰饾槶饾槹-饾槓饾樀饾槩饾槶饾槳饾槫饾樁饾槾 : female self-assertion and the politics of distinction

Abstract

Written in Genoa a few months after Percy Shelley's death, Mary Shelley's mourning poem The Choice records the speaker's dejection and bereaved condition caused by the tragic loss of her husband and two children while in Italy: 'Here let me cling, here to these solitudes, /These myrtle shaded streams and chestnut woods; I Tear me not hence - here let me live & die,/ In my adopted land, my country, Italy!' The Choice, unsurprisingly, depicts Italy in contradictory and often confusing colours. On the one hand, the country assumes a soothing, almost therapeutic role, on account of the happy memories it evokes, of its natural setting and stimulating environment. On the other hand, Italy looms as an implacable accomplice to the domestic misfortunes and sad destiny which beset the speaker. Italy is cast simultaneously as 'murdress' and healer.