SOURCE: Hall, Jean. “The Socialized Imagination: Shelley's The Cenci and Prometheus Unbound.” Studies in Romanticism 23, no. 3 (fall 1984): 339-50.

In the following essay, Hall analyzes the relationship between The Cenci and Prometheus Unbound, specifically focusing on themes of imagination and social reality in the works.

The Cenci was written during an interlude between Shelley's creation of the first three acts of Prometheus Unbound and the last. Obviously these plays stand in opposition to each other: the poet describes Prometheus Unbound as a “Lyrical Drama” employing imagery drawn from “the operations of the human mind” and designed to encourage “beautiful idealisms of moral excellence”; on the other hand, The Cenci is a tragedy featuring imagery adapted to “the illustration of strong feeling” and depicting “sad reality.”¹ Prometheus Unbound appears to be the drama of the human imagination and its poetries, whereas The Cenci charts the course of social actuality. I...