Peter Bell the Third

Quiz: Peter Bell the Third by Percy Bysshe Shelley

1. Recall – Form & Structure: How many sections does Peter Bell the Third contain, and what is the overall structural conceit that Shelley uses to frame the poem as a "third" version of Peter Bell?

1. Recall – Historical Context: In what year was Peter Bell the Third written, and what notorious political event of that same year shadows the poem's final sections?

1. Recall – Key Image: How is the Devil portrayed in the poem, and what does this unconventional portrayal suggest about the nature of evil according to Shelley?

1. Recall – Key Image: What real-world city does Shelley use as his image of Hell, and what kinds of figures populate this hellish landscape?

1. Comprehension – Character: What is identified as Peter Bell's central flaw, and why does Shelley consider this quality more dangerous than straightforward wickedness?

1. Comprehension – Biographical Context: What government post had Wordsworth accepted by the time Shelley wrote this poem, and why did Shelley and his radical contemporaries view this as a moral betrayal?

1. Comprehension – Symbol: What does the symbol of "dullness" represent thematically in the poem, beyond being a simple personality trait?

1. Analysis – Theme: How does Peter Bell's navigation of aristocratic and literary circles function as a critique of the relationship between artistic ambition and social corruption?

1. Analysis – Symbol: Shelley references Wordsworth's own Thanksgiving Ode, specifically the idea of Carnage as an instrument of God, as his most damning piece of evidence. What does Shelley argue this moment reveals about Wordsworth's moral trajectory?

1. Analysis – Tone: How does Shelley balance genuine political outrage with comic wit throughout the poem, and what effect does this combination have on the poem's satirical impact?

Answer Key

1. The poem is divided into seven sections. The structural conceit presents it as a "third" Peter Bell, following Wordsworth's original poem and John Hamilton Reynolds's parody. Shelley playfully positions his version as one more installment in an ongoing series.

1. It was written in 1819, the same year as the Peterloo Massacre, where government cavalry charged a peaceful crowd of reform protesters in Manchester, resulting in at least fifteen deaths.

1. The Devil is portrayed as a stylish, mundane London gentleman rather than a fire-and-brimstone figure. This suggests that evil is not dramatic or otherworldly but embedded in everyday respectability and comfortable social life.

1. Hell is depicted as resembling modern-day London, populated by lawyers, spies, priests, and politicians—figures Shelley associates with oppression, corruption, and complicity with unjust power.

1. Peter's central flaw is dullness—a complete numbness to moral and imaginative feeling. Shelley considers it more dangerous than outright evil because a dull person can be easily manipulated by those in power and unwittingly becomes their instrument.

1. Wordsworth had accepted a government post as Distributor of Stamps. For Shelley and fellow radicals, this represented an unforgivable surrender of his former revolutionary ideals to the very establishment he had once opposed.

1. Dullness represents a moral failing and a political threat: a person lacking imagination and authentic emotion cannot resist or challenge power, thereby becoming complicit in oppression without recognizing it.

1. The "grace" Peter receives from aristocratic and literary patronage is framed not as a reward but as a form of corruption—worldly success comes at the price of authentic emotion and political courage, illustrating how ambition and the desire for social acceptance can hollow out an artist's integrity.

1. Shelley argues that this moment proves Wordsworth has not merely gone silent on radical causes but has actively endorsed state violence, representing the complete inversion of his earlier values and proving his moral downfall.

1. Shelley uses mock-scholarly apparatus, comic characterisation (such as the gentlemanly Devil), and satirical set pieces (Hell as a London city guide) to keep the poem entertaining, preventing it from becoming a rant. The wit makes the underlying anger more penetrating—readers are drawn in by the humour and confronted with serious moral and political charges beneath it.