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“The Trope of ‘Ruins’ and the Problem of Narration in Shelley’s Queen Mab.” Studies on English Language & Literature. 38.3 (2012): 65-84. In Queen Mab, Shelley makes a sharp critique of contemporary society through the trope of ‘ruins.’ By drawing the reader’s attention to places of past civilizations, where numerous monuments of once powerful rulers have turned into ruins, Shelley predicts the future of the oppressive powers of his time, criticizing the English government and monarchy. The trope of ruins is also extended to the realm of discourse. Still focusing on the trope, Shelley also directs a poignant critique towards the way the ruling classes circulate lying words and use them ideologically for their purposes. Shelley indicts the institution of the Christian religion as one that oppresses people with empty words about God, Hell, and Heaven. Interestingly, however, Shelley’s indictment of the oppressive powers of the contemporary society through Queen Mab, is undermined by other narrators in the poem, especially by Ahasuerus, a phantom figure Queen Mab calls out. Ahasuerus’s statements, which are a curious mixture of strong social protest, passivism and self-indulging narcissism, seriously weaken the validity of Queen Mab’s statements. This also threatens the poet’s statements of social protest in that Queen Mab is just a mouthpiece of the poet. Ultimately, this conflict between radical social criticism and its passivism never seems to be resolved in the poem. (Hannam University)