Mary Shelley Biography
By: Emily Romanow
Mary Shelley (also known as Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin) was born in London, England on August 30, 1797. Her father was a journalist
philosopher, and novelist, who taught and encouraged her to write, and her mother, who died 11 days after Mary's birth, was a feminist philosopher. Shelley's father remarried, Mary Jane Claremont, and her and Shelley did not get along at all. She had a half sister who was four years older, named Fanny Imlay. She was very educated as she had access to her father's library and she had a daily tutor. Her father described her as "singularly bold, somewhat imperious, and active of mind. Her desire of knowledge is great, and her perseverance in everything she undertakes almost invincible". Shelley was also a very big advocate of women's rights and she was a firm feminist.
When she was 17 years old, she had an affair with Percy Bysshe Shelley, who later became Mary's husband. At the time of the affair, Mary's father attempted to end the relationship, but they ran away to Paris. When Mary became pregnant with Percy's child, her father refused to help her. In 1816, Mary, Percy, and Mary's half sister Claire Clairmont escaped to Geneva to spend the summer with Lord Byron. Due to bad weather, they were restrained to the house, and they spent their time reading ghost stories and talking about galvanism (production of electricity by chemicals). Shelley got the idea of her novel here, as Lord Byron created a competition of who could write the best horror story. This is where Shelley wrote the first draft of her most famous novel, Frankenstein.
The idea of the novel came out of one of Mary Shelley's dreams. She dreamed about "a student putting together parts of a man's body and working through a big engine to animate it". Also her husband pushed for her to write it as a complete novel, because at first she wrote it only as a short story. The book was also said to be "inspired by the electrical experiments conducted on dead and living animals by the italian physicist Giovanni Aldini".
When she was 21 years old, Shelley anonymously released her novel, Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus. At first, the novel was thought to be written by her husband because of the dedication to William Godwin, his political hero, but she was established as the author of the novel in its second edition five years later. Frankenstein was by far Shelley's most successful novel during her career.
Mary Shelley's relationship with her husband was always an interesting part of her life. They lived having multiple affairs throughout their marriage and they had many kids that died at early ages. But at 24, her husband died, and she became a widow, left to look after her only son.
In the later years of her life, Shelley spent most of her time writing and publishing novels such as Perkin Warbeck (1830),
Lodore (1835), Falkner (1837). Shelley then died February 1, 1851 due to a brain tumor.
Citation:
By: Emily Romanow
Mary Shelley (also known as Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin) was born in London, England on August 30, 1797. Her father was a journalist
philosopher, and novelist, who taught and encouraged her to write, and her mother, who died 11 days after Mary's birth, was a feminist philosopher. Shelley's father remarried, Mary Jane Claremont, and her and Shelley did not get along at all. She had a half sister who was four years older, named Fanny Imlay. She was very educated as she had access to her father's library and she had a daily tutor. Her father described her as "singularly bold, somewhat imperious, and active of mind. Her desire of knowledge is great, and her perseverance in everything she undertakes almost invincible". Shelley was also a very big advocate of women's rights and she was a firm feminist.
When she was 17 years old, she had an affair with Percy Bysshe Shelley, who later became Mary's husband. At the time of the affair, Mary's father attempted to end the relationship, but they ran away to Paris. When Mary became pregnant with Percy's child, her father refused to help her. In 1816, Mary, Percy, and Mary's half sister Claire Clairmont escaped to Geneva to spend the summer with Lord Byron. Due to bad weather, they were restrained to the house, and they spent their time reading ghost stories and talking about galvanism (production of electricity by chemicals). Shelley got the idea of her novel here, as Lord Byron created a competition of who could write the best horror story. This is where Shelley wrote the first draft of her most famous novel, Frankenstein.
The idea of the novel came out of one of Mary Shelley's dreams. She dreamed about "a student putting together parts of a man's body and working through a big engine to animate it". Also her husband pushed for her to write it as a complete novel, because at first she wrote it only as a short story. The book was also said to be "inspired by the electrical experiments conducted on dead and living animals by the italian physicist Giovanni Aldini".
When she was 21 years old, Shelley anonymously released her novel, Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus. At first, the novel was thought to be written by her husband because of the dedication to William Godwin, his political hero, but she was established as the author of the novel in its second edition five years later. Frankenstein was by far Shelley's most successful novel during her career.
Mary Shelley's relationship with her husband was always an interesting part of her life. They lived having multiple affairs throughout their marriage and they had many kids that died at early ages. But at 24, her husband died, and she became a widow, left to look after her only son.
In the later years of her life, Shelley spent most of her time writing and publishing novels such as Perkin Warbeck (1830),
Lodore (1835), Falkner (1837). Shelley then died February 1, 1851 due to a brain tumor.
Citation:
- "Mary Shelley-Biography." www.egs.edu. The European Graduate School. Web. 17 Nov 2013. <http://www.egs.edu/library/mary-shelley/biography/>.
- "Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley." www.online-literature.com. The Literature Network. Web. 17 Nov 2013. <http://www.online-literature.com/shelley_mary/>.
- . N.p.. Web. 17 Nov 2013. <http://www.biography.com/people/mary-shelley-9481497?page=1>.
Mary Shelley Biography on Dipity.