The Last Man · Chapter
V explained
Lionel Verney recounts the influence of a manipulative preacher in Paris who exploits fear and superstition to control a dwindling population.
What happens
Lionel Verney recounts the influence of a manipulative preacher in Paris who exploits fear and superstition to control a dwindling population. Adrian and Lionel struggle to counter his power, while Lionel attempts to rescue Juliet, a tragic young woman who has fallen under the preacher's sway. Lionel is captured and imprisoned, but Juliet ultimately frees him.
Themes in this chapter
Ambition and Power
The preacher's ambition to rule over the last survivors and be remembered as a deity drives his cruel and manipulative actions.
Isolation and Solitude
Juliet's profound isolation after losing her family and husband leads her to fall prey to the preacher's influence.
Grief and Memory
Juliet's grief over her husband's death and her parents' loss distorts her judgment and makes her vulnerable.
Fate and Free Will
Lionel's struggle against the preacher and his own earlier resignation to death highlight the tension between fate and the will to survive.
Characters to notice
- Lionel Verney
Narrator and protagonist; attempts to rescue Juliet from the preacher's influence, is captured and imprisoned, then freed by Juliet.
- Adrian
Leads the group at Versailles; meditates on how to counter the preacher's fraud; struggles to maintain order and protect his followers.
- Juliet
Young, lovely, and enthusiastic; sole relic of the ducal house of L⸺; lost her husband to the plague; joined the preacher out of fear for her child; ultimately rescues Lionel from prison.
- Idris
Lionel's wife; had loved Juliet in happier days; rescued by Juliet on the fatal twentieth of November.
- Evelyn
Five-year-old child; enlivens the house with innocent mirth; his joyous heart is incapable of sorrow.
- The Countess
Aged Countess of Windsor; has fallen from her dream of power and now devotes herself to winning Adrian's affection; becomes a powerful auxiliary to him.
- Clara
Mentioned as part of the family group; little Clara is among those at Windsor.
Key passages
“the philanthropist, who ardent in his desire to do good, who patient, reasonable and gentle, yet disdains to use other argument than truth, has less influence over men’s minds, than he who, grasping and selfish, refuses not to adopt any means, nor awaken any passion, nor diffuse any falsehood, for the advancement of his cause.”
A genuinely good person who relies only on truth has less power over people than a selfish person who uses lies and emotions to achieve his goals.
Lionel reflects on why the preacher's manipulative methods are more effective than Adrian's reasoned approach.
“There are some beings, whom fate seems to select on whom to pour, in unmeasured portion, the vials of her wrath, and whom she bathes even to the lips in misery.”
Some people seem chosen by fate to suffer an overwhelming amount of misery.
Lionel describes Juliet's tragic life, marked by the loss of her family and husband.
“My heart revolted from his hypocritical jargon: but it was unworthy of me to combat in words with the ruffian; and my answer was cool; while, far from being possessed with fear, methought, even at the worst, a man true to himself, courageous and determined, could fight his way, even from the boards of the scaffold, through the herd of these misguided maniacs.”
I despised the preacher's hypocritical talk but refused to argue with him; I remained calm, believing that a courageous man could fight his way out even from the scaffold.
Lionel's defiant attitude when confronted by the preacher before his imprisonment.
