Mary Shelley: An Eventful Life

Not many people know that the first famous science fiction novel in history was the novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley. Her famous book has since been adapted for film, television and even cartoons.

However, it was written at a time when there were very few female novelists, and even fewer of them were successful. Mary Shelley’s life was as fascinating as her work. Terrible tragedies, a great love to whom she gave her heart until her death, and daring and adventure filled her life.

Although Mary Shelley became one of history’s most famous authors with her book Frankenstein, it was not her only novel. She wrote other novels and plays, which have attracted increasing attention in recent decades. During her lifetime, however, the success of this novel was so great that it overshadowed her other works.

Mary Shelley was a completely different girl

Mary Shelley was born in London, England on August 30, 1797. Her family was clearly very progressive. Mary was always close to her father, philosopher, journalist and novelist William Godwin. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was a philosopher and a pioneer of the feminist movement.

Sadly, Mary’s mother died during childbirth. She was reported to contract an infection and the resulting fever spiraled out of control and led to her death.

Mary’s mother gave birth to her when she was single, but Mary’s father welcomed her into his family, with a daughter he already had. The two girls grew up as sisters and were very close throughout their lives.

When Mary was three years old, her father married a woman who also had two daughters. Reportedly, Mary hated her stepmother. Despite this, she had a happy childhood and adolescence. Her father raised her and her sister Claire in a very liberal way and gave them a good education.

A secret love

When Mary Shelley was 17 years old, she met poet and writer Percy Bysshe Shelley, who was married. He was 22 years old at the time, and he visited Mary’s family’s house because he was her father’s boyfriend.

The two began to meet secretly at Mary’s mother’s grave, which was a special place for her. She said she learned to write by tracing her mother’s name on her tombstone with her finger.

Mary Shelley had a liberal view of marriage and love. Her father and society in general oppose their relationship. However, the lovers fled to Paris, France, in the company of Claire, Mary’s stepsister.

The couple’s relationship was based on a mutual interest in literature and new ideas. However, Percy often had to move to avoid his creditors.

Mary, who became pregnant in 1814, had a very hard time with the periods when they were not together. However, Percy was openly flirting with her stepsister at the time. Mary gave birth in February 1815, but her daughter died before she was a month old. Understandably this put her into a deep depression.

A great writer

Shortly after these events, Percy’s wife committed suicide. This caused much of society to reject his relationship with Mary. Because of this, and because of their debts, they decided to move.

They left for Geneva, where they had interesting evenings with Lord Byron, the great poet, who also had a son with Mary’s stepsister. Those evenings inspired Mary, who had a dream about Frankenstein’s plot, which she began writing shortly after.

Mary had two other children with Percy. Then they left for Italy, where they led a nomadic life. The couple’s eldest son died in 1818, and their youngest daughter died a year later. Mary was often depressed and ill. In 1819, however, they had a fourth child, who was the only one to survive.

In 1822, Percy drowned while on a sailboat trip. Mary wanted to have his body cremated, but asked to have his heart removed first. Shortly after, she returns to England with her fourth child, Percy Florence.

During the last years of her life, Mary became paralyzed in several parts of her body. She died at age 54, probably of a brain tumor.

After her death, people found her desk when they searched her house. In one of the drawers they found her husband’s heart, wrapped in a piece of silk, which contained one of her poems, along with some of his ashes. They also found hair that belonged to her three deceased children.