The Life of Mary Shelley Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

The Life of Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born in 1791 in London. She is the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Goodwin. Wollstonecraft was a radical feminist writer, and Goodwin was a writer as well as a philosopher. It was said that this couple's combined intellect was dangerous to society; however, days after Mary's birth, Wollstonecraft died due to complications from the pregnancy. Mary spent a lot of time visiting her mother's grave when she was growing up. Her father taught her how to spell her mother's name by having her trace the letters on the headstone with her fingers, an interesting yet morbid way to teach a seven year old how to spell. Goodwin raised Mary by himself for the early part of her life. When Mary was four, he married Mary Jane Clairmont, who also had children from a previous marriage. Mary never fully accepted the stepfamily; she always felt like an outsider. Many of her feelings of loneliness and longing to know her mother are issues that are prevalen t in the novel Frankenstein. These issues are analogous to the search that the monster had for his creator. During Mary's teenage years, Goodwin owned a publishing company, so the Goodwin household was filled with famous authors and intellectuals. Coleridge was known to visit the house often. On one occasion he read the recently completed The Rime Of the Ancient Mariner in their living room, while Mary stayed up past her bedtime to listen. Percy Bysshe Shelley also came to the house on a regular basis to seek knowledge from Goodwin, who was one of his mentors. Mary grew fond of him, and they began their courtship when she was only fifteen and he was twenty. When Mary was sixteen she ran off to Europe with Percy, a... ... it has on the horror/science fiction writers today. Works Cited and Consulted 1. Caprio, Terry. ( Accessed 23 Oct 00) http://loki.stockton.edu/~stk13818/mary.htm 2. "Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus Home." U.S. National Library of Medicine. (Last Mod 28 Jan 00) ( Accessed 12 Oct 00) http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/frankenstein/frank_birth.html 3. Hamberg, Cynthia. "My Hideous Progeny: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." ( Last Mod/1999/2000(c)). Yahoo. ( Accessed 15 Oct 00).http://srd.yahoo.com/drst/27147033/*http://home-1.worldonline.nl/~hamberg/ 4. "Mary Shelley and Frankenstein." ( Last Mod 11 Jan 00). (Accessed 10 Oct 00). http://www.desert-fairy.com/life.shtml 5. "Peanutpress.com: Mary Shelley." Peanutpress.com: A Division of Net Library (Accessed 5 Oct 00). http://www.peanutpress.com/author.cgi/1567/05951560-58839-8414692824