Verezzi, after hearing of Julia’s supposed death, dies within his own spirit; his “approaching dissolution” comes slowly for him, “for he wait[s] with impatience for the arrival of death” (108).
Verezzi recalls a conversation he had with Julia; “she expressed an idea, that a union in this life might endure to all eternity; and that the chosen of his heart on earth, might, by congeniality of sentiment, be united in heaven.” For Julia, then, a dead body is not an obstacle for enduring love; even when the physical has passed, she believes their love can live on in their spirits, which she holds will live on in heaven (126).
Zastrozzi tells Matilda not to fear death because “fate wills us to die”; Zastrozzi “intend[s] to meet death, to encounter annihilation, with tranquility.” Zastrozzi is “convinced of the non-existence of a Deity” and “convinced that death will […] render [his] soul more free, more unfettered.” He sees no need for anyone “to shudder at death,” and holds that such fear is based upon “the errors of a false and injurious superstition” (153).
Zastrozzi is happy to die; he says that all he has “to do on earth is completed”; Zastrozzi is implying that there is activity to be completed elsewhere (156).
Shelley, Percy B. Zastrozzi and St. Irvyne. Ed. Stephen C. Behrendt.
