(for My Friend's Journal)

The Concept of Social Injustice and Oppression as Reflected in Shelley's The Mask of Anarchy


A. Historical Background

The Mask of Anarchy was an occasional poem composed by Percy Bysshe Shelley at Villa Valsovano, a place near Leghorn – or possibly later, during Shelley’s sojourn at Florence – in Autumn 1819 (Hutchinson, 1933: 338), or to be more exact in October 1819. He was inspired by a riot taking place in St. Peter’s Field, Manchester on 16 August 1819. This incident was the climax of many battles of class-war between the employers and the workers. A large crowd of some 60,000 people assembled in St. Peter’s Field in Manchester to hear the famous radical orator Henry Hunt. The mounted yeomanries were sent by the magistrates to arrest him. They charged the crowd, killed eleven people, and wounded some four hundred, including over a hundred women (Thomson, 1959: 39). The slaughter was then called the massacre of Manchester of Peterloo. “Peterloo” was named after Waterloo, a place where Napoleon was finally defeated in 1815.
The massacre was not solely caused by a single factor. It had been triggered by the prevailing conditions of the 18th and early 19th century in England. At that time most of the population in England were peasants. Until the late 18th century the national economy predominantly depended on agriculture which still used the traditional methods in cultivation, for instance the use of manual plough, sickle, and spade, and of the open-field system. Although the steam energy marking the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in England had been invented in the middle of the eighteenth century, its application was not soon widespread.


British peasants as well as rural artisans lived in small towns and villages. They largely lived in poverty and were illiterate. Their shameful and unsanitary houses were made of clays or logs with earthen floor and inadequate light and air. The clothing was bad and was made of rough linen and wool. Their basic food was not varied and nutritious, such as the black bread and sometimes potatoes.


Besides cultivating the land in spring and summer, weaving was their activities during the winder season. The artisans or the weavers also faced the same condition as the peasants. They often suffered from poverty and spent twelve or even fourteen hours a day job. Chest diseases were their common illnesses because their chests were often used to press the loom during weaving.
The peasants and the artisans were below the clergyman and the aristocrats in social class. The latter held leading position in churches, government, and society. The closed social stratification prevailed in those days. The lower class was hardly able to rise to the upper class. On the other hand, the upper class, of course, would always try to maintain their position.


Aristocrats had very important roles in every aspect of life. In agriculture, they usually had vast land, called estate, which was cultivated by the poor peasants. In 1760s landlords, predominantly the aristocratic ones, not only drew their own lands from peasant farming, but also bought up much of the land of poorer peasants. By the early 19th century over 67 %t of British farmland were included in large estates (Stearns, 1967: 11). The workers of the estates got low wages that they lived in misery. The condition was aggravated by various taxes, such as the land tax and tithes (tax to church).


After the Napoleonic War ended in Waterloo in 1815, the applied technology in agriculture was becoming more developed and the methods of cultivating farm were more effective, such as the rotation of the crops introduced by Lord Townshend. A gradual increase in trade and the emergence of the middle class made the condition of the lower class worse. This new class, especially the prosperous merchants soon got power in society and political theatre. The aristocrats who felt that the influence of the middle class (merchants) would endanger their position in society took anticipation, such as giving stronger influence to the lower class. They also had to maintain their life style and to solve the problem arising from the soaring prices. As a result, they tried to increase the traditional burdens on the farmers through taxes, and to increase the export of the production. These efforts gave more oppression to the peasants.


The massive population growth in England resulting from the higher life expectation and the higher birth rate which were caused by the development of commerce; and the immigration of the Irishmen to England and Scotland also affected the social condition. Many peasants were born landless. Besides, there were more land belonging to the rich men were cultivated by tenant farmers. Many of the smallholders lost their land. Whether they liked or not, they were urged to work for others, i.e. the landlords. Some of them moved from one town to another town; or from one area to another area to seek a job. Some others depended on charity to survive and this made the number of beggar increase.


In the meantime, the political condition that was relatively more stable than other countries in the Continent, the technological inventions, the abundant natural resources, the naval supremacy, and the widespread market place in the colonies supported her economic development in the first phase of the Industrial Revolution in England. Many cotton factories were established that the landless people could earn for a living there. Despite the great proceeds got by the employers, the workers were ill-paid. This caused a disparity between the wages and the profits. The exploitation of their energy and the unprotection of their labour rights opened a deep gap between the employers and thee employees, and social inequality. In big cities, such as London and Manchester, these particular phenomena led to many social problems.

London, which was the center of government, of economic life, and of fashion, had the most rapid population. Besides the class struggle, the economic crisis as a result of financing the wars also triggered off many more social problems, such as poverty, unemployment and slums, which led to the increasing number of crimes and social unrest. The soldiers’ post-war distress that proceeded from the Napoleonic wars aggravated the problems, too. In 1815 the enforcement of the new Corn Law, which aimed at stabilizing the price of corn, also caused the disturbances in this town.
Until 1820s, no labour organization was founded and no legal protection was given to fight against the exploitation of the workers. This enabled the employers and the landlords to oppress the labourers which later caused class struggle.


The reaction of the Government toward the incident was repression. It passed the famous “Six Acts” after the massacre. They had several aims, i.e. the restriction of large public meetings, the severe control of the radical and seditious press, and the weakening of the whole movement of radical reformation. The acts succeeded for the time being but then they even led to other riots.
In political life, three sides were always trying to draw power and authority. They were the Tories, the Whigs and the Radicals. The last one was considered as a threat because they held that men should vote as men and as citizens, and not as the owners of specified quantities of property. Besides, they also demanded immediate changes in all aspects of life. The struggle of religious equality among Catholic Church, Anglican Church, and other religious beliefs also coloured the upheaval in Great Britain.


B. Analysis of the Poem


The Mask of Anarchy is a long poem divided into 91 stanzas in which each stanza consists of four lines, but some of them consist of five lines. Totally there are 372 lines.
In the four-line stanzas, the rhyme scheme is aabb or aaaa, whereas in the five-line stanza, the rhyme scheme is aabbb. Stanza LXXXII is exceptional because its rhyme scheme is aaabb. The poem can be divided into two units based on the point of view and the forms used.


Unit I: Stanza I – XXXVI
This unit is about the poet’s narration of what he saw in his journey. He describes the characters playing in the pageant and their attack upon the people. He also tells about the beginning of the common people’s awakening. In this unit Shelly uses the first-person point of view, that is “I” or in this case Shelley himself, and he employs the narrative form. This is related to the literary technique he uses, that is, the frame-work story or a story within a story in which he chooses the dream vision device as the framework.


In this general setting Shelley himself who relates the events of a masquerade and a pageant. Both events were originally held in the mediaeval times, but in this poem they are distinctly described. Historically, they were held for entertainment, but here they are illustrated as events bringing destruction. In order to describe the characters involved in the events and their deeds, he also uses the biblical allegory adopted from the Apocalypse or the Revelation of Saint John the Divine.
In the first 7 stanzas Shelley compares the political figures of his time, i.e. Castlereagh, Eldon and Sidmouth with Murder, Fraud, and Hypocrisy respectively. Viscount Castlereagh or Robert Stewart Londonderry was one of famous British statesmen who played an important role in English administration in the 19th century. He was against the reform movement. In relation to Peterloo, he was also one of the initiators of the “Six Acts”, laws attempting to prevent the political meetings and the circulation of the political literature. His political conduct incurred the savage hatred of the radicals and the reformers (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. XIV, 1961: 373). John Scott Eldon was a Lord Chancellor of England from 1804 until 1827. He was famous for his soundness and slowness of his judgment and his opposition to reformation (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. VIII, 1961: 131). He opposed Catholic emancipation and the reform of the parliament. Henry Addington Sidmouth was a statesman who became a member of parliament for Devizes in 1784. He was a personal friend and strong supporter of William Pitt (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. XX, 1961: 615). He was also a Prime Minister until 1804. He was hated by the radicals and liberals for his orders to magistrates and the use of police spies. He also offended Catholic emancipation and Reform Bill.


In the following stanzas, Shelley employs allegory of a masked ball often held in England in the 16th and 17th century to satirize British bishops, lawyers, peers, and spies of the early 19th century as the cause of political, economic, and social destructions. In those days, Bishops often abused their power over the churches, such as piling wealth through tithes with the reason of charity. Lawyers sold laws for money and peers abused their titles and privileges, whereas spies aimed to spy on the radicals and reformers to control their movements. They did not know about truth anymore since their eyes had been blinded by wealth.


The narrator then describes Anarchy who he walked over English land and trod the people. Anarchy made the people frightened and was very satisfied with their submission. Shelley illustrates the condition at that time as anarchy because there were no control, no order, and no clean government. It was marked by confusion of the laws, of corrupt administration, and of chaos. It shows that Anarchy wanted to rule England.


In Stanza XXII - XXIII Shelley introduces a girl named Hope and her father named Time. By using metaphors, and imageries he tries to describe vividly about the hope of change of life of English people, but the reformation they had waited for so long time never came that it made them desperate.


Shelley pictorializes their resurrection in Stanza XXXI-XXXVII. Firstly, he describes it as flowers waken beneath May’s footstep. The word “May” (line 1) refers to the fifth month when a traditional celebration is held in England to thank God for his blessings, particularly in agricultural crop. This month was often associated with the growth of vegetation at this season. The celebration usually included the carrying procession of trees, green branches and garlands, the appointment of May king and queen, and the setting up of a May tree and Maypole. In its origin, the rituals were intended to celebrate the fertility and great produce of crops, but gradually the significance lost and it becomes a popular celebration (Encyclopaedia Brtitannica, Volume XV, 1961: 121). That was the reason why in 1889 the International Socialist Congress determined May day as an international labour day. Although the designation just happened after the publication of the Mask of Anarchy, Shelley appropriately uses this comparison. Secondly, he depicts the resurrection as stars shaken from Night’s loose hair. He personifies “Night” (line 2) that it has hair. In this line, the stars represent something giving light in the darkness of the night. Lastly, he compares the resurgence with the waves which are arisen by the loud winds. In other words, the seething of the sea signifies the revival of the enthusiastic spirit. To strengthen the effect of the similes, Shelley employs anaphora of the word “as” in three successive lines. This particular word may also indicate simultaneous development.


In this unit Shelley also explicitly states the resurrection. He compares it to a rushing and splendour light of clouds. The awakening was heard and felt though it was still tender. The feelings of joy of hope for better future and fear of the struggle for changes arose together.



The Earth was very angry at injustice. She felt the misery and became the witness of the incident. From this stanza until the end of the poem, the Earth utters Shelley’s ideas and feelings. The Earth here specifically represents England, the country where the British people were born. Shelley describes her disgust at injustice and suffering by comparing it to the sharp pain of childbirth (shuddering with mother’s throe). Again, Shelley uses personification in order to enliven the earth and to make her as a narrator as well as an orator who revives their spirits.


She can be said as a narrator because through her, Shelley relates the story contained in the poem. As an orator, her appeal becomes his techniques to encourage the people to fight against the social injustice and oppression, or in other words, to send his messages. Shelley employs an apostrophe. According to Abrams (1971: 149) an apostrophe is direct address either to an absent person or to an abstract or inanimate thing. In this case, the apostrophe is addressed to the people of England. This technique aims at achieving emotional effects on the audience, persuading the person addressed and emphasizing the point of the problem. Rhetorical questions are also employed by him to strengthen the apostrophe.


Unit II: Stanza XXXVII - XCI
In the main story, he uses Earth, an inanimate thing, to utter his words. It tells about the miserable life condition of most Englishmen in the early 19th century. Shelley embodies his ideas in oration and employs the rhetoric and the apostrophe to heighten the effect of his persuasion to fight against injustice and oppression. This is the essential part of the poem in which he sets forth the facts showing the enslavement of the Men of England. To make these techniques more effective, he employs alliteration, repetition, and figurative language, such as personification, metaphor, animal imagery, and simile extensively.


Unit II opens with the anger of Earth with the evildoers who had made the common people suffer. She urged the Men of England to rise against all injustice and oppression which had grounded them. He compares their resurgence to the lions which are awake from their long and comfortable sleep. The word “lion”, indeed, is often believed as an emblem of the resurrection (Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1956: 559). “Men of England” had to be awake from their passiveness. They had to release the chains that shackled them like dew falling to the earth and then refresh their spirit. Shelley compares the circular metal rings of the chains to the drops of the falling dews. They did not need to be afraid because they were many while their foes were few.
Shelley also describes how the tyrants had enslaved the “Men of England”. The phrase does not only appear in The Mask of Anarchy because Shelley also uses it in another poem, i.e. “Song to the Men of England”. This poem also criticized the social injustice and oppression, but the latter is shorter than the former. They had to work hard and get low wages to keep them alive from day to day. On the contrary, the tyrants lived from the common people’s toil. It appeared that they were destined to serve them. To show this compulsion, Shelley uses it + be + infinitive construction.
The hard and toilsome is symbolized by “loom, plough, sword, and spade.” They had to see their weak children with their miserable mothers. They were dying in the winter due to the want of food and the lack of good shelter. Children and women also worked in factories in order to survive and they usually got lower wages than men.


Shelley satirizes the ironic situation between the have and the have not. On one side, many common people from the lower classes had to suffer from starvation, but on the other side the affluent men competed to give the food to their pets. This scene indicates that the wealthy people had more care for animals, than for their brothers. They had forgotten the values of fraternity.
The oppressed people let – they were compelled to do so – the tyrants rob the produce of their toil. Here, Shelley calls the tyrants as the “Ghost of Gold”. He uses the images of ghost because it is often associated with a frightening evil creature. As a whole, the image of “Ghost of Gold” is intended to represent a creature that always sought for wealth. He was money-mad. The plunder of the lower classes’ property was much more than that in the previous tyranny, i.e. the old feudalism. They presumed that the title deeds were something inherited from their ancestors and they could not be changed. They had to obey to the order given by those who had such noble titles, that is, the aristocrats. The assumption of the great importance of the titles made some of them counterfeit the deeds claiming ownership and privileges in order to live in a high station and to take the benefits.
Shelley further describes the enslavement by the tyrants. The slavery was not limited to the physical toil only because it also covered the strong control over the people’s souls and wills. They could not keep their own control over their wills since they were indoctrinated and were used to obey the tyrants’ power of determination. No freedom of choice for the oppressed. They should be made of firm control over themselves. Unfortunately, the tyrants would never give it unless the oppressed tried to awake.


All the injustice and oppression urged them to take vengeance against the oppressors. There was an immense desire to exchange blood for blood, wrong for wrong, or an eye for an eye. That’s why Shelley advises not to do such bad deeds when they were strong because what they had done would give bad impacts to themselves. Here, the poet expresses clearly his ideas of a peaceful reformation. He thinks that taking violence is not the best method to achieve the ends of reform. If they used force, they just would be the same as the oppressors because the oppressors also used violent actions. Besides, taking vengeance would only aggravate the chaotic situation and lead to more problems.


In stanza LII “Freedom” was questioned. Shelley wonders if the slaves could know really how important the demand of the freedom was. Through Earth’s rhetorical discourse, in this case England’s, Shelley is also trying to define the importance and the significance of freedom for the oppressed.


For the labourers, Freedom was something expected so much. Freedom was a basic need just like “clothes, fire and food.” The trampled people really needed it. For them all, all of those were things of great importance for their survival. But unfortunately, they did not have anything. Had freedom existed in England, they would not have suffered from famine.


For the wealthy, on the contrary, Freedom was a restraint because it hindered them from trampling down and from treating the poor on their wills. The tyrants often ill-treated the multitude that Freedom was needed to set them free from the despotism. In other word, if Freedom had existed, the condition would have been otherwise. Freedom whould become a danger for the tyrants like stepping upon a snake, an animal representing hideous danger.


Freedom also means Justice, Wisdom, and Peace for them. All of these mean the righteous laws enforcement, the freedom to choice religion, and the love of each other among them.
The oppression of the tyrants weakened their spirit of struggle against the injustice. Suffering which was the result of their ill-treatment is symbolized by the outpouring of Englishmen’s toil and blood. If the flood of blood and hard work is compared to water, it would not extinguish Liberty because it only dimmed it. Liberty is another designation for Freedom. Both require the condition of being free from captivity, slavery, and despotic control and government.


“Science, Poetry and Thought” became the lamps that lighted all people’s visions and made them so calm although they lived in cots. Those three things had taught prudence and had given enlightenment.


Freedom could be realized with Spirit, Patience and Gentleness. Spirit meant having hope and strong enthusiasm to fight against all kinds of injustice and oppression, whereas Patience meant that their struggle should not be carried out in haste, but it did not mean that they acted slowly and sluggishly. Apparently, Shelley had a strong belief in the power of spirit. Lastly, in spite of raking violent actions which would ruin themselves, Gentleness would lead them to fight fairly. Those three key words explain that Shelley’s concept of reform was not extreme and his methods were not hatred, violence, and vengeance. The most important thing was that words and speeches were not enough. Real actions had to be taken, such as assembling the multitude of the fearless and of the free throughout England to demand the amelioration of the condition.


Then, Shelley invites all Englishmen who were grounded to tyranny to lay unity as a base of their fight because the condition could not be tolerated anymore. The tyrants trampled upon their rights and lives. To get Freedom, the struggle had to be carried our together from the utmost corners of the bounds of English coast, from huts, villages until towns where many people who lived and suffered from Anarchy groaning both for others’ sufferings and their own ones.
In the last three stanzas, Shelley was more emphatically persuades the “Men of England” to fight against the injustice and oppression. The slaughter to the Nation (English), that is, the tragic incident of St. Peterloo should steam up like inspiration. The exuberance of the spirit of fighting against injustice was expressed in eloquent and oracular persuasive appeals which were as if the roar of a volcano had been faintly heard from a distance.


Then the words should ring through each heart and brain of the Englishmen. They should be heard again and again and gradually permeated through the soul until the oppression was thundered doom and injustice was completely abolished from England.


Finally, Shelley concludes the poem with a refrain. The messages conveyed are the same. The refrain here is intended by Shelley for achieving more emphasis in a particular part, in this case the appeals addressed to the oppressed Englishmen to awake and to fight against the social injustice and oppression and to regain what they deserved. Refrain is a line, or a part of a line, or a group of lines which is repeated in the course of the poem, sometimes with slight changes, and usually at the end of each stanza (Abrams, 1971: 143). The last stanza of The Mask of Anarchy is an example of a refrain repeating a group of lines with a very slight change. This particular stanza is a kind of peroration which is the conclusion of an oration in which the speaker attempts to enforce his ideas and appeals the emotions of the audience, in this case the Men of England.


C. Conclusion
In The Mask of Anarchy Shelley expresses his strong disgust at the ill-treatment of the tyrants to the Men of England. His ideas and feelings poured out through poetry were influenced by his bitter experience of life. His concepts, indeed, were thoroughly inculcated that it is difficult to separate them from his process of emotional and imaginative expressions. His abhorrence of social injustice and oppression had actually existed long before he produced his first work, that is, the time when he was passing his distressing boyhood – he was often baited by his friends – at school. These ideas more deeply rooted as he was confronted with many conflicts with his society, such as the opinion of the people of his time judging that his ideas were too advanced and idiosyncratic, and their repel to his concepts. He regarded this situation as a state of social injustice and oppression and thought that the prevailing social institutions only robbed freedom. The disappointment brought about his alienation from his society.


This idea was cultivated by the bad condition in all aspects of life in Great Britain at that time. That is why it is not surprising that he still had a great sympathy for the working classes, although he had been considered as an outcast. He deemed that the sufferings of the common people were basically proceeded from the conflicts between classes, for example the conflicts between the have and the have not, between the employers and the employees, and the dispute among the parties. He thought that the lower classes deserved something better than they had ever got. He was convinced that if only the rich were willing to share some of their wealth, the poor would not have suffered from starvation. According to him, the condition was just the same as slavery. The workers were forced to work with toil but were not given their rights, such as the overtime pay for overtime work. The tyrants did not only exploit the male workers, but also the children and the women. To maintain their position, the wealthy often oppressed the lower classes. Shelley also believed that the corrupt administration and the abused laws aggravated such a miserable condition. In short, he regarded the absence of the fulfillment of the human rights and the discrimination of status as social injustice, and considered the exploitation of toil and of others’ wills as forms of oppression.
Through this particular poem, Shelley is trying to show his greater concern and sympathy for the oppressed by urging them to be awake and appealing them for fighting against the social injustice and oppression which shackled them. However strong his detestation to this condition was, Shelley thought that a pacific reformation was the better means of amelioration than a violent revolution. He believed that the attainment of the goals was also determined by the method used. He conceived that violence would only lead to anarchy and a new form of despotism. He suggested the unity and the solemnity as the means of their struggle. If they used hatred and vengeance, it meant that they used the same methods that the tyrants did.


Shelley was really not afraid of expressing his ideas and feelings. He was very ideal in his concepts. He thought that people could form an ideal type of society, that is, a society with a just administration and equality, but forgot that not all of them were brave enough to oppose the injustice and the oppression acted by the depraved power-holders. Despite the mistake, some of his ideas had been gradually realized in the course of time, such as the English Parliamentary Reform in 1832 and the establishment of labour organization aiming at protecting the workers.


In conclusion, The Mask of Anarchy reflects Shelley’s concepts of social injustice and oppression and contains his appeal to resist them both.