SOURCE: Sperry, Stuart M. “The Ethical Politics of Shelley's The Cenci.” Studies in Romanticism 25, no. 3 (fall 1986): 411-27.

In the following essay, Sperry considers the moral dilemma inherent in Beatrice's decision to seek violent revenge.

I

Politics begins in the family, as Shelley well knew and as the title of The Cenci reminds us. Begun in Rome in May of 1819, the drama has intellectual and emotional roots that extend far back into the poet's career. As early as May 1811, we find him carrying on an argument with his friend, Thomas Jefferson Hogg, as to the reconcilability of law with private judgment and of politics with morality. Hogg's assertion, “that it is a duty to comply with the established laws of yr. country,” is one the poet flatly denies. “Have you forgotten it,” Shelley begins his letter, flaunting the aristocratic blazon of noblesse oblige, “have you forgotten that ‘laws were...