Zastrozzi: A Romance is a Gothic novel by Percy Bysshe Shelley first published in 1810 in London by George Wilkie and John Robinson anonymously, with only the initials of the author's name, as "by P.B.S.". The first of Shelley's two early Gothic novellas, the other being St. Irvyne, outlines his atheistic worldview through the villain Zastrozzi and touches upon his earliest thoughts on irresponsible self-indulgence and violent revenge. An 1810 reviewer wrote that the main character "Zastrozzi is one of the most savage and improbable demons that ever issued from a diseased brain". Shelley wrote Zastrozzi at the age of seventeen while attending his last year at Eton College, though it was not published until later in 1810 while he was attending University College, Oxford. The novella was Shelley's first published prose work. In 1986, the novel was released as part of the Oxford World's Classics series by Oxford University. Nicole Berry translated the novel in a French edition in 1999. A German translation by Manfred Pfister was published in 2007. Major characters Pietro Zastrozzi, an outlaw who seeks revenge against Verezzi, his half-brother Verezzi, Il Conte, imprisoned by Zastrozzi Julia, La Marchesa de Strobazzo, intended wife of Verezzi Matilda, the Contessa di Laurentini, seduces Verezzi in plan devised by Zastrozzi Bernardo, servant to Zastrozzi Ugo, servant to Zastrozzi Ferdinand Zeilnitz, servant to Matilda Bianca, servant to Zastrozzi Claudine, old woman in Passau, shelters Verezzi The Monk The Inquisitor The Superior, a judge Epigraph The epigraph on the title page of the novel is from Paradise Lost (1667) by John Milton, Book II, 368–371: —That their God May prove their foe, and with repenting hand Abolish his own works—This would surpass Common revenge. – Paradise Lost. Plot Pietro Zastrozzi, an outlaw, and his two servants, Bernardo and Ugo, disguised in masks, abduct Verezzi from the inn near Munich where he lives and take him to a cavern hideout. Verezzi is locked in a room with an iron door. Chains are placed around his waist and limbs and he is attached to the wall. Verezzi is able to escape and to flee his abductors, running away to Passau in Lower Bavaria. Claudine, an elderly woman, allows Verezzi to stay at her cottage. Verezzi saves Matilda from jumping off of a bridge. She befriends him. Matilda seeks to persuade Verezzi to marry her. Verezzi, however, is in love with Julia. Matilda provides