Mary Shelley was a successful English novelist in the Romantic period. Although best known for Frankenstein, she also effectively promoted her late husband’s poetry, earning him the recognition he deserved. Shelley was at the forefront of the campaign to earn women writers recognition and ultimately, if posthumously, achieved notoriety for her work.
Mary Shelley was born to philosopher and novelist William Godwin and radical feminist Mary Wollstonecraft on August 30th, 1797 in London, England. Her mother died in childbirth, leaving Godwin to bring her up on his own. Mary, as a result, had anything but an orthodox childhood.
As a child, Mary excelled in her studies and proved highly intelligent from an early age. However, she rejected feminine pursuits, which did little to please her stepmother, Mary Jane Clairmont. Young Mary’s rebellion and impertinence frequently got her into trouble.
Her ability as a writer was evident from an early age. In fact, Mary first published a poem at the age of ten. However, it was not her literary ability that initially bought her fame, but rather owing to her involvement in one of the major scandals of the era.
Percy Bysshe Shelley, a close friend of Mary’s father, began spending much if his time at the Godwin house and made an immediate connection with the teenage Mary. They were soon inseparable, which caused Godwin to bar Shelley from his house. However, undeterred, the couple eloped when Mary was 16.
Unfortunately for both Shelley and Mary, he was still married and his wife was expecting their second child. Both were ostracised by British society, and Mary’s father disowned her. Instead of returning to Britain, they travelled Europe and married in December 1816 after Shelley’s wife, Harriet, committed suicide by drowning herself.
Before their marriage, Mary had given birth to an illegitimate child, a daughter. A son, William was born shortly after their marriage. Neither child survived beyond infancy, the daughter dying in 1818 and 1819. She also suffered another miscarriage before giving birth to Percy Florence, her one and only surviving child.
Mary, suffering from depression in the wake of her tumultuous early years, began furiously writing. In 1817, the Shelleys documented their years together in History of Six Weeks’ Tour. However, it was the novel that she finished the same year that catapulted her to enduring fame.
Whilst staying with friends in June 1816, Lord Byron challenged everybody to write a ghost or horror story. It was only when Mary had what she described as a ‘waking nightmare’ that Frankenstein was conceived. She had finished writing it by the end of 1817 and it was published in January the following year.
Frankenstein, a horror story that investigates what happens when one man plays God and creates his own almost sympathetic monster, was met with a mixed reception. Critics branded it a failure, but its wider audience loved it. The book has never been out of print and has been popular with generation after generation.
Following the publication of Frankenstein, the Shelleys moved to Italy. Mary’s life was once again turned upside down in 1822 when her beloved husband drowned in a shipwreck in the Bay of Spezia. She was forced to return to England with her son because of a lack of funds, but was determined to survive for Percy Florence.
Once again, Mary threw herself into writing, this time as a means of survival. None of her later novels enjoyed the success of Frankenstein, but brought in enough to put food on the table. However, she was never fully accepted back into British society, and often found herself isolated.
Mary’s later writings covered many very different issues. Valperga (1823) and The Last Man (1826) both depicted the end of human civilisation, but Lodore (1835) and Faulkner (1837) were both romances. Another novel, Mathilde (1819) was unfinished but published in 1959. It drew on her own past experiences and the relationships she shared with her father and her husband.
Towards the end of her life, Mary abandoned writing novels in favour of writing short stories for periodicals like The Keepsake and also published a travelogue, Rambles in Germany and Italy in 1844. She also pushed for and succeeded in getting her husband’s collective works published in 1839. However, her health began to deteriorate and severely disabled and unable to write by the age of 48.
Mary Shelley died of a brain tumour on February 1st, 1851 in London. She was aged 53.
