The Last Man · Chapter
II explained
Lionel Verney recounts the transformative beginning of his friendship with Adrian, who seeks to educate and elevate him.
What happens
Lionel Verney recounts the transformative beginning of his friendship with Adrian, who seeks to educate and elevate him. Adrian's love for Evadne Zaimi is revealed, along with the imbalance in their affections and the secret correspondence maintained during his exile in Cumberland.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Sacrifice
Adrian's all-consuming love for Evadne and his willingness to obey her commands, even at the cost of his own happiness.
Ambition and Power
The Ex-Queen's ambition to control Adrian's political and personal life, and her use of praise and censure to shape his disposition.
Isolation and Solitude
Adrian's year of exile in Cumberland, separated from Evadne, and Lionel's earlier life as a 'vagabond shepherd' isolated from society.
Characters to notice
- Lionel Verney
Describes his emotional and moral transformation under Adrian's influence, feeling reborn and beginning to value knowledge and humanity.
- Adrian
Shown as a generous, loving friend who seeks to educate Lionel and is deeply in love with Evadne, though his passion is not fully reciprocated.
- Evadne Zaimi
Revealed as the object of Adrian's love; her letters show kindness and gratitude but lack the passion Adrian feels, and she is older and more prudent.
- The Countess
Adrian's mother, the Ex-Queen, who schemes to control her son, dislikes Lionel's father, and attempts to separate Adrian from Evadne.
- Clara
Mentioned as Adrian's 'fairy sister,' a lovely and animated twelve-year-old girl.
Key passages
“I was as a child lisping its devotions after its mother, and my plastic soul was remoulded by a master hand, which I neither desired nor was able to resist.”
Lionel feels like a child learning from a mother, his soul reshaped by Adrian's influence, which he cannot resist.
Describes Lionel's complete emotional and moral transformation under Adrian's guidance.
“His soul seemed to distil itself into the words he wrote; and they breathed on the paper, bearing with them a portion of the life of love, which was his life.”
Adrian's letters to Evadne are so passionate that his very soul seems to pour into them, carrying his life's love.
Highlights the intensity and sincerity of Adrian's love compared to Evadne's more restrained letters.
“If his heart had slept but a few years longer, he might have been saved; but it awoke in its infancy; it had power, but no knowledge; and it was ruined, even as a too early-blowing bud is nipt by the killing frost.”
If Adrian had loved later in life, he might have been spared pain; but his heart awakened too early, powerful yet naive, and was destroyed like a bud killed by frost.
Foreshadows the tragic outcome of Adrian's premature love for Evadne.