Frankenstein:
Mary Shelley’s background
Male Argoti,
Rafa Mora,
Gustavo Rodas,
Ma. Gracia Yepes
Biography:
• Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born
in 1797 in London.
• Her mother died 10 days after giving
birth to her
• She is considered to be one of the
first feminists stating that woman
should not lower themselves to
please their husbands or lovers
• Her father William Godwin was a
writer and political journalist who had
a revolutionary attitude towards
social institutions.
Young Adulthood
• She met her future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley
(who was a married man) when she was 16
• After her father forbade her to see him, they both
ran away to France in 1814
• In 1815, Mary Shelley gave birth to her daughter
Clara who died a few weeks later, year later she gave
birth to her first son, William
• Finally in December 30, 1816 Percy and Shelley
married.
• They both wrote about their experiences around
Europe in History of Six Weeks Tour
• Her husband expressed
throughout his poems the longing
for an open marriage, this was
around the time Shelley had
started writing Frankenstein
• She had 2 more children in which
one died and her firstborn child
died.
• In1822 she suffered a miscarriage
which threatened her life, the
same year her husband was killed
in a boating accident in Italy
The Final Years
• Shelley took it upon her responsibility to
compile the poetry and writing of her late
husband
• She returned to England with her son Percy
where she wrote Valperga and her second
most popular novel The Last Man
• In 1851 she died at home at the age of 51
Mary Shelley and Frankenstein:
• There are many explanations as to why Mary Shelley wrote or
came up with the idea of Frankenstein
– While staying with half sister Claire, husband Percy at Lord
Byron’s the challenge among the guests was to come up
with the scariest story, it is thought that Dr. Frankenstein’s
monster presented itself in a dream she had.
• connection between Shelley’s personal life and Frankenstein
• Mary Shelley began to write the novel while she was on her
3rd pregnancy, it is rumored that the fear of her child dying or
born deformed transmitted itself to the creature in
Frankenstein.
Other Works:
Valperga (1823)
The last man (1826)
Ladore (1835)
Faulkner (1837)
Bibliography:
• Merriam Webster incorporate, "Merriam Webster`s Encyclopedia",
Merriam Webster publisher, Massachusets, 1995 pg 1004
• Mary Shelley Biography . (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2010, from USEM:
http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/shelleybio.html
• Merriman, C. (2006). Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley . Retrieved October 27,
2010, from The Literature Network: http://www.onlineliterature.com/shelley_mary/
• Why did Mary Shelley write Frankenstein. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27,
2010, from Wiki Answers:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_did_Mary_Shelley_write_Frankenstein