1. Shelley’s Frankenstein and the Romantic Period A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

2. Mary Shelley Mary Shelley was born on August 30, 1797, in Britain to Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin. Wollstonecraft died in childbirth, and Mary was raised by her father and a much-resented stepmother.

3. Mary Wollstonecraft Mary’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was one of the first feminists and focused on the oppression of women. Her most famous work is A Vindication of the Rights of Women.

4. William Godwin Mary’s father, William Godwin, was a free thinker. He believed a person should not be restricted by any form of government or by another person.

5. Young Mary A voracious reader, Mary made good use of her father’s extensive library. She inherited her parents’ love of writing but her essays were meant for a limited audience. Understandably, she was influenced by the numerous famous writers who were invited to their home.

6. Percy Bysse Shelley When Mary was 16, she met poet Percy Bysse Shelley, a devoted fan of Godwin’s writings. Although Percy was already married, he and Mary ran off to the Continent.

7. The Competition In 1816, Mary and Percy spent time with poet Lord Byron and writer John Polidori. Byron suggested that they should all write a ghost story. In theory, the competition was open to all four writers, but in reality it was to see which of the two rival poets (Byron or Percy) were the better writer.

8. Monsters Mary wrote Frankenstein and Polidori wrote The Vampyre, both of which are more famous than the stories Byron and Percy wrote. The Vampyre influenced many later writers, including Bram Stoker. John Polidori

9. Tragedy Strikes Feb. 1815—Mary prematurely gave birth to a daughter who died the next month. Nov. 1816—Mary’s half-sister, Fannie, committed suicide. Dec. 1816—Percy’s wife drowned herself. 1817—A daughter, Clara, was born but she died in September 1818. June 1819—A son, William, died.

10. Some Good News In November 1819, Mary gave birth to a son, Percy, while living in Italy. He would be the only Shelley child to survive to adulthood. During this time, Mary continued to write and began a new novel, Valperga.

11. More Bad News On July 8, 1822, Percy drowned at sea in a boating accident off the coast of Italy. His body washed ashore several days later. Mary was a widow at 25 years of age.

12. Mary’s New Endeavor Mary became the keeper of Percy’s fame and was editor of his works. In 1824, she published Posthumous Poems to support herself and her son.

13. The Golden Years In 1841, Mary’s son, Percy, graduated from Trinity College and asked her to accompany him on a tour of Europe. When Percy married in 1848, Mary lived with them in London until her death on February 1, 1851.

14. Mary Shelley’s Works Frankenstein (1818) Valperga (1822) The Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca (1825) The Last Man (1826) The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck (1830) Lodore (1835) Falkner (1837) Rambles in Germany and Italy (1844)

15. Romantic Period The Romantic movement began in Germany with Johann von Goethe. Goethe’s play Faust addresses the issue of how man can acquire too much knowledge and how it could lead to his downfall.

16. Romantic Writers nature human feelings compassion for mankind freedom of the individual and Romantic hero rebellion against society rural and rustic life vs. modern life far away places and traveling there medieval folklore and legends the common people Romantic writers were concerned with:

17. Gothic Novels Gothic novels focus on the supernatural and mysterious. They take place in gloomy places. They often include psychic communication between characters. Ghost stories are a type of gothic story.

18. Frame Stories Shelley wrote Frankenstein as a frame story. It starts and ends with a series of letters that “frame” the story.