FALSE HERMAPHRODITE IN P. B. SHELLEY'S ALASTOR, OR THE SPIRIT OF SOLITUDE

Abstract

Defined as the union of the most striking opposites and associated with Platonic perfection, the term hermaphrodite has a fondness for elevated places. The constellation of the hermaphrodite through the union of the male subject and the female object is a recurrent motif in Percy Bysshe Shelley's poems. Such a hermaphrodite in Shelley's repository usually leads to a sort of Platonic perfection in a paradisiacal realm or Elysium. The hermaphrodite in Shelley's Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude, though constellated, does not lead to such a Platonic perfection but a purgatorial state for the visionary Poet as the Shelleyan hero. Focusing on the first part of the poem and using the concept of the hermaphrodite, this article strives to bring under scrutiny the destruction of Shelley's hero and his fall into the depth of a purgatorial state when the hermaphrodite is broken apart leading to the release of its either aggressive male or poisonous female energies which results in the transformation of the hero to a worm-like phallus at the end of the poem.