In a general sense, Percy Bysshe Shelley was known for is radical ideas and eccentric personality which is an extraordinary result coming from such a traditional, aristocratic family. He was sent to be educated at Oxford and Eton to be qualified to inherit the title of baron. Because of his avantgarde attitudes, Shelley was bullied often during his schooling, and this caused him to dedicate his life to fight against inhumanity shown to others. In 1810, Percy Shelley met Thomas Hogg, and they collaborated on publishing a pamphlet titled The Necessity of Atheism. This was advocating the belief that God’s existence was not provable using acceptable measures, and was sent off to Bishops and to the heads of colleges at Oxford. After this bold statement, Shelley would not retract any statements he made in the publication. This resulted in his expulsion from the school.
After this incident, Percy Shelley moved to London, England. He met his soon-to-be wife Harriet Westbrook, and eloped with her, and moved to Edinburgh all in the same year. This marriage was a drastic change in Shelley’s actions because he voiced earlier in his life that marriage was only an enslavement of women. When this occurred, she was aged 16, he 18 years of age. The new couple and her
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He developed feelings for Mary Wollstonecraft, and eloped with her. The couple fled to France, and actually invited Harriet to come along to live with them as sister. After this French escapade, Shelley returned to London only to find that society viewed him as a pricipaless womanizer. Two years later, in 1816, Harriet became pregnant with an unknown lover’s child. She drowned herself, and Percy Shelley gained custody of their two children. That December, Mary and Shelley were officially married. They moved to Italy in the spring of
Mary Shelley was a young, well-educated woman from England. She was born on August 30th 1797, in London. Her mother Mary Wollstonecraft, was the author of “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”. She died giving birth to Mary, leaving her daughter in the care of her husband, William Godwin. The atmosphere that Mary Shelley grew up in exposed her to cutting-edge ideas, which are shown all throughout the novel. Mary Shelley’s lover, Percy Shelley was a young poet, and as he was already married, her relationship with him wasn’t the smoothest.
To Shelley, the creation of a person or being does not necessary indicate that there is an introduction of a new life into the world, but rather perceives it as giving birth to death. For example, Shelley's own birth caused her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, to die a mere eleven days after giving birth; moreover, Shelley was almost continuously pregnant from the time that she was 16 until 1822, three weeks before her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, drowned (Shelley 333). Shelley had cause to relate giving birth to death and dying as the majority of the children that she gave birth to did not live past childhood; her first daughter died days after being born in February 1815; her son, William, born in January 1816, dies on June 7, 1819; daughter, Clara, born September 2, 1817, dies on September 24, 1818; son, Percy Florence, the Shelley's only child to survive, was born on November 12, 1819; and finally, Shelley miscarried on June 16, 1822, three weeks before
Four years later, William Godwin married Mary Jane Clairmont and moved his new wife and her two children into his home. Two years later, Clairmont gave birth to William Clairmont Godwin, providing William Godwin with a male heir and displacing Mary Godwin even further from her father (“Mary Shelley”). Although Mary reflected negatively on these events later in life, Mary Clairmont provided her stepdaughter with her first publication, Mounseer Nongtongpaw, at age eleven through her publishing house gifted by William Godwin. Things quickly changed, however, when Mary was sent to Scotland in the summer of 1812 in what would become a two year sabbatical. In her 1831 preface to Frankenstein, Mary wrote that during these two years “(her) true compositions,
After this, they moved to Switzerland, which is where the idea of Frankenstein finally struck her. When Mary and Percy were in Switzerland, they met with Jane Clairmont, John Polidori, and Lord Byron. They, as a group, discussed how they should all write their own horror story, and thus the idea of Frankenstein hatched in Mary Shelley’s mind. Sadness hit Mary once again, when her stepsister Fanny killed herself. The sadness was short lived however, because soon after this, Percy’s wife killed herself, and Mary and Percy finally could wed, and they did so in December of
Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin as she was born, was born August 30th, 1797 in London, England. Mary Shelley’s mother died exactly ten days after her birth so Shelley had a rather burdensome life. Her father was emotionally distant from her while her step-mother treated her cruelly as a result of what little relationship Mary did maintain with her father. Mary spoke three languages, English her primary language, French her second language of choice and Italian being the third. Although the disconnected relationships she had, Mary had always been intellectually intelligent, especially when it came to writing. Her father’s close friend who would often visit the Godwin’s home in London, Percy Bysshe Shelley, took Mary’s heart at a very young age.
Seeing as a single father would not suffice for raising a child, Godwin remarried another woman by the name of Mrs.Clairmont. Shelley felt nearly abandoned by her father, forced to spend time with a stepmother that clearly disliked her since she was not her own child. Mrs.Clairmont, on the other hand, would be greatly jealous of the way houseguests would praise and be in awe of Godwin and his equally as intelligent daughter, so she encouraged her to extensive labor around the house. It seems that the tension between Shelley and her stepmother and the beaten relationship between Mary and Godwin can be transcended into the relationship between Victor Frankenstein and his creation; both exhibiting a battered relationship, though one more than the other.
Moreover, not only did Shelley struggle as a female writer, she also experienced a turbulent upbringing. After her mother dies, her father William Godwin was doting to his little Mary. “The Concise Dictionary of British Literary Biography,” expresses that Shelley’s attachment to her father was “intense and long lasting”. The bond Shelly formed with her father early in her life remained, despite the family dysfunction that began once her father remarried. The biography claims that “the new Mrs. Godwin resented Mary 's intense affection for her father and was jealous of the special interest visitors showed in the product of the union between the two most radical thinkers of the day (web).” Her step-mother purposefully distanced Godwin from his daughter. She did nothing to encourage “Shelley’s intellectual development or love of reading (web).” However, Shelley’s passions could not be distinguished rather her circumstances ignited her imagination.
Mary Shelley grew up with “the absence of a nurturing parent” as her mother died shortly after her birth (Grundmann 1). Furthermore, she proceeded to fall in love with the married Percy Bysshe Shelley (Grundmann 1). Relationships can be exceedingly difficult in a normal situation but falling in love with a married man would cause anyone emotional strife. Eventually though they eloped on July 28, 1814 and traveled throughout Europe (Grundmann 1). Mary’s past of tragedy would not stay behind her however as she moved forward into her marriage with Percy. Mary’s “anger and depression” resurfaced in catalytic force with the “death of her children”, Clara and William (Grundmann, 1). Feeling depressed Mary “projected much of her hostility toward her abandonment by both father and husband” into her writing (Grundmann 1). Later in life however her “depressive state is alleviated by the survival of her son Percy” and also reconnected her to her husband (Grundmann 1). However only three years later her husband’s sudden death by drowning threw her caused her to be financially insecure and lonely (Grundmann 1). Mary then had to “borrow money to return to London with her son Percy” where she supported herself financially as a writer (Grundmann 1). All of these misfortunes served to lead her into
Percy, Like Mary, was the furthest thing from what society considered to be normal at that period of time. “Unfettered by popular opinion, the young atheist neither ate meat nor drank alcohol.” (Qwiklit). Both seemed to move to the beat of their own drum, this may have been what attracted them to one another. They seemed to be a gothic couple’s dream come true, so it was only right that they took the next step. Percy asked Mary’s father William Godwin for her hand in union and was rejected for reasons unknown. Young dumb and in love the Shelley’s refused to take no for an answer. They promptly left London and eloped France without her father’s consent. Though it sounds irresponsible on their part this was probably one of the best things to happen to the Shelley’s, especially marry. “Mary Godwin, as she was known before her elopement with percy Bysshe Shelley, was naturally precocious, but William’s stature as a public intellectual permitted her to access hundreds of books most could not retrieve, and allowed her to encounter some of the greatest minds in the Western World before she had even reached puberty. She
Mary Shelley was born on August 30, 1797 in London England. She grew up around an era of lots of conflict, invasions and war. Spain had just peacefully surrendered not that long ago from her birth. Shelly father just had written a book in support of the French (Umana 1). Shelly’s father had to give some
Mary Shelley was a woman of substantial creativity. The story “Frankenstein” was the breakthrough novel of how she felt. She was only nineteen years old and had just given birth six months prior to the novel and 3 months post the novel. Her thought process of creation then furthered because she had created life herself. Although Mary Shelley became very familiar with the parenting lifestyle, creating the monster of Frankenstein was an outlook on the intimidation, resentfulness, and disgust she felt for her own life.
This further motivated her to create a magnificent force of talent and imagination with the work of Frankenstein. Furthermore, as Shelley progressed in her life, personal circumstances like marriage, was involved heavily with her writing abilities and Frankenstein. Being married to a poet, she coexisted and collaborated with her husband consistently. They were translated idea and perspective through a creative and imaginative process. “In particular, Mary Shelley’s work with both her father and husband has been previously and valuably explored by scholars.
Just 10 or 11 days after she was born her mother died, then 3 of her 4 children died. She almost died during one of her miscarriages, and her husband Percy died in 1822 in a boating accident. All of these deaths and her near death probably influenced her novel and was the reason that all of the people Victor loved were killed by the creature. Another thing that influenced her writing was the time period she lived in. During the romantic movement many were interested in the supernatural and dark subjects like death, Shelley definitely used these subjects in her
Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin is born in London on August 30, 1797. She was the first and only child of William Godwin, who was philosopher and political writer, and Mary Wollstonecraft, a feminist and the author of The Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Her parents were rebels with they’d married just five months before Mary's birth, while Wollstonecraft was pregnant - and their unconventional lives attracted admiration and controversy. Shelly never really knew her mother who passed away just ten days after giving birth to her daughter, to a complications from childbirth. Though she never really knew her mother, Shelley always felt as though she had to follow her mother's powerful legacy.
A romantic life full of pain and abandonment could only be given the monstrous form of "Frankenstein." Mary Shelley 's life gave birth to an imaginary victim full of misery and loneliness and placed him as the protagonist of one of her most famous and greatest works of art. As most people would assume, he is not just a fictional character, but in fact a creature who desperately demonstrates Shelley 's tragedies and losses during the age of the Romantic Era. Since Mary Shelley 's birth there have been numerous losses in her life. One extremely dominating event in Shelley 's life was the death of her mother. Soon after, her father remarried and Shelley entered a battle as the victim of a fight for love. In her