mary shelley biography questions

Mary Shelley

English writer Mary Shelley is best known for her horror novel "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus." She was married to poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

(1797-1851)

Who Was Mary Shelley?

Writer Mary Shelley published her most famous novel, Frankenstein , in 1818. She wrote several other books, including Valperga (1823), The Last Man (1826), the autobiographical Lodore (1835) and the posthumously published Mathilde .

Shelley was born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin on August 30, 1797, in London, England. She was the daughter of philosopher and political writer William Godwin and famed feminist Mary Wollstonecraft — the author of The Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). Sadly for Shelley, she never really knew her mother who died shortly after her birth. Her father William Godwin was left to care for Shelley and her older half-sister Fanny Imlay. Imlay was Wollstonecraft's daughter from an affair she had with a soldier.

The family dynamics soon changed with Godwin's marriage to Mary Jane Clairmont in 1801. Clairmont brought her own two children into the union, and she and Godwin later had a son together. Shelley never got along with her stepmother. Her stepmother decided that her stepsister Jane (later Claire) should be sent away to school, but she saw no need to educate Shelley.

The Godwin household had a number of distinguished guests during Shelley's childhood, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. While she didn't have a formal education, she did make great use of her father's extensive library. Shelley could often be found reading, sometimes by her mother's grave. She also liked to daydream, escaping from her often challenging home life into her imagination.

Shelley also found a creative outlet in writing. According to The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft , she once explained that "As a child, I scribbled; and my favourite pastime, during the hours given me for recreation, was to 'write stories.'" She published her first poem, "Mounseer Nongtongpaw," in 1807, through her father's company.

During the summer of 1812, Shelley went to Scotland to stay with an acquaintance of her father William Baxter and his family. There she experienced a type of domestic tranquility she had never known. Shelley returned to the Baxters' home the following year.

In 1814, Mary began a relationship with poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Percy Shelley was a devoted student of her father, but he soon focused his attentions on Mary. He was still married to his first wife when he and the teenaged Mary fled England together that same year. The couple was accompanied by Mary's stepsister Jane. Mary's actions alienated her from her father who did not speak to her for some time.

Writing 'Frankenstein' and Other Works

Mary and Percy traveled about Europe for a time. They struggled financially and faced the loss of their first child in 1815. Mary delivered a baby girl who only lived for a few days. The following summer, the Shelleys were in Switzerland with Jane Clairmont, Lord Byron and John Polidori. The group entertained themselves one rainy day by reading a book of ghost stories. Lord Byron suggested that they all should try their hand at writing their own horror story. It was at this time that Mary Shelley began work on what would become her most famous novel, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus .

Later that year, Mary suffered the loss of her half-sister Fanny who committed suicide. Another suicide, this time by Percy's wife, occurred a short time later. Mary and Percy Shelley were finally able to wed in December 1816. She published a travelogue of their escape to Europe, History of a Six Weeks' Tour (1817), while continuing to work on her soon-to-famous monster tale. In 1818, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus debuted as a new novel from an anonymous author. Many thought that Percy Bysshe Shelley had written it since he penned its introduction. The book proved to be a huge success. That same year, the Shelleys moved to Italy.

While Mary seemed devoted to her husband, she did not have the easiest marriage. Their union was riddled with adultery and heartache, including the death of two more of their children. Born in 1819, their son, Percy Florence, was the only child to live to adulthood. Mary's life was rocked by another tragedy in 1822 when her husband drowned. He had been out sailing with a friend in the Gulf of Spezia.

Later Years

Made a widow at age 24, Shelley worked hard to support herself and her son. She wrote several more novels, including Valperga and the science fiction tale The Last Man (1826). She also devoted herself to promoting her husband's poetry and preserving his place in literary history. For several years, Shelley faced some opposition from her late husband's father who had always disapproved his son's bohemian lifestyle.

Shelley died of brain cancer on February 1, 1851, at age 53, in London, England. She was buried at St. Peter's Church in Bournemouth, laid to rest with the cremated remains of her late husband's heart. After her death, her son Percy and daughter-in-law Jane had Mary Shelley’s parents exhumed from St. Pancras Cemetery in London (which had fallen into neglect over time) and had them reinterred beside Mary at the family’s tomb in St. Peter’s in Bournemouth.

QUICK FACTS

• Birth Year: 1797
• Birth date: August 30, 1797
• Birth City: London, England
• Birth Country: United Kingdom
• Gender: Female
• Best Known For: English writer Mary Shelley is best known for her horror novel "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus." She was married to poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.
• Fiction and Poetry
• Astrological Sign: Virgo
• Death Year: 1851
• Death date: February 1, 1851
• Death City: London, England
• Death Country: United Kingdom

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CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Mary Shelley Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/mary-shelley
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: May 6, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014
• As a child, I scribbled; and my favourite pastime, during the hours given me for recreation, was to 'write stories.'
• I am an unfortunate and deserted creature; I look around, and I have no relation or friend upon earth.
• I beheld the wretch, the miserable monster I had created.

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Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Biography of Mary Shelley, English Novelist, Author of 'Frankenstein'

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Elopement and Authorial Beginnings

Frankenstein (1816-1818), italian years (1818-1822), widowhood (1823-1844), literary style and themes.

• B.A., English Literature, Cornell University

Mary Shelley (August 30, 1797–Feb 1, 1851) was an English writer, famous for penning the horror classic Frankenstein (1818), which has since been regarded as the first science fiction novel. Though much of her fame is derived from that classic, Shelley left a large body of work that spanned genres and influences. She was a published critic, essayist, travel writer, literary historian, and editor of the work of her husband, the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. 

Fast Facts: Mary Shelley

• Full Name: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (née Godwin)
• Known For: Prolific 19th-century writer whose novel 'Frankenstein' pioneered the science fiction genre
• Born: August 30, 1797 in Somers Town, London, England
• Parents: Mary Wollstonecraft, William Godwin
• Died: February 1, 1851, Chester Square, London, England
• Selected Works : History of a Six Weeks’ Tour (1817), Frankenstein (1818), Posthumous Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley (1824), The Last Man (1826), Lives of the Most Eminent Literary and Scientific Men (1835-39)
• Spouse: Percy Bysshe Shelley
• Children: William Shelley, Clara Everina Shelley, Percy Florence Shelley
• Notable Quote: “Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos.”

Mary Shelley was born in London on August 30, 1797. Her family was of reputable status, as both her parents were prominent members of the Enlightenment movement. Mary Wollstonecraft , her mother, is well-known for writing A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), a pivotal feminist text that frames women’s “inferiority” as a direct consequence of a lack of education. William Godwin, her father, was a political writer equally famed for his anarchist Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793) and his novel Caleb Williams (1794), which is widely considered to be the first fictive thriller. Wollstonecraft died on September 10, 1797, days after giving birth to her daughter, leaving Godwin to look after the infant and her three-year-old half sister, Fanny Imlay, the result of Wollstonecraft’s affair with the American author and businessman Gilbert Imlay.

Mary’s parents and their intellectual inheritance would prove to be a vital influence throughout her life. Mary revered her mother and her work from a young age, and was greatly shaped by Wollstonecraft despite her absence.

Godwin did not remain a widower for long. When Mary was 4, her father remarried his neighbor, Mrs. Mary Jane Clairmont. She brought along her two children, Charles and Jane, and gave birth to a son, William, in 1803. Mary and Mrs. Clairmont did not get along—there was some ill will concerning Mary’s likeness to her mother and her close relationship with her father. Mrs. Clairmont subsequently sent her stepdaughter to Scotland in the summer of 1812, ostensibly for her health. Mary spent the better part of two years there. Though it was a form of exile, she thrived in Scotland. Later she would write that there, in her leisure, she was able to indulge in her imagination, and her creativity was born in the countryside.

As was custom during the early 19th century, Mary, as a girl, did not receive a rigorous or structured education. She only spent six months at Miss Pettman’s Ladies’ School in Ramsgate in 1811. Yet Mary had an advanced, unofficial education because of her father. She had lessons at home, read through Godwin’s library, and would have been privy to the intellectual debates of the many important figures who came to talk with her father: the research chemist Sir Humphry Davy , the Quaker social reformer Robert Owen , and the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge were all guests of the Godwin household.

On a visit home to England in November of 1812, Mary met the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley for the first time. Godwin and Shelley had an intellectual but transactional relationship: Godwin, always money poor, was Shelley’s mentor; in return, Shelley, the son of a Baronet, was his benefactor. Shelley had been expelled from Oxford, along with his friend Thomas Jefferson Hogg, for publishing the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism , and then estranged from his family. He sought out Godwin in admiration of his political and philosophical ideas.

Two years after Mary had left for Scotland, she arrived back in England and was reintroduced to Shelley. It was March of 1814, and she was almost 17 years old. He was five years her senior and had been married to Harriet Westbrook for nearly three years. Despite his matrimonial ties, Shelley and Mary grew close, and he fell madly in love with her. They would meet in secret at Mary’s mother’s grave, where she often went to read alone. Shelley threatened suicide if she did not reciprocate his feelings.

Mary and Percy’s relationship was especially tumultuous at its inauguration. With part of the money Shelley had promised Godwin, the couple eloped together and left England for Europe on July 28, 1814. They took Mary’s stepsister Claire along with them. The three traveled to Paris and then continued on through the countryside, spending six months living in Lucerne, in Switzerland. Though they had very little money, they were very much in love, and this period proved to be extremely fruitful for Mary’s growth as a writer. The couple read feverishly and kept a joint journal. This diary was the material Mary would later fashion into her travel narrative History of a Six Weeks’ Tour .

The trio left for London once they had completely run out of money. Godwin was upset and wouldn’t allow Shelley to enter his home. There was a nasty rumor that he had sold Mary and Claire to Shelley for 800 and 700 pounds each. Godwin did not approve of their relationship, not only because of the financial and social turmoil it caused, but he also knew that Percy was irresponsible and prone to volatile moods. In addition, he was aware of Percy’s fatal character flaw: he was generally selfish, and yet he wanted always to be believed as both good and right.

To Godwin’s judgment, Percy did cause quite a bit of trouble. He was, per his Romanticism beliefs and intellectual pursuits, primarily concerned with radical transformation and liberation, the centering of knowledge through the individual and emotive response. Yet this philosophical approach that begot his poetry left many broken hearts in his wake, apparent from the start of his relationship with Mary—he left his pregnant wife penniless and in social collapse in order to be with her.

Once in England again, money was still the most pressing problem Shelley and Mary faced. They partly remedied their situation by moving in with Claire. Shelley made do by asking others—lawyers, stockbrokers, his wife Harriet and his school friend Hogg, who was very much enchanted with Mary—to lend him money with the promise of retribution, given his ties to the baronetcy. As a result, Shelley was constantly away hiding from the debt collectors. He also had the habit of spending time with other women. He had another son with Harriet, born in 1814, and was often with Claire. Mary was frequently alone, and this period of separation would inspire her later novel Lodore. To add to this misery was Mary’s first cross with maternal loss. She had become pregnant while touring Europe, and gave birth to an infant girl on February 22, 1815. The baby died days later on March 6.

Mary was devastated and fell into a spell of acute depression. By the summer she had recovered, in part due to the hope of another pregnancy. Mary and Shelley went to Bishopsgate, as Shelley’s finances stabilized a bit after his grandfather passed away. Mary had her second child on January 24, 1816, and named him William after her father. 

• History of a Six Weeks’ Tour Through a Part of France, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland: With Letters Descriptive of a Sail Round the Lake of Geneva, and of the Glaciers of Chamouni (1817)
• Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818)

That spring, in 1816, Mary and Percy traveled with Claire again to Switzerland. They were going to spend the summer at the Villa Diodati with Lord Byron , the famed poet and pioneer of the Romantic movement. Byron had had an affair with Claire in London and she was pregnant with his child. Along with baby William and Byron’s physician John William Polidori, the group settled in Geneva for a long, wet, and dreary season in the mountains.

Shelley and Byron took to each other immediately, building a friendship upon their philosophical views and intellectual work. Their discussions, including talk of Darwin’s experiments, would directly influence Mary’s Frankenstein , which was conceptualized that June. The group had been entertaining themselves by reading and discussing ghost stories, when Byron posed a challenge: each member was to write their own. Not long after, on a fateful, fitful night, Mary witnessed a frightful vision in her dreams, and the idea struck her. She began to write her ghost story.

The group parted ways on August 29. Back in England, the following few months were filled with tragedy: Fanny Imlay, Mary’s half-sister by way of her mother, committed suicide on October 9, 1816, by overdosing on laudanum in Swansea. Then came the news that Harriet, Percy’s wife, drowned herself in Hyde Park on December 10.

This death, painful as it was, left Percy legally viable to wed Mary, who was pregnant at the time. He also wanted custody of his older children, which he was deemed unfit for, and he knew that marriage would improve his public perception. The two were wedded on December 30, 1816, at St. Mildred’s Church in London. The Godwins were present at the event, and their union ended the rift within the family—although Percy never did get custody of his children.

Mary continued writing her novel, which she finished in the summer of 1817, a year after its inception. However, Frankenstein would not be her first published novel—that inaugural work is her History of a Six Weeks' Tour . While finishing Frankenstein , Mary revisited her diary from her elopement with Percy and started to organize a travelogue. The finished piece consists of journalized narrative, letters, and Percy’s poem Mont Blanc , and includes some writing on her 1816 trip to Geneva as well. This form of literature was fashionable at the time, as European tours were popular among the higher classes as educative experiences. Met with a Romantic strain in its enthusiastic tone for experience and taste, it was favorably received, although poorly sold. History of a Six Weeks' Tour was published in November of that year, two months after Mary gave birth to her daughter Clara Everina Shelley. And just over a month later, on New Year’s Day, 1818, Frankenstein was published anonymously.

Frankenstein was immediately a best seller. It tells the tale of Dr. Frankenstein, a student of science, who masters the mystery of life and creates a monster. What follows is a tragedy, as the monster struggles to be accepted by society and is driven to violence, destroying the life of his creator and all he touches.

Part of its draw at the time was perhaps the speculation surrounding who had written the book—many believed Percy was the author, as he penned the preface. But regardless of this gossip, the work was groundbreaking. At the time, nothing of its sort had been written. It had all the trappings of the Gothic genre, as well as the emotional swells of Romanticism, but it also delved into the scientific empiricism that was gaining popularity at the time. Mixing visceral sensationalism with rational ideologies and technology, it has since been considered as the first science fiction novel. Mary successfully made a potent funhouse-mirror of the culture of thought during her lifetime: Godwin’s ideas on society and mankind, the scientific advancements of Darwin, and the expressive imagination of poets like Coleridge. 

• Mathilda (1959, finished 1818)
• Proserpine (1832, finished 1820)
• Midas (1922, finished 1820)
• Maurice (1998, finished 1820)

Despite this success, the family was struggling to get by. Percy was still evading the duns, and the threat of losing custody of their children was hanging over the couple’s heads. Because of these reasons, along with poor health, the family left England for good. They traveled with Claire to Italy in 1818. First they went to Byron to pass on Claire’s daughter Alba for him to raise. They then traveled throughout the country, reading and writing and sightseeing as they had on their elopement tour, while enjoying the company of a circle of acquaintances. Tragedy, however, struck again with the deaths of Mary’s children: Clara died in September in Venice, and in June, William died of Malaria in Rome.

Mary was devastated. In a similar pattern as her previous experience, she fell into a pit of depression that was alleviated with another pregnancy. Despite recovering, she was severely impacted by these losses, and her mental and physical health would never quite recover. During her period of mourning, she poured all her attention into her work. She wrote the novella Mathilda , a gothic tale of an incestuous relationship between a father and his daughter, which wouldn’t be published until 1959, posthumously.

Mary was overjoyed to give birth again to her fourth and last child, Percy Florence, named for the city they were residing in, on November 12, 1819. She started to work on her novel Valperga , diving into historical scholarship for the first time with her fiction. She also wrote two blank-verse adaptations from Ovid for children, the plays Proserpine and Midas in 1820, though they were not published until 1832 and 1922 respectively.

During this period, Mary and Percy moved around frequently. By 1822, they were living at Villa Magni in the Bay of Lerici in Northern Italy, with Claire and their friends Edward and Jane Williams. Edward was a retired military officer, and his wife, Jane, became the subject of Percy’s utter infatuation. Mary had to cope with both this digression of Percy’s attention as well as another miscarriage that was nearly deadly. Things, however, were about to get much worse.

Percy and Edward had bought a boat to take sailing trips along the coast. On July 8, 1822, the two were set to return back to Lerici, accompanied by boatman Charles Vivan, after meeting with Byron and Leigh Hunt in Livorno. They were caught in a storm and all three were drowned. Mary received a letter addressed to Percy, from Leigh Hunt, regarding the bad weather and expressing his hope that the men had arrived home safely. Mary and Jane then rushed to Livorno and Pisa for news, but were only met with the confirmation of their husbands’ deaths; the bodies washed up to shore near Viareggio.

Mary was completely heartbroken. Not only had she loved him and found an intellectual equal in him, she had given up her family, friends, her country and financial security to be with Percy. She had lost him and all of these things in one swoop, and was in financial and social ruin. There were little prospects for women to make money at this time. Her reputation was in shambles, as there were rumors regarding her relationship with her late husband—Mary was often condemned as a mistress and Percy’s personal killjoy. She had her son to provide for and was unlikely to remarry. Things were quite dire. 

• Valperga : Or, the Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca (1823)
• Posthumous Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley (Editor, 1824)
• The Last Man (1826)
• The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck, A Romance (1830)
• Lodore (1835)
• Lives of the most Eminent Literary and Scientific Men of Italy, Spain, and Portugal, Vol. I-III (1835-1837)
• Falkner: A Novel (1837)
• Lives of the Most Eminent Literary and Scientific Men of France, Vol. I-II (1838-1839)
• The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (1839)
• Essays, Letters From Abroad, Translations and Fragments (1840)
• Rambles in Germany and Italy, in 1840, 1842, and 1843 (1844)

Mary had to figure out how to deal with the financial pressures that now fell on her shoulders alone. She lived for a bit with Leigh Hunt in Genoa, and then returned to England in the summer of 1823. Byron helped her out monetarily, but his generosity was short lived. Mary was able to work out an agreement with her father-in-law, Sir Timothy, to support her son. He paid her an allowance with the stipulation that Mary would never publish a biography of Percy Shelley. When Charles Bysshe Shelley, the direct heir to Sir Timothy, died in 1826, Percy Florence became the heir to the baronetcy. Suddenly finding themselves with much greater financial security, Mary traveled to Paris. She met several influential people in this time period—including the French writer Prosper Merimee, with whom she continued an epistolary correspondence. In 1832, Percy went to school at Harrow, to return to his mother after he completed his education. He was not like his parents in terms of intellectual capacity, but his disposition left him a much more contented, devoted person than his restless, poetic parents.

Apart from her son, writing became Mary’s life’s focus. It also became her means to support herself before she had the security of Percy’s baronetcy. In 1823, she wrote her first essays for the periodical The Liberal , which had been founded by Percy, Byron and Leigh Hunt. Mary’s already completed historical novel Valperga was also published in 1823. The story follows 14th-century despot Castruccio Castracani, who became the lord of Lucca and conquered Florence. The Countess Euthanasia, his enemy, must choose between her love for her nemesis or political liberty—she ultimately chooses liberty and dies a tragic death. The novel was received positively, although in its time, its political themes of liberty and imperialism were neglected in favor of the romance narrative.

Mary also began editing Percy’s remaining manuscripts for publication. He had not been widely read during his lifetime, but Mary championed his work after his death and he became substantially more popular. Posthumous Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley was published in 1824, the same year that Lord Byron died. This devastating blow spurred her to begin working on her post-apocalyptic novel The Last Man. Published in February 1826, it is a thinly veiled fictionalization of her inner circle, with characters as mirrors of Percy, Lord Byron, and Mary herself. The plot follows the novels’ narrator, Lionel Verney, as he describes his life in the far future, after a plague has devastated the world and England has fallen into an oligarchy. Though it was reviewed negatively and sold poorly at the time for its anxious pessimism, it was revived by a second publication in the 1960s. The Last Man is the first English apocalyptic novel.

In the successive years, Mary produced a wide range of work. She published another historical novel, The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck , in 1830. In 1831, a second edition of Frankenstein came out for which she wrote a new preface—the 1823 theatrical treatment of the novel, called Presumption , stirred up continuous enthusiasm for the story. Proserpine , the verse drama she had written back in 1820, was finally published in the periodical The Winter’s Wreath in 1832. Mary’s next critical success was her novel Lodore , published in 1835, which follows the wife and daughter of Lord Lodore, as they face the realities of life for single women after his death.

A year later, William Godwin died, on April 7, 1836, which spurred her to write Falkner , published the following year. Falkner is another rather autobiographical novel, centered around the protagonist Elizabeth Raby, an orphan who finds herself under the paternal care of the domineering Rupert Falkner. During this time, Mary also notably wrote for the Cabinet Cyclopedia with Dionysius Lardner, completing five author biographies during the years 1835-1839. She also began a complete edition of Shelley’s poems The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (1839), and published, also by Percy, Essays, Letters From Abroad, Translations and Fragments (1840). She toured the continent with her son and his friends, and wrote her second travelogue Rambles in Germany and Italy , published in 1844, about her travels from 1840-1843.

By the time she had reached the age of 35, Mary obtained a comfortable level of intellectual satisfaction and financial security, and was not wanting for relationships. During these years of work, she traveled and met many people who gave her the fulfillment of friendship, if not more. The American actor and author John Howard Payne proposed to her, though she ultimately declined, as he was essentially just not stimulating enough for her. She had an epistolary relationship with Washington Irving, another American writer. Mary also may have had a romantic relationship with Jane Williams, and moved to be near her in 1824 before they had a falling-out.

Literary Pioneer

Mary Shelley effectively created a new genre—science fiction—in writing Frankenstein . It was revolutionary to fuse the already established Gothic tradition with Romantic prose and modern issues, namely the scientific ideals of the Enlightenment thinkers. Her work is inherently political, and Frankenstein is no exception, in meditating upon Godwinian radicalism. Concerned with the age-old theme of hubris , questions of societal progress and aspiration, and the visceral expression of the sublime, Frankenstein remains to this day a touchstone of modern cultural mythology.

The Last Man , Mary’s third novel, was also revolutionary and far ahead of its time, as the first apocalyptic novel written in English. It follows the last man on an earth that has been ravaged by a global plague. Concerned with many sobering societal anxieties, such as disease, the failure of political ideals, and the fallibility of human nature, it was deemed too dark and pessimistic by her contemporary critics and peers alike. In 1965, it was reprinted and revived, as its themes seemed again relevant.

Social Circle

Mary’s husband Percy Shelley was a major influence. They shared journals and discussed their work and edited each other’s writing. Percy was, of course, a Romantic poet, living and dying upon his beliefs in radicalism and individualism, and this movement is exhibited in Mary’s oeuvre. Romanticism followed the idealist philosophers, the likes of Immanuel Kant and Georg Friedrich Hegel, as Europe began to conceptualize sense as it arose from the individual to the external world (instead of the other way around). It was a way of thinking about art, nature and society through the paramount filters of emotion and personal experience. This influence is most present in Frankenstein through the sublime —a kind of pleasurable terror that comes from confronting something bigger than you, like the huge heights of the Swiss mountains and the endless panorama they afford.

It is also nearly impossible to ignore the politics in Mary’s work, although many critics did during her lifetime. As her father’s daughter, she absorbed much of his ideas and the ideas of his intellectual circle. Godwin is labeled as the founder of philosophical anarchism. He believed that the government was a corrupting force in society, and would only become more unnecessary and impotent as human knowledge and understanding grew. His politics are metabolized in Mary’s fiction, and threaded through, notably, Frankenstein and The Last Man .

Mary’s work is also regarded as largely semi-autobiographical. She took inspiration from her friends and family. It is well known that The Last Man’s cast of characters were simulations of herself, her husband, and Lord Byron. She also wrote extensively on the father-daughter relationship, thought to be expressive of her own complicated relationship with Godwin. 

Mary Shelley was also remarkable in the range in her body of work. Her most famous novel, Frankenstein, is an exercise in horror, in the gothic tradition as well as the harbinger of the science fiction genre. But her other novels extend throughout the gamut of literary traditions: she published two travelogues, which were fashionable during her lifetime. She also wrote historical fiction, short stories, essays, dabbled in verse and drama, and contributed author biographies to Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopedia . She also edited and compiled her late husband’s poetry for publication and was responsible for his posthumous recognition. Lastly, she began but never finished an extensive biography on her father, William Godwin.

From 1839 on, Mary struggled with her health, frequently enduring headaches and bouts of paralysis. However, she did not suffer alone—after Percy Florence finished his schooling, he returned home to live with his mother in 1841. On April 24, 1844, Sir Timothy died, and the young Percy received his baronetcy and fortune and he lived then on very comfortably with Mary. In 1848, he married Jane Gibson St. John and had a happy marriage with her. Mary and Jane much enjoyed each other’s company, and Mary lived with the couple in Sussex, and accompanied them when they traveled abroad. She lived the last six years of her life in peace and retirement. In February of 1851, she passed away in London at the age of 53, from a suspected brain tumor. She was buried at St. Peter’s Church, Bournemouth.

Mary Shelley’s most obvious legacy is Frankenstein , a masterpiece of a modern novel that spurred a literary movement to engage with the complicated web of societal mores, individual experience, and the technologies one faces in an uncompromisingly "progressive" civilization. But the beauty in that work is its flexibility—its ability to be read and applied in multiple ways. By our current cultural thought, the novel has been revisited in discussions ranging from the French Revolution to motherhood to enslavement to Silicon Valley. Indeed, partly due to its theatrical and cinematic iterations, Mary’s monster has evolved with pop culture for centuries and remains an enduring touchstone.

Frankenstein was listed by BBC news in 2019 as one of the most influential novels. There has been a plenitude of plays and movies and TV adaptations of the book, such as the play Presumption (1823), Universal Studios’ Frankenstein (1931), and the film Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994)—not including the extended franchises that involve the monster. Several biographies have been written on Mary Shelley, notably the 1951 study by Muriel Spark and Miranda Seymour’s biography from 2001. In 2018, the movie Mary Shelley was released, which follows the events that led up to her completion of Frankenstein .

But Mary’s legacy is wider than just this one (terrific) achievement. As a woman, her work was not given the same critical attention that male writers received. It has even been hotly debated whether or not she wrote—or was capable of writing— Frankenstein . Only recently has much of her work been revived and even published, nearly a century after its completion. However, despite facing these enormous biases, Mary made a successful career of writing in a variety of genres for more than 20 years. Her legacy is perhaps then the continuation of her feminist mother's legacy, in making her opinions and experiences known at a time when women were not readily educated, and advancing the entire literary field with her words.

• Eschner, Kat. “The Author of 'Frankenstein' Also Wrote a Post-Apocalyptic Plague Novel.”  Smithsonian Magazine , Smithsonian Institution, 30 Aug. 2017, www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/author-frankenstein-also-wrote-post-apocalyptic-plague-novel-180964641/.
• Lepore, Jill. “The Strange and Twisted Life of ‘Frankenstein.’”  The New Yorker , The New Yorker, 9 July 2019, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/12/the-strange-and-twisted-life-of-frankenstein.
• “Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.”  Poetry Foundation , Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mary-wollstonecraft-shelley.
• Sampson, Fiona.  In Search of Mary Shelley . Pegasus Books, 2018.
• Sampson, Fiona. “Frankenstein at 200 – Why Hasn't Mary Shelley Been given the Respect She Deserves?”  The Guardian , Guardian News and Media, 13 Jan. 2018, www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/13/frankenstein-at-200-why-hasnt-mary-shelley-been-given-the-respect-she-deserves-.
• Spark, Muriel.  Mary Shelley . Dutton, 1987.
• Biography of Lord Byron, English Poet and Aristocrat
• 'Frankenstein' Overview
• Mary Wollstonecraft: A Life
• Biography of John Keats, English Romantic Poet
• Romanticism in Literature: Definition and Examples
• 'Frankenstein' Characters
• 42 Must-Read Feminist Female Authors
• Poems of Protest and Revolution
• An Introduction to the Romantic Period
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• The Year Without a Summer Was a Bizarre Weather Disaster in 1816
• Famous Mothers and Daughters in History
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• Biography of Mary of Teck, Royal British Matriarch
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Frankenstein Questions and Answers

Being one of the most mysterious novels of its time, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley leaves many questions unanswered. On this page, we have collected an extensive list of the most frequent questions about the novel. By clicking on the links, you’ll see the full versions of the answers.

🔝 Top-10 Frankenstein Questions

• Why did Mary Shelley write Frankenstein?

Which theme best fits the story of Frankenstein?

How are frankenstein and prometheus alike, what natural phenomena influenced frankenstein.

• Who is Walton in Frankenstein?
• When does Frankenstein take place?

What genre is Frankenstein?

• Who is Henry Clerval in Frankenstein?

Who is the real monster in Frankenstein?

• Who is the narrator of Frankenstein?

❓ Frankenstein Q&A

In the novel frankenstein, what does the creature’s connection to nature suggest about him.

The Creature’s connection to nature shows the readers his human side. Victor created him from the dead. But the monster is able to appreciate beauty. He can develop human feelings, such as love, loneliness, and fear. It reflects the evolution of his attitude to people and his place in the world.

How does Frankenstein end?

At the end of the novel, Victor dies on Robert Walton’s ship in the Arctic Circle. The boat captain finds his body and the monster who mourns Victor’s death in the room. The Creature disappears from the boat to kill himself. Victor and the monster die in the end. But the nature of their deaths is different.

How does Victor Frankenstein die?

Victor Frankenstein travels to the Arctic icy waters in an attempt to escape from the monster he created. The weather conditions become dangerous when the ship goes North. Victor falls sick with pneumonia, and his health worsens. Soon after the boat reaches the land, he dies.

Science, Gothic, and romantic fiction genres are different. However, Mary W. Shelley managed to unite them. She created one of the most famous literary works of the XIX century. Frankenstein is a combination of all three categories. It presents all the traditional elements of each genre.

Why did Frankenstein create the Monster?

Victor Frankenstein created the monster out of arrogance. The scientist wanted to become like God. Making a living creature by himself gave him a sense of purpose and great power. Although Victor claimed that he was creating a monster to help humanity, he was doing it for himself.

What is Frankenstein’s Monster’s name?

Frankenstein’s monster does not have a name in the book. He is often referred to by his creator’s name. The creature’s namelessness is an artistic device that emphasizes his loneliness and isolation.

Which quote from Frankenstein brings out the theme of revenge in the novel?

The quote from Chapter 20 depicts the theme of revenge. “I may die, but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery. Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful.”

What is the theme of Frankenstein?

The central idea is the ethical responsibility of scientists for the results of their discoveries. The novel discusses other essential themes. They comprise creation, revenge, nature, isolation, family, and love.

Prometheus and Frankenstein suffered for their deeds. They attempted to create a new life and faced the results of their actions. Both of the characters suffered from disregarding the laws of nature in favor of progress and creation.

How has Victor changed by the end of Frankenstein?

By the end of the story, Victor loses all his humanity due to his desire for revenge. The monster killed everyone the scientist loved, making the wrath even worse.

Why does Frankenstein feel he has the right to take the life of his Monster?

The first reason why Frankenstein feels that he has the right to kill the Monster is that it is his creation. The second reason is that the Monster caused a lot of harm to him and his family.

What do Victor and Walton have in common in Frankenstein?

The two main characters Victor and Walton, have several things in common. They are both incredibly ambitious and in love with science. They share a fascination with nature and the environment, although their love is manifested in contrasting ways.

Which of the conflicts in Frankenstein drives the story forward?

The plot of the novel by Mary Shelley, is constructed on the conflict of heart and intellect. Victor Frankenstein faces the challenge of choice: to have a family or to have fame and recognition. He wants them all, but it is impossible. Therefore, he has to choose.

In Frankenstein, who cares for Victor when he is stricken with a fever?

Henry Clerval, Victor Frankenstein’s close friend, helps the main character overcome months of fever in Chapter 5. To conceal the illness from his family, Henry takes on the responsibility of caring for sick Victor.

http://What does Fankenstein do after his creation comes to life?

Frankenstein is a young university student. He has the goal of inventing a giant creature that would function like a normal human being. After bringing it to life, he is angry with the beast. It becomes angry and violent. Victor refers to it as “the miserable monster”, leaves home, and desires to kill the creature.

Who killed William in Frankenstein?

Frankenstein’s monster kills William, his creator’s younger brother, by pressing his throat so that he is not able to breathe. However, the creature is not the only one to be blamed. Victor Frankenstein’s irresponsible actions lead to tragedy in the first place. It is undoubtedly unwise to accuse the monster of the murder and ignore his master’s disruptive behavior.

How does Elizabeth die in Frankenstein?

Elizabeth in Frankenstein dies due to the monster’s attack, who strangles her. The incident happened when the couple was on their honeymoon, and Victor left her alone in the room.

How is Frankenstein a romantic novel?

Frankenstein is both a Gothic and romantic novel. It refers to romantic literature. Mary Shelley follows the characters’ feelings and tragic experiences. She chooses strong words and images that convey their fierce passions. The novel depicts the sad discord between nature and society. The theme is typical for romanticism.

The theme that fits Frankenstein best is that humans should not play God. Victor managed to create a living creature. But it came with unintended results.

Where was Frankenstein written?

Mary Shelley wrote the story of Frankenstein in Geneva. Bad weather trapped her with her husband and others. So they started creating horror stories.

Why does the Monster think that Frankenstein must be destroyed?

Victor refuses to create a friend for the Creature. The Monster’s loneliness in the human world makes him aggressive. Victor cannot become his companion because he hates the Monster. That is why he decides to kill his creator.

What is Elizabeth, the bride of Frankenstein, like?

Elizabeth Lavenza is an orphan child. She was raised by Victor Frankenstein’s family and later became his bride. Being an idealized character, she combines positive traits. Some of them are beauty, loyalty, and kindness.

How did young Frankenstein spend his childhood years?

Frankenstein is the protagonist of the world-famous book Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. The scientist spent his childhood in a wealthy family. The knowledge of natural wonders absorbed him from an early age. Victor had few friends, including the brothers and Henry Clerval. Later he shared the secret of his monster with Henry.

What was Victor Frankenstein’s curse?

Victor Frankenstein’s curse was his inability to become happy. He created the monster to distract from his grief. In the end, the beast brought him more misery by killing Victor’s fiancée and leading him to death.

In what way did the Monster take revenge on Frankenstein?

Frankenstein’s monster enters the world with the hope of serving people, making friends with them. But he does not find a place for himself, and he takes revenge on his creator. Desperate and unhappy, the monster kills Victor’s family. He wants his creator to be as lonely as himself.

Is Frankenstein a true story?

The events described in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein could not occur at that time. To many, the character of Frankenstein is a metaphor.

What is the most famous Frankenstein musical?

Frankenstein – A New Musical the most prominent musical based on Frankenstein. It comprises about 20 songs. Its plot tells us about the events described by Mary Shelley.

What are the best Frankenstein movies?

Frankenstein is a classic Gothic novel that inspired many artists. Although criticized at first, the book found its readers. The story has become even more significant because of its adaptations. With the creation of the first motion pictures, they seemed natural.

Describe the island where Frankenstein created a She-Monster

Victor builds his monster on a lonely island in the Orkney Islands chain in Scotland. This place is quiet, peaceful, and lonely, which is what the scientist wants to implement his plan. The scenery of the island is impressive and makes Victor think about his homeland.

What was Victor Frankenstein's laboratory like?

Victor Frankenstein created two monsters in two different places. His first lab was a “cell” at the top of his house in Ingolstadt, Germany. His second lab was a miserable hut on one of the remotest islands of the Orkneys. Both of them were hidden and contained body parts and instruments for creating monsters.

How is the theme of nature vs. nurture in Frankenstein used?

In the novel, Mary Shelley tries to understand the monstrous nature of Frankenstein’s creature. The writer wondered if the monster was born evil or became a villain due to society and his creator.

How is the theme of horror in Frankenstein revealed?

Frankenstein is a novel that highlights the real problems and anxieties that people experience in life. Writing a fictional story, the author delivered the theme of horror and showed various consequences that can be brought by people’s unhealthy ambitions and desires.

What does the "Frankenstein complex" mean?

“Frankenstein complex” was suggested by Isaac Asimov. It describes the unconscious fear of artificial objects overtaking humanity. Asimov was the first to discuss the phobia of machines in I, Robot. But it refers back to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. There she illustrates the first human-made murderous humanoid experiment.

What tale did Frankenstein’s Monster tell Victor?

When Victor Frankenstein and the monster finally meet, the creature tells a story of his moral transformation. Driven by the need to feel accepted but unable to fulfill it, he turns to the path of violence and revenge.

How many Frankenstein plays exist?

There are no less than nine theatrical productions of Frankenstein. The first one by Richard Brinsley Peake was named Presumption, or the Fate of Frankenstein. It debuted in 1823. In 2011, the National Theater presented its version of Frankenstein. Benedict Cumberbatch played the leading role. The actor is known for the Sherlock BBC series.

What is the movie "Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein" about?

Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein is a horror-comedy about two hapless baggage clerks. Count Dracula lures them to help him take over the world using the reanimated body of Frankenstein’s monster. The pair is targeted by the renowned vampire, as the brain of Costello’s character is the perfect fit for the legendary monster.

Who was the youngest Alphonse Frankenstein's son?

William Frankenstein is Alphonse Frankenstein’s youngest son and Victor’s youngest brother. He is an innocent child and the darling of the whole family. When William reveals his connection to the Frankenstein family, the Monster kills him.

Victor Frankenstein has always been interested in the inner workings of the universe. Once he saw a bolt of lightning that struck a tree. This experience led to his explorations of lighting and electricity. When he was lightning, he became fascinated with the theories of galvanism. It is apparent that lightning and thunderstorms are the natural phenomena that influenced Frankenstein.

How many chapters are in Frankenstein?

The editions of 1818 and 1831 are different in quite a few aspects, one of which is the number of chapters. The new version contains a different story of Elizabeth and several changes in the story structure.

http://Why is Henry Clerval’s Death important in Frankenstein?

Victor Frankenstein’s friend, Henry Clerval, dies by the monster’s hand. The guilt and grief for Henry nearly drove Victor mad. Due to this tragic event, Frankenstein seeks vengeance. It highlights the horrible results of his experiment.

Which aspect of gothic literature do the first four chapters of Frankenstein most clearly show?

The first chapters of Frankenstein introduce the romantic hero. He is hoping to discover the origins of life. The atmosphere is spooky. The chapters involve horror scenes and make readers scared. Frankenstein’s idealized ambitions crash against the terror and madness of their product.

What was Victor Frankenstein's strongest motivation for creating life?

Victor Frankenstein appears sympathetic and ambitious at first. Everything changes when he decides to create a living creature. His motivation to make a new life was selfish, which he later told Walton.

What major event occurs in Frankenstein's life when he is 17 years old?

The character of Frankenstein goes through a couple of significant events at the age of 17. One challenging situation is that his mother, Caroline, gets sick and dies. But it’s not the end of the story. At the same time, Frankenstein had to leave his home for the German University.

How does Walton describe the stranger he takes onboard?

In Frankenstein, Walton appears as a similar character to Victor. Walton is ambitious. He rejected his family to become famous in the scientific field. Although his ambitions led him to loneliness, Walton can become a better person. That is why he met Victor, and that is why Victor shared his story.

Is Frankenstein a zombie?

The Creature from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is an intelligent being. Despite being brought to life by the questionable actions of the protagonist, his mind is human-like. He is not a zombie, as he consists of body parts of multiple sources and has an identity.

How is figurative language used in Frankenstein?

Mary Shelley uses personification, symbolism, similes, and metaphors. Figurative language in Frankenstein is a critical tool that reflects the plot subtexts. It refers to the characters and society.

How is foreshadowing used in Frankenstein?

Mary Shelley used the device in Victor’s narrative, his monster’s phrases and actions, and nature descriptions. Without any doubt, it keeps readers interested and encourages them to guess possible endings. It is evident that Frankenstein is not a story with a happy end, but full of horror and suffering.

What are the best examples of irony in Frankenstein?

The best example of irony in the novel is that Victor, who aims to create life, brings death to his family. Further, Victor, the creature’s maker, does not take care of it and leaves. Irony makes Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein a valuable piece of literature with a hidden meaning.

What was the face of Frankenstein’s Monster like?

Overall, the face of the creature looked terrible. It was so scary and disgusting that Victor started to fear his invention and ran away from the apartment. In addition to the book’s descriptions, people created an image of Frankenstein’s face by watching the movies. These screen incarnations were also ugly and made the viewers vulnerable.

Why did Victor destroy the female monster?

Victor Frankenstein creates a monster and promises him a bride of his kind not to be lonely. But the scientist changes his mind. He fears that male and female creatures will procreate. Their unnatural children could terrify and destroy future generations. By killing the bride, Victor condemns the monster to endless loneliness.

What does the Monster mean by the phrase “I will be with you on your wedding night”?

Victor Frankenstein refuses to create a female monster, destroying the last hopes of his Creature. The Monster realizes that he is destined to be alone. Now his main goal is to destroy Victor’s life, making him lose everyone he loves. The Monster says, “I will be with you on your wedding night,” and keeps his word by killing Victor’s fiancée Elizabeth.

In Frankenstein, Victor changes from an optimistic young scientist to a totally unhappy man. How does it happen?

At first, Victor is inspired by the triumph of science over death. Frankenstein dreams that the Creature will be perfect when he puts together his giant body piece by piece. But animation distorts beautiful features. The Creature has tormenting thoughts and feelings that push him to kill Victor’s brother.

What is the difference between the two versions of Frankenstein: 1818 vs. 1831?

Mary Shelley’s original version of Frankenstein was popular among her peers. But she wanted to respond to criticism, elevate the main character’s thinking, and clarify the plot details. The versions differ by the introduction, expanded Victor’s monologue, and the character’s portrait.

What is the house of Frankenstein?

Castle Frankenstein is located in the German mountains. People associate it with the stories of a mysterious alchemist who made experiments on corpses. But the connection between Mary Shelley and the castle that gave the novel its name remains unclear.

The real villain of Frankenstein is not the creature despite his appearance and evil deeds. The real monster and antagonist of the novel is Victor, his creator. He first gives life to the beast, pretending himself to be a God. Then, he abandons him, neither killing him nor teaching him the correct life principles.

What was the character of Dr. Victor Frankenstein?

Victor Frankenstein is a multi-faceted and complex figure. The description of his appearance is vague. Throughout the book, the character undergoes mental changes. He is an ambitious man, obsessed with the pursuit of creation. Victor spirals down into despair over his work.

Why Did Victor decide to become a monster girl maker?

Victor decided to make a female partner for the Monster out of fear and guilt. He realized his fault in creating the Monster. After listening to the Monster’s pleas, he agreed to create a being like him.

How was Mary Shelley related to Percy Bysshe Shelley?

Mary Shelley was the wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley, the poet. Their relationship was both professional and personal. The couple shared the same passion for literature and a circle of close friends.

🎓 References

• Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley
• Why Frankenstein is the story that defines our fears – BBC
• Frankenstein’s monster in popular culture
• The Pop-Culture Evolution of Frankenstein’s Monster
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Study Guide Menu

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10 Facts About Mary Shelley

By michele debczak | aug 26, 2022.

Some readers were scandalized when Frankenstein , or The Modern Prometheus was first published in 1818. The novel describes a young scientist who harnesses the power to create life by reanimating a corpse stitched together from scavenged body parts—and more than two centuries after its debut, some people still have trouble believing the story came from the mind of a teenage girl. 

To those who know Mary Shelley best, the flavor and quality of her writing comes as no surprise. The author was influenced by great artists and thinkers throughout her life, from her philosopher parents to her poet husband Percy Shelley. Beyond her novels, she displayed an interest in the darker side of life, having romantic trysts at her mother’s gravesite in her youth and carrying around an organ of her dead lover later in life. Here are more facts you should know about the mother of science fiction.

1. Mary Shelley’s mother was a feminist writer.

Mary Shelley wasn’t the first ambitious woman in her family. Her mother was Mary Wollstonecraft , the pioneering writer, thinker, and activist who published The Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792. (William Godwin, Mary’s father, was a respected political thinker as well.) Wollstonecraft died from infection days after giving birth to Mary on August 30, 1797, but her influence on her daughter was profound. Mary wrote in 1827 : “The memory of my mother has always been the pride and delight of my life.”

2. Her childhood home hosted some notable guests.

As the progeny of philosophers, Shelley ( née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin) received a rich and unconventional education. William Godwin belonged to elite social circles and welcomed many notable artists, scientists, and politicians into his home. Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge , former U.S. vice President Aaron Burr , and Charles Darwin’s grandfather Erasmus Darwin are a few of the intellectuals Shelley crossed paths with as a child.

3. Shelley may have lost her virginity on her mother’s grave.

When Percy Bysshe Shelley became acquainted with a teenage Mary Godwin, the poet was married to a different woman—but that didn’t stop him from falling for Godwin. The pair began meeting in secret, and it didn’t take long for them to declare their love for one another. Many scholars endorse what has long been considered a rumor in the literary world: that the couple consummated their union on Mary Wollstonecraft’s grave. The gravestone behind St. Pancras Old Church in London was close to the Godwin home, and it’s where Mary went to write, read, and reflect. She paid frequent visits to the site while being courted by Percy, so it’s not a stretch to think she would feel comfortable being intimate with him there.

4. Just one of her children survived her.

By the time Shelley conceived the idea for Frankenstein at age 18, she had already given birth once. The first child she had with Percy Shelley—a daughter— died within weeks of her birth. In her journal, Shelley wrote that she had a “dream that my little baby came to life again—that it had only been cold & that we rubbed it by the fire & it lived—I awake & find no baby—I think about the little thing all day.” The possibility of reincarnation was an idea she would explore in greater depth in her first novel. Her two subsequent children—William and Clara—died when they were toddlers. Percy Florence was the fourth child of Percy and Mary Shelley and the only one who survived into adulthood [ PDF ].

5. Rumors of murder surrounded her marriage to Percy.

When Percy Shelley ran off to be with Mary, he left behind a young child and his wife Harriet, who was pregnant with their second child. Harriet Shelley was distressed by her husband’s affair, and in December 1816 her body was discovered in the Serpentine, a lake in London’s Hyde Park. Before disappearing, she had written Percy a letter wishing him “that happiness which you have deprived me of.” Her death was ruled a suicide, and Mary and Percy Shelley were officially married less than a month later . 

The convenient timing of Harriet’s death led some to suspect foul play. If Harriet was indeed murdered, Mary’s father William Godwin would have had a strong motive. He was outraged to see his daughter sacrifice her honor to be with a married man, and he urged the couple to make their union official as soon as it was legal (despite him criticizing the institution of marriage in his political writings). The rumors add another macabre wrinkle to Mary’s life, but they’re dismissed by most scholars: There’s no proof that Harriet was murdered, whereas suicide was something she bought up often before her death.

6. Frankenstein originated with a ghost story contest.

The story of Frankenstein ’s inception is nearly as famous as the book itself. In the summer of 1816 , Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, poet Lord Byron, and physician John Polidori traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, for one of the most important vacations in literary history. There wasn’t much for them to do outdoors (a volcanic eruption in Southeast Asia had darkened skies around the world), but they managed to keep busy. After reading a book of spooky tales , the group decided to hold a ghost story competition. Mary famously came up with the concept for Frankenstein that summer, but hers wasn’t the only horror novel born in the house: Polidori was inspired to write The Vampyre , an influential work of pre- Dracula vampire fiction.

7. Shelley found inspiration for Frankenstein in a waking dream.

Two hundred years later, it’s safe to say that Mary Shelley won the scary story contest, but the idea for Frankenstein didn’t come to her immediately. After struggling to think of something to write about, she claimed that the story struck her as she was trying to sleep. She described what she saw as her “imagination, unbidden, possessed and guided me” in the introduction to the 1831 edition of her novel, writing [ PDF ]: 

“I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half vital motion. Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavour to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world.”

According to Shelley, that vision became the seed for a novel. Frankenstein was published two years later, in 1818.

It’s a compelling story, but at least one historian argues that Shelley made it up. In 2018, Jill Lepore wrote in The New Yorker that Shelley’s account was her attempt to explain how she came up with, in her own words, “so very hideous an idea” as a young girl. By comparing her creative process to transcribing a dream, Shelley may have been joining the literary establishment at the time in erasing her contributions to her own book. This revisionist narrative around Shelley’s authorship continues to an extent even today.

8. People credited her husband for Frankenstein .

Frankenstein was first published anonymously with a preface by Percy Shelley , leading many to assume that the poet was the true author. Even when new editions were released under Mary Shelley’s name several years later, this assumption persisted. Percy did influence the creative process—he encouraged her to expand her idea into a novel and edited parts of it—and this is still used as the basis for arguments that Mary didn’t really write Frankenstein . According to scholars, this theory is false. Any guidance Mary Shelley received from her husband was part of a standard writer-editor relationship , which is a process published novels still go through today. Shelley wasn’t the first or last writer to get editing help from a spouse, but historically, male authors are far less likely to be denied credit for their work.

9. Her second-most famous book is an apocalyptic pandemic novel.

Mary Shelley set a high bar for herself with Frankenstein . Her 1826 novel The Last Man also explores philosophical themes under the guise of a sci-fi premise. In the dystopian tale , the 21st-century world is at the mercy of a mysterious plague, and humanity teeters on the brink of extinction. Unlike Frankenstein , The Last Man wasn’t considered groundbreaking for its age. “End of humanity” novels were practically cliché by the time it was published, and critics rejected it; the book wouldn’t receive a reappraisal until the mid-20th century . Out of all of Shelley’s post- Frankenstein novels —which include Valperga, The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck, Lodore, and Falkner — The Last Man is the most widely read and studied today.

10. She kept an unusual keepsake from her dead husband.

If you had any doubts that Mary Shelley was the original goth girl, her treatment of her late husband’s remains will convince you. Percy Shelley drowned in a sailing accident in 1822 at age 29, and when his body was cremated, an organ that was believed by some to be his heart refused to burn . Experts today suspect that it had calcified during an earlier case of tuberculosis. Mary ended up with the indestructible organ, and instead of using it to reanimate a corpse she carried it around as a keepsake. Following her death from a brain tumor in 1851, the heart was discovered in her desk wrapped in the pages of Percy Shelley’s poem Adonais .

Frankenstein

By mary shelley, frankenstein literary elements.

science fiction; horror

Setting and Context

Early 19th century Europe

Narrator and Point of View

There are three levels of first-person limited narration, with each successive level embedded in the immediately prior level. The first level is R. Walton, writing to his sister; the second is Frankenstein, speaking to Walton; the third is the monster, speaking to Frankenstein.

Tone and Mood

Because the horrific events of the story are conveyed as retrospection, the tone oscillates between remorse/anger on the part of the narrator, and suspense on the part of the reader for not having total knowledge of the events that will unfold, in spite of the narrator foreshadowing them.

Protagonist and Antagonist

The major protagonist is Frankenstein, and the major antagonist is his monster.

Major Conflict

Most of the conflict in the story can be read as a struggle of will between Frankenstein and his monster. The monster wants Frankenstein to make him a mate, and Frankenstein believes that he must destroy the monster in order to end the monster's destructive rampage.

Chronologically, the climax actually happens at the beginning of the text, when Walton encounters Frankenstein pursuing the monster in the direction of the North Pole.

Foreshadowing

The novel as a whole is rife with foreshadowing because of the narrators' retrospective perspective and disposition toward regret.

Understatement

The section of the book in which Frankenstein actually creates the monster is highly understated: very little time is spent on the explicit act of bringing the creature to life.

The story alludes to Genesis, Prometheus, and various other literary texts. See the guide's section on allegory and motifs for more details.

See the Imagery section of the guide.

One of the primary threads in the book is that the scientific progress purported by Frankenstein actually effects pain and destruction, and might ultimately be socially regressive. Such a notion of 'progress' is paradoxical.

Parallelism

The ontology of the novel as a composite of older literary sources parallels the ontology of the monster as a composite of older, dead body parts.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

Personification.

Nature as a force is often personified in the text. An example of this is when Frankenstein travels through the countryside following the execution of Justine: "The abrupt sides of vast mountains were before me; the icy wall of the glacier overhung me; a few shattered pines were scattered around; and the solemn silence of this glorious presence-chamber of imperial Nature was broken only by the brawling waves, or the fall of some vast fragment, the thunder sound of the avalanche, or the cracking reverberated along the mountains of the accumulated ice, which, through the silent working of immutable laws, was ever and anon rent and torn, as if it had been but a plaything in their hands" (Volume I, Chapter 10).

Frankenstein Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Frankenstein is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What decisions and discoveries go into Frankenstein’s creation? What does he learn first, and which parts of the process take longer?

There is so much in your questions. This is only a short answer space. Victor Frankenstein studies biology and metaphysics first. Victor dreams of creating a new species: to renew life.

Explain about the gigantic figure in Frankenstein?

Are you referring to the creature? What specifically do you need to know?

Consider the monsters motivations for tracking down Frankenstein. Why does the master switch out his creator according to the text?

I'm sorry, your question requires additional information. Please provide a chapter number.

Study Guide for Frankenstein

Frankenstein study guide contains a biography of Mary Shelley, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Frankenstein
• Frankenstein Summary
• Frankenstein Video
• Character List

Essays for Frankenstein

Frankenstein essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Frankenstein
• Egotism, Personal Glory, and the Pursuit for Immortality
• Frankenstein and the Essence Of the Romantic Quest
• Like Father Like Son: Imitation and Creation
• Frankenstein's Discovery

Lesson Plan for Frankenstein

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Frankenstein
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Frankenstein Bibliography

E-Text of Frankenstein

Frankenstein e-text contains the full text of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

• Letters 1-4
• Chapters 1-4
• Chapters 5-8
• Chapters 9-12
• Chapters 13-16

Wikipedia Entries for Frankenstein

• Introduction
• Author's background
• Literary influences
• Composition