Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Alastor and Female ‘Other’

Percy Bysshe Shelley's Alastor, well known for its complex narrative structure and ambiguous aspects, has been also criticized for its oriental aspect of the nineteenth-century European Romanticism. Focusing on the story of the Arab Maiden in the poem, this article analyzes how orientalism and gender are intertwined in the poem, how the influence of classics such as the myth of Echo can be found, and how Mary Shelley, who is contemporary of the male poet, can be compared in historical and cultural contexts.