Jobian Suffering in Shelley’s The Cenci

While many readers of Percy Shelley’s The Cenci have justly considered the work’s Promethean themes, this essay examines the drama in relation to another figure of suffering—that of Job. The Cenci’s thematic development and imagery make apparent its affinities with the biblical text. Moreover, the play introduces an important moral complication to the scriptural scheme by casting several characters as Jobian variants, or types. For Shelley, who, himself, identifies with Job, the Jobian influence deepens the work’s testing of the questions of innocence and the role of the father.