Mary Shelley, By Prishant Jutlla
Mary Shelley’s handwriting
“Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.” - Mary Shelley
Imagine traveling back in time and telling Mary Shelley that her work gave birth to the science fiction genre, as we know today. As the Queen of Science Fiction, Mary Shelley may be most known for her works of Gothic fiction, including Frankenstein: the Modern Prometheus, but she has had a very fascinating, tragic, and far from ordinary life you can imagine.
Mary was born in 1797, as Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. She was the second child to the famous feminist philosopher, educator, activist, and writer Mary Wollstonecraft and the first child of the famous philosopher, journalist, and novelist William Godwin. Her mother died from a fever shortly after her birth, and Mary and her half-sister Fanny Imlay, (a daughter Mary had during an affair with a soldier), were brought up by her father.
As a child, Mary lived a good, happy life. Though she never knew her mother, her father published a memoir of Mary Wollstonecraft, which young Mary would cherish. Her father would teach her to read and write, in an eerie and somewhat sweet gesture, Godwin would bring Mary’s deceased mother into her education. Godwin would take Mary to her mother’s gravesite and use the letters on the tombstone to teach her to read. Young Mary would trace the outline of her mother’s name on the headstone to spell her name.
Mary instead made great use of her father’s library. She was often found reading, sometimes by her mother’s grave. Mary loved to daydream, escaping from her home life into her imagination. She was very driven by her creativity and way of thinking, which led to great things in her future.
Mary soon encountered the radical poet-philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley, a key figure in the romance movement. He was recently alienated from his aristocratic family for not following the rules of the traditional aristocracy and was estranged from his pregnant wife, Harriet Westbrook. The two fell deeply in love, and Mary Shelley is said to have lost her virginity to Percy on her mother’s grave. The two soon eloped to France, she was 16, and he was 21. Percy and Mary believed in free love and openness.
At the age of 18, Mary went on holiday to Lake Geneva, Switzerland, with poets Lord Byron and Percy Shelley. The trio spent their days by the lake, boating and staying up late talking into the night. Bryon set a challenge that each would write their own ghost story and vote for the winner.
Mary based her story on a dream and wrote Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus.
This book remains a work of genius to this day that still horrifies and fascinates readers with the depths of how far a man’s depravity and pursuit of knowledge can go. The novel delves into themes of love, the heart, science over religion, and the meaning of life. The creature itself has become one of the most iconic characters of horror history. It is far different from the movie version we recognize with a square head, neck bolts, and slow, staggering movements. Mary’s original creation had the monster learning to speak and read with philosophy books and poetry, craving its creator’s love and being rejected for its appearance. For this, and many other reasons, Mary Shelley has become an idol for those who love for the macabre and unearthly.
Mary’s life continued in darkness and tragedy. She had troubling pregnancies and lost her three children during her life. She began to feel haunted with visions of the babies, though she soon gave birth to a healthy boy named Percy. Her sister, Fanny Imlay, wrote to her sister and spoke of her “unhappy life” and took her own life after swallowing laudanum. Harriet Westbrook, Percy Shelley’s wife, soon drowned herself, leading to Mary becoming his wife. But sadly, the marriage was not to last. Percy soon had an affair with Claire Clairmont, Mary’s stepsister, who became pregnant with his child. Percy Shelley then drowned in a storm at the age of 29, leaving Mary a widow and a single parent to their son. After Shelley’s corpse was cremated, his heart was hardened by calcium and did not burn. Mary kept her husband’s heart wrapped in a copy of Percy’s poem ‘Adonais’ and kept it on her desk.
Despite the many tragedies throughout her life, Mary continued to write and had a realization soon after her husband’s death that she had the potential for a career as an author. She wrote in her diary, "I think that I can maintain myself, and there is something inspiring in the idea.”
Mary Shelley continued to write many gothic novels and plays up until her death at the age of 53 from a brain tumor. In her legacy, scholars now consider Mary Shelley to be a key Romantic figure, for her literary achievements and status as a liberal woman who believed in free love and the right to vote. To this day, she continues to inspire young people today, those who feel the darkness in their souls, love gothic castles, foggy nights, and moonlight graveyards.
“Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful.” - Mary Shelley