The Masque of Anarchy

The speaker meets four figures—Murder, Fraud, Hypocrisy, and Anarchy—who represent England’s vices, according to Shelley. Murder represents the antithesis of Shelley’s core pacifist beliefs. Shelley largely connects political fraud to the government’s insincere interests in protecting and caring for the common people. Shelley sharply criticizes many facets of English society when he describes Hypocrisy as a figure who disguises himself among the religious order and those enforcing the law (Stanza 7). The final figure, Anarchy, embodies Shelley’s belief that England was then ruled unjustly and illegitimately through violence and oppression.

While he mostly criticizes the powerful ruling class, he does see these as universal vices that all can fall to, especially murder and anarchy. The common people fall for the four figures’ disguises and commit murderous violence across England. When Anarchy arrives in London, people chant and cheer for him as if he were a ruler. For Shelley, no matter the oppression, violence was not the way toward reform and revolution, a belief likely influenced by the failure of the French Revolution and Napoleon’s rule. Yet individuals can overcome these vices by instead protesting peacefully for the ideal England Shelley envisions.