The Love, Literature, and Loss: The Life of Mary Shelley

 I wrote this as an informative speech for my Public Speaking class and I enjoyed it so much I decided to make a few changes, cut out a bunch of slides and post it here.  You can click on the images or links to be taken to the sites I referenced for this post and to learn more about the people, places, and events mentioned. 

Do you keep up on the latest celebrity gossip? I don’t, but I do love to learn about the lives of long dead authors. Some of you may be thinking… “BORING!” but I assure you, it’s anything but! The lives of many dead authors are intriguing, heartbreaking, and sometimes… pretty shocking, even by today’s standards.   

I invite you to join me on a tour of the love, loss, literature & legacy of the life of Mary Shelley. Knowing about Mary Shelley and her life is important because her impact on literature and society is still felt today!  Let’s begin with who Mary Shelley was and what she wrote.

Mary Shelley was the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, the woman who in 1792, wrote the famous feminist text The Vindication of the Rights of Women. In chapter 4 of The Vindication of the Rights of Women, Mary Wollstonecraft writes, “I do not wish [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.” That type of thinking, and writing, by a woman was pretty racy for her time. 

Sadly, Mary’s mother died when she was only a few days old, and Mary felt the pain of her mother’s absence her entire life. 

Mary was raised by her father, William Godwin, the radical philosopher who provided Mary with an extensive education at home which included reading her mother’s works.

When Mary was only 16 years old, she entered into a relationship with the famous Romantic poet, Percy Blithe Shelley. Percy, five years Mary’s senior, was already married, but that didn’t stop the two from running off together to Switzerland.  

During that time, Mary became pregnant, but that baby died.

When Percy’s wife discovered she was pregnant by an unknown lover, she drowned herself and one month later in 1816, Mary and Percy were married. 

In the 6 years that she and Percy were married, Mary experienced the heartbreaking loss of a miscarriage and two more of her babies followed her first one to the grave. *This is an image of William “Willmouse” Shelley who, according to the website VictorianWeb.org: "On 7 June, 1819, Mary's second child William died of Malaria in Rome."

The summer of 1816 is known as The Year Without a Summer due to ash from a volcanic eruption in Indonesia blocking the sun and caused cooler temperatures all over Europe.

Mary, Percy, Lord Byron, and others spent the darkened summer at Lake Geneva reading morbid poems and dark tales. 

According to the online article "'Frankenstein' Was Born During a Ghastly Vacation" at History.com: "One night, as they sat in the candlelit darkness, Byron gave them all a challenge: write a ghost story that was better than the ones they had just read."

It took Mary a few days to write her story, but when she had, she had written the best story of them all! Mary would go on to rework this short story into the classic we know today as... Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus.

Remember how Percy’s first wife drowned? Well, only a few years after Mary wrote Frankenstein, Percy also found himself in a watery grave when he drowned off the coast of Italy. After Percy’s body washed ashore, it was burned. However, one part of his body wouldn’t burn… HIS HEART!  His heart had become calcified, possibly due to a bout with tuberculosis. 

But what became of Percy’s heart? It was given to Mary, of course, where it is said that she kept it wrapped in his last poem in her desk drawer for over 30 years.

Now that you know who Mary was and what she wrote, let’s dive deeper into her impact on literature…

If you like science fiction novels like 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Star Wars, or even Dune, you should be thanking Mary Shelley because Mary is considered to be the mother of Science Fiction. The article “Why Frankenstein is the Story that Defines Our Fears” by the BBC elaborates: “Frankenstein is simultaneously the first science-fiction novel, a Gothic horror, a tragic romance and a parable all sewn into one towering body.” 

Gothic literature explores challenging themes like the darker aspects of humanity. Many other gothic texts that explore these same themes and a few have been inspired by Mary’s writing. 

The Harvard University Press reports that: “Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus was published January 1, 1818, and since then has never been out of print, or out of range.” Not only is it remarkable that it’s never been out of print, in 200 years, but it’s still socially relevant today. 

Now that you know who Mary Shelley was, what she wrote, and her influence on literature, take a deep breath and let’s explore her impact on society.

At the time Mary wrote Frankenstein the Age of Enlightenment was in full swing, as were the ideas of the Romantics, but the two sets of ideas clashed. In a nutshell the enlightenment was all about reason and science and the Romantics were about emotion and intuition. 

Mary explores some of these ideas in Frankenstein. She presents the dangers of man playing God, which makes me wonder what Mary would have thought about the organ transplants we perform today. It’s hard to say…

But one thing is for sure… Mary’s work has inspired many depictions of Frankenstein in the movies… some good, some great, and others…. not so much… 

The newly released movie…Poor Things, which I have no intentions of watching, follows the story of a Frankenstein-ish creature named Bella. Bella’s creator is named Godwin possibly in an effort to honor Mary Shelley’s father, William Godwin. 

Mary’s creature in Frankenstein has become somewhat of an emblem or icon of Halloween. However, the image our culture has devised of her creature is vastly different than how Mary describes him in her writing. 

Mary has influenced more than movies and Halloween decorations in our society.

Mary Shelley is also seen as a feminist icon by some. According to the online article, Inspiring Feminism: Mary Shelley: "[Mary Shelley] rebelled against conventions, followed her heart and supported herself financially by writing.” 

In 1851, at the age of 53 Mary died of a possible brain tumor and she was buried, she was buried with her beloved Percy's calcified heart!

In her lifetime Mary wrote many other works but she continues to be remembered for her groundbreaking work, Frankenstein.

The next time celebrity gossip pops up on your feed, ditch it, and try learning about the life of a dead author, you may be pleasantly surprised with what you discover!

Note: I've previously included links to purchase the books I mention on Amazon, but I've decided that Bookshop.org is a site I would rather share. Instead of supporting an already successful billion-dollar company, Bookshop.org helps to support local bookstores of your choice. Learn more about how it all works here. 

References: 

A&E Television Networks. (n.d.). “Frankenstein” was born during a ghastly vacation. History.com. https://www.history.com/news/frankenstein-true-story-mary-shelley 

A biographical sketch of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851). (n.d.). https://victorianweb.org/previctorian/mshelley/bio.html 

Frankenstein, born January 1, 1818, still alive - harvard university ... (n.d.). https://harvardpress.typepad.com/hup_publicity/2018/01/frankenstein-200th-anniversary-wolfson-levao.html 

Laurence, R. (2022, August 16). Why Frankenstein is the story that defines our fears. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180611-why-frankenstein-is-the-story-that-defined-our-fears 

Noakes, L. (2016, March 19). Inspiring feminism: Mary Shelley. Kettle Mag. https://kettlemag.co.uk/inspiring-feminism-mary-shelley/ 

Wollstonecraft, M. (2016). 4. In A vindication of the rights of women. essay, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.