Mary Shelley is known for her famous work of science fiction, Frankenstein. She was a rebel of her time period in many ways. Her feminist mother perished when she was a baby, and her father was a combination of a philosopher and politician. Although not a traditional romance writer, her passion for solving life’s mysteries makes her an honorary member of the Women’s History Month Spotlight!
Her father eventually remarried, and although she endured her step-siblings, Mary did not care for her stepmother at all. She had grown up with a half-sister named Fanny from an affair her mother had with a soldier. Otherwise she had a somewhat bitter childhood where she was passed over for her step-siblings in terms of education and opportunities.
Although she had no formal education, she read from her father’s library extensively. She often spent time in educated and distinguished company, including authors, poets, philosophers, and doctors to mention a few. Many of her father’s family friends supported the idea of an educated mind.
She met her future husband through her father’s friends. He was studying under her father and already married, but the two soon ran away, taking her stepsister with them. Mary was still a teenager. This alienated her from her father and family for a long time.
Her relationship with Percy wasn’t all butterflies and rainbows however. They started a tour of Europe and visited many writers and famous places. At some point Mary became pregnant but they lost the baby within a few days of birth. This was just the first of many tragedies Mary survived.
Her half sister Fanny committed suicide while she was abroad. Shortly after that, Percy’s wife committed suicide. In December of 1816, Percy and Mary were able to officially wed. She documented their tour of Europe in her History of 6 Weeks’ Tour.
The idea for Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, was inspired by a group of fellow writers challenging one another to a horror story writing contest. The Gothic novel was published anonymously in 1818. Many people assumed Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote the story because he wrote the prologue.
Percy and Mary had a tumultuous marriage at best. Between the adultery and heartbreak, two more children died young, leaving one son who survived to adulthood. Percy himself drowned while out sailing with friends, leaving Mary a widow and single mother at the age of 24.
Mary spent the remainder of her life writing and promoting her husband’s poetry and works. She published Valperga in 1823, The Last Man in 1826, and Lodore in 1835. Mathilde was published posthumously after she perished of brain cancer.
Mary Shelley not only branched out into the male-dominated literary world. She jumped into science-fiction and symbolism, Gothic horror and humanity’s issues. Because of her skill in addressing these issues Mary, Mary Shelley was one of the most influential female authors of all time.
