Physical Death 2

The necessity of physical help can prevent physical death; Zastrozzi tells Ugo he “deserve[s] instant death,” but lets him live because his “life is at present necessary to me” (72).

Physical death mirrors spiritual death; “Verezzi lay, as if dead […] his sunken and inexpressive eye almost declared that his spirit was fled” (95).

Physical life can rely on the physical life of another; “perhaps, all [Matilda] hold[s] dear on earth will be dead; with him, every hope, every wish, every tie which binds me to earth” (96).

Shelley, Percy B. Zastrozzi and St. Irvyne. Ed. Stephen C. Behrendt. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press Ltd., 2000.