Mary Shelley ( ) An introduction to the woman who created the ultimate monster.

Mary Shelley  By nineteen, Mary Shelley had written one of the most famous novels ever published:  Frankenstein tells the story of a scientist who learns how to reanimate life -- but forgets to consider the consequences.

Shelley’s Work  Nearly 200 years later, her work still inspires stage, film, video, and television productions  Wrote  Six other novels  A novella  Mythological dramas  Short stories and articles  Travel books  Biographical studies

Shelley’s Parents Shelley’s Parents "We cannot, without depraving our minds, endeavour to please a lover or husband, but in proportion as he pleases us.” - Mary Wollstonecraft  Born to two great intellectuals rebels (feminists and philosophers) of the 1790’s  Mother: Mary Wollstonecraft -- author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)  Father: William Godwin -- author of An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793)

Childhood  Eleven days after giving birth, Shelley’s mother passed away from puerperal fever  Shelley was left with her mother’s legacy: a pioneer for reform of women’s rights which resulted in her being deemed an “unsex’d female”  Godwin raised Shelley and her half sister Fanny to follow in his and Wollstonecraft’s footsteps

Childhood (cont.)  Godwin remarried in 1801 to Mary Jane Clairmont  Clairmont was jealous of Shelley’s intense relationship with her father, and was also jealous of the amount attention that Shelley got from visitors because she was the product of two such radical minds  Clairmont made Shelley do household chores, encroached on her privacy, and limited her access to Godwin

Childhood (cont.)  Clairmont did not encourage Shelley’s intellectual development or love of reading  Fortunately, Shelley had access to her father’s library, and at her father’s suggestion, was always reading two or three books simultaneously  Shelley also listened in on literary conversations between Godwin and visitors like William Wordsworth, Charles Lamb, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Thomas Holcroft, etc.

Childhood (cont.)  Shelley’s favorite pastime was to “write stories”  At age 11 she was published (a 39-quatrain reworking of a five stanza song)  It became very popular and was republished in 1830

Meeting Percy Shelley  Met Percy Bysshe Shelley and his wife Harriet Westbrook Shelley in 1812  Percy was also a brilliant published writer  Believed that the greatest justice done was done when he who possessed wealth gave it to those who needed it most  Supported Godwin financially

Falling for Percy Shelley  Percy Shelley grew tired of his wife Harriet and fell for Mary Shelley  Godwin forbade them from seeing each other  Percy Shelley attempted suicide  Mary, convinced of his love, fled to France with him in 1814

Adulthood  Mary and Percy have four children (only one survives to adulthood)  First child is born prematurely and dies 11 days later in 1815  William, born in 1816, dies of malaria in 1819  Clara Everina, born in 1817, dies in 1818 of dysentery  Percy Florence, born in 1819, died in 1889  In 1822, Mary miscarried her 5th pregnancy and almost lost her life

Preoccupied with Death  From 1816 onward, dealt with the suicides of Fanny Godwin (Shelley’s half sister) and Harriet Shelley  I have long determined that the best thing I could do was to put an end to the existence of a being whose birth was unfortunate, and whose life has only been a series of pain to those persons who have hurt their health in endeavoring to promote her welfare.Perhaps to hear of my death will give you pain, but you will soon have the blessing of forgetting that such a creature ever existed as...Fanny Godwin  Dealt with death of her own children  This preoccupation with death seen in her work (Frankenstein)

Dreaming up Frankenstein  In 1815, after death of first child, dreamt the following:  "Dream that my little baby came to life again--that it had only been cold & that we rubbed it before the fire & it lived."  Anxieties about motherhood may have inspired her to write the tale of a scientist who succeeds in creating a being through unnatural methods

Concocting Frankenstein  On a rainy evening in 1816, Shelley and friends read from Fantasmagoriana, a French translation of a German collection of ghost stories  Lord Byron suggested they each write a horror story  Mary wanted to think of a story "which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature and awake thrilling horror--one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart.”

Frankenstein  Finished in May 1817, published in March 1818  Frankenstein refers to the mad scientist, not the monster  But the scientist and the monster are not too far from one another in likeness

Adulthood (cont.)  Mary deals with depression in 1819 due to losing two children in 9 months time  It is the focus of much of her work  In 1822 she suffers the loss of her husband Percy through death by drowning  Ironically he dies a month after saving her from her miscarriage  Percy’s death left Mary with “fierce remorse” and guilt  Mary had thought it Percy’s fault when Clara passed away  Became withdrawn and depressed after William’s death  Percy sought out other women and had affairs with them  His death left things unfinished between them

“Mary Shelley shall be written on my tomb.”  Mary committed herself to immortalizing her husband through writing his biography  She did not remarry, but was rumored to have had various affairs  She devoted the remainder of her life caring for her only surviving child Percy Florence   "Well here is my story - the last story I shall have to tell - all that might have been bright in my life is now despoiled - I shall live to improve myself, to take care of my child, & render myself worthy to join him. Soon my weary pilgrimage will begin - I rest now - but soon I must leave Italy -".  She died at the age of 53 of a brain tumor and was buried with her parents