Mary Shelley Notes

- born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin on Aug 30, 1797

       -Father = William Godwin-philosopher/novelist

       -Mother = Mary Wollstonecraft-famous feminist

-both parents were shaped by the Romantic movement

-both were radical thinkers

       -Mom had an affair with a military captain which

resulted in her first child, Fanny.  Soldier abandoned

them. Mom attempted suicide.  Later met Godwin,

had an affair.  Got pregnant again (w/ Mary) and they

married to legitimate both kids

-Mom died 10 days after Mary’s birth

-a lot of famous writers traced through their house-friends

  Of her father (Percy Shelley, Coleridge, Charles Lamb)

-Dad remarries, Mary Jane Clairmont—mean woman

       -Clairmont tried to train Mary in the “womanly arts”

but all Mary would do was read and write

-In her young teens Mary is sent to live at Ramsgate with a Miss Petman.  While there took some time off to travel to Scotland with a friend of the family

-Returned home, a woman.  Became close with her father who she reg

ularly talked Philosophy with.

-While spending time at home Mary is reintroduced to Percy Shelley (a friend/follower of her father).  Percy is married, but they still fall in love (similar intellects)

       -Father is outraged, but Shelley and Mary eventually

elope with the help of Fanny (Mary 16, Percy 21)

-Life is tough for Mary & Percy.  Short on $-living in London

       -Percy’s wife, Harriet, bares him a belated son

       -Percy’s friend falls in love with Mary

       -Mary gets pregnant-has a daughter, who dies

       -Fanny commits suicide

       -Harriet commits suicide

-Finally, Mary & Percy marry and begin traveling around

-Both are able to write and live as they please

-In the summer of 1816 (Mary 19) they go to stay in Geneva w/ Byron and Polidori

       -rainy summer

       -write ghost stories to entertain themselves (contest)

       -gets idea for Frankenstein from a conversation they

have about how life can be created.  She has a

nightmare about it and wakes up the next day to write

-Completed the novel in May 1817

-Published January 1, 1818

-Percy dies when Mary is 24 and leaves Mary to support their only surviving son

-She lives for another 29 years with people’s negative opinions of her relationship with Percy

       -has a hard time getting work

       -works as a professional writer (must also support her

father)

-Lived until the age of 54-died in 1851 of brain tumor