“I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves” – Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley Biography

Mary Shelley was an English author who is primarily remembered for only a single work. Although Frankenstein would become her most popular work, she was a dedicated novelist and wrote many books and stories. Despite personal tragedy, she rose above the loss and controversy in her life to become one of the most well-known and respected female British novelists of all time.

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She was born Mary Godwin on 30 August 1797 in London, England. She was the second child of Mary Wollstonecraft who was a well-known writer, philosopher, feminist and educator. Although her mother would die shortly after her birth, Mary knew a lot about her from reading her memoirs.

Mary had no formal schooling, but her father took it upon himself to teach her a wide variety of topics and as he sold books as well as papers and maps from his small, and unprofitable, business, she also had access to a wide array of written knowledge. She also had the significant benefit of a personal governess and a tutor who assisted with her education meaning that she ended up better educated than most women of her day.

Mary met the man who would become her future husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley when she was in her late teens.  By 1814 his marriage was already failing and his feelings for Mary had grown significantly as the two shared similar ideas about social reforms and other liberal ideals. Shelley came from a wealthy family and held less-than-respectful views towards money.  His family viewed his frivolous spending to be a waste of the family resources, so they limited his access to them.

Mary and Percy began to meet secretly at her mother’s graveside and although Mary was only 17 whilst Percy was 22, and still legally married, the two fell deeply in love. It is said that Mary Shelley lost her virginity to Percy on her mother’s grave. Although her father was firmly against it, the couple eloped and traveled to France.

Percy and Mary lived a life detached from their families as Mary’s father would have nothing to do with her or her illicit affair with the still-married Percy. Percy, meanwhile, was broke and was often dodging creditors while simultaneously trying to encourage a three-way relationship between himself, Mary, and their friend Thomas Jefferson Hogg. In this case, however, Mary’s liberal ideals failed her and although she believed strongly in the concept of free love and was not against the idea on paper, in practice her heart belonged singularly to Percy. However, a friendship did grow between Mary and Thomas, and in 1815 she wrote a letter to him informing him of the death of her premature baby, Clara, and that she wanted to see him. Mary descended into severe depression after this episode and even claimed to have seen and been haunted by visions of her dead child.

In 1816, Mary gave birth to a son, William, and Percy and Mary traveled to Geneva to meet with Lord Byron and the mother of his daughter Claire Clairmont, who was also Mary’s stepsister. While spending time at Lord Byron’s beautiful Geneva villa, the weather became inclement and never really improved, resulting in the group spending a lot of time indoors. They entertained each other by telling stories and eventually Lord Byron challenged everyone to each write their own ghost story. Mary at first had trouble coming up with a concept but as she began to ponder on the ideas of life and death and whether the dead could live again, she had a strong horrific vision of a reassembled corpse coming back to life. The powerful vision kept her from sleeping and she referred to it as a ‘waking dream.’ Mary originally intended Frankenstein to be a short story but with the encouragement of Byron, Shelley,