Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was born on August 30, 1797 in London, England. She was the daughter of philosopher and writer William Godwin and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. Her mother died shortly after her birth She did not have a formal education, but made use of her father’s extensive library.
She also had the opportunity to meet many famous writer friends of her father like Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. In 1814 she started a relationship with Percy Bysshe Shelley. He was a student of her father’s but soon put all his attention towards Mary. ( She was 17 years old)
The bad thing about Percy was that he was already married! But, he wanted to be with Mary so bad that he ran off with her to England that same year. Mary and Percy travelled around Europe where they struggled financially. In 1815 they lost their first child, a baby girl who only survived a few days (She was 18)
Shortly after the death of their first baby, Shelley recorded a dream that may or may not have had an influence on Frankenstein: "Dream that my little baby came to life again-- that it had only been cold & that we rubbed it before the fire & it lived."
The next summer Mary and Percy travelled to Switzerland with Mary’s stepsister Jane, Lord Byron, and John Polidori. One rainy day, they kept themselves busy by reading a book of ghost stories. Lord Byron then suggested they all try to write their own horror stories. That is how Frankenstein began.
Later that year Mary’s half sister committed suicide. Not long after that Percy’s wife committed suicide as well. Percy and Mary finally married in December of (She was 19) In 1818 Frankenstein was published under an anonymous author and was a success.
While Mary was devoted to her husband their lives were not easy. Their marriage was riddled with adultery and heartache, including the death of two more children. Only one son lived to adulthood. Her life was rocked by another tragedy when her husband drowned in 1822 while he was sailing with a friend. She was a widow at 24.
Mary Shelley worked hard to support herself and her son. She wrote more novels and also promoted her late husband’s work. Mary Shelley died of brain cancer on February 1, 1851, at the age of 53.
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