Biography of Mary Shelley in English. English writer Shelley Mary: biography, creativity, personal life

For several decades in a row, the story of Frankenstein has not lost its popularity. Film directors often turn to this image. But few people know that the author of the story about the revived monster was a fragile, sophisticated 19-year-old girl Mary Shelley. Her work was written as a bet and marked the beginning of a new literary genre - the Gothic novel. The writer “put” into the hero’s head her thoughts and experiences that arose as a result of her difficult life ups and downs.

The future creator of the story of scary monster born in London in 1797. Her mother died 11 days after Mary was born, so she was essentially raising the girl older sister Fanny. When Mary was 16 years old, she met the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Despite the fact that Percy was married, he fell in love with a young girl and persuaded her to run away from her father's house to France. Soon the money ran out and the lovers had to return home. Mary's father was outraged by his daughter's actions.

To complicate matters, Mary was pregnant. Percy Shelley, in turn, had no intention of getting a divorce, which is why the 17-year-old girl became the object of caustic attacks from society. Due to her worries, she had a miscarriage. At first, Mary and Percy lived in love and harmony, but the girl was very offended by the “liberal” views common-law husband, namely his love affairs.

In 1817, the wife of the legitimate poet drowned in a pond. After this, Percy and Mary officially got married. The children Mary gave birth to died one after another, driving the woman into despair. Only one son survived. Disappointment in family life gave rise to feelings such as loneliness and despair in Mary Shelley. Her monster hero will then experience the same thing, desperately in need of understanding from those around her.

Percy Shelley was friends with the more famous poet George Byron. One day, Mary Shelley, her husband and Lord Byron, gathered around the fireplace on a rainy evening, talking about literary topics. In the end they argued who would write best story about something supernatural. From that moment on, Mary began to create a story about a monster, which became the world's first Gothic novel.

Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus was first published anonymously in 1818 because editors and readers were prejudiced against women writers. It was not until 1831 that Mary Shelley signed her name to the novel. Mary's husband and George Byron were delighted with the woman's work, and she won the argument.

Modern films about the revived monster, there was confusion about who was called Frankenstein. This was not the name of the monster, but of its creator, Dr. Victor Frankenstein. He managed to resurrect the dead body, and then, frightened by his creation, fled the city. The monster himself with a creepy face tried to find understanding among those around him, but society never accepted him.
Despite the fact that Mary Shelley is considered the author of the novel, there are skeptics who

Biography

Lake Geneva and Frankenstein

In May 1816, Mary Godwin, Percy Shelley and their son traveled to Geneva with Claire Clairmont. They were planning to spend the summer with the poet Lord Byron, the result of Claire's relationship with whom she became pregnant. They arrived on May 14, 1816, and Byron did not join them until May 25, along with physician and writer John Williams Polidori. At this time, Mary Godwin asks to be addressed as Mrs. Shelley. In a village called Cologny, next to Lake Geneva, Byron rented a villa, and Percy Shelley rented a more modest house, but right on the shore. They spent their time creating art, boating, and late-night conversations.

“The summer was damp and cold,” Mary later recalled, “the incessant rain did not let us out of the house for days.” In addition to numerous topics of conversation, the conversation turned to the experiments of the philosopher and poet Erasmus Darwin, who lived in the 18th century. It was believed that he dealt with the issues of galvanization (at that time the term “galvanization” did not mean the creation of metal coatings by electroplating, but the influence electric shock on a dead organism, which caused muscle contraction and the appearance of revival), and the feasibility of returning a dead body or scattered remains back to life. There were even rumors that he was still able to revive dead matter. Sitting by the fireplace at Byron's villa, the company also amused itself by reading German ghost stories. This prompted Byron to propose that they each write a “supernatural” story. Shortly after this, Mary Godwin had the idea of ​​writing in a dream. Frankenstein:

“I saw a pale scientist, a follower of the occult sciences, bending over the creature he was putting together. I saw a disgusting phantom in human form, and then, after turning on some powerful engine, signs of life appeared in it, its movements were constrained and devoid of strength. It was a terrifying sight; and the consequences of any attempt by man to deceive the perfect mechanism of the Creator will be extremely terrifying.”

Mary began work on a work that was originally supposed to be in the genre of a short story. Under the influence of the enthusiasm of Percy Shelley, the short story grew to the size of a novel, which became her first and was called "". This novel was published in 1818. She later described that summer in Switzerland as the period “when I first stepped out of childhood into life.”

Major works

• The story of a six week journey / History of 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 / Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818)
• Matilda / Mathilda (1819)
• Valperga, or the Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca / Valperga; or, The Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca (1823)
• Last Man / The Last Man (1826)
• The fate of Perkin Warbeck / The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck (1830)
• Lodore / Lodore (1835)
• Faulkner / Falkner (1837)

Film adaptations

• 2009 - The Last Man
• 2012 - Frankenstein Mary Shelley

Links

• Shelley, Mary on the website "Fiction Laboratory"

Categories:

• Personalities in alphabetical order
• Writers by alphabet
• Born on August 30
• Born in 1797
• Deaths on February 1
• Died in 1851
• Mary Shelley
• UK Science Fiction Writers
• Writers of Romanticism
• English women writers of the 19th century
• Died from brain cancer

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See what “Shelley, Mary” is in other dictionaries:

SHELLEY, MARY WOLSTONECRAFT (Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft) (1797 1851), English writer. Born 30 August 1797 in London. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was one of the founders of the movement for women's equality, her father, W. Godwin, a philosopher and... ... Collier's Encyclopedia

- (Shelley) (1797 1851), English writer. Wife of P. B. Shelley. Romantic disappointment in educational ideals was expressed in the novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818). * * * SHELLEY Mary SHELLEY Mary (née Godwin, ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Wollstonecraft Shelley) English writer (1798 1851). The daughter of the famous English publicist and writer William Godwin and the writer Mary Godwin, née Wollstonecraft, at the age of 16 she became interested in the poet Percy Shelley, followed him to ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Ephron

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Date of birth: August 30, 1797 Place of birth: London Date of death: February 1, 1851 Place of death ... Wikipedia

Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft (30.8.1797, London, ‒ 1.2.1851, ibid.), English writer. Daughter of W. Godwin; wife of P. B. Shelley. The hero of her novel “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus” (1818, Russian translation 1965) creates an artificial “demon”... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Shelley: Shelley, Percy Bysshe English poet, husband of Mary Shelley Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft English novelist, wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley Shelley, Adrienne (1966 2006) American actress Shelley Marsh character in the TV series “South Park” ... Wikipedia

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Date of birth: August 30, 1797 Place of birth: London Date of death: February 1, 1851 Place of death ... Wikipedia

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Date of birth: August 30, 1797 Place of birth: London Date of death: February 1, 1851 Place of death ... Wikipedia

Mary Shelley was the daughter of the philosopher and writer William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, a novelist and passionate advocate for women's rights.

The champion of women's equality first met the writer and philosopher Godwin in her youth. The acquaintance continued years later. Godwin was long past his fifties, Mary Wollstonecraft was approaching her fortieth birthday, when they decided to start living as a family. True, in accordance with their views on independence, they settled in different houses, which provided a pleasant opportunity to exchange letters with or without reason, and go on dates with each other.

Mary Wollstonecraft

But this peculiar idyll did not last long: on August 30, 1797, Mary gave birth to a daughter, and on September 10 she died due to general blood poisoning. Newborn Mary, as well as two-year-old Fanny, the daughter of the deceased from her previous relationship, never knew their mother’s affection and love. Realizing that he could not cope with raising such little ones alone, Godwin soon married his neighbor Mrs. Clermont, a middle-aged widow with two small children, who had already legally given her husband a son.

Claire Clermont, Mary's half-sister

In order to earn money, Godwin had to take up the compilation and publication, under someone else’s name, of school manuals and books for children’s reading. There was poverty in his house and, as Mary later recalled, it was customary not to talk about food. The stepmother had difficulty managing the household and a large, restless family. Native daughter Mrs. Godwin, Claire, the same age as Mary, was a gifted but eccentric girl who dreamed of the stage. And the reserved, quiet Fanny committed suicide at the age of twenty-two, so as not to be a burden to anyone, as she wrote in her suicide note.

William Godwin

A circle of literary and poetic people always swarmed around Godwin, who was engaged in publishing activities. These were mostly his peers, so it is understandable what an impression the young, graceful and handsome Percy Bysshe Shelley, a bright polemicist and brilliant storyteller, made on young Mary. It was quite natural that she fell in love, although the poet, as a rule, came to their house with his wife. However, even before his first meeting with Mary, his family boat developed a significant leak...

Sixteen-year-old Mary is pale and fragile, a thin blonde with with a gaze dark eyes, met her lover at her mother’s grave (the works of Mary Wollstonecraft, her portrait and her final resting place in the cemetery of the Church of St. Pancras were shrines for Mary).

As befits the rules of the romantic genre, the lovers decided to run away. Become legal wife Mary could not have a lover, since Percy was already married. At one time, the innkeeper's pretty daughter, who became friends with his younger sisters, at the age of sixteen, ran away from home with him and became his wife... Now it was Mary Godwin’s turn to leave her parents’ home for the sake of the beautiful Percy. Her half-sister Claire followed her - a hysterical person, prone to adventures and all kinds of risky undertakings.

Claire's intrusive company caused the young couple a lot of inconvenience. During the trip, the lovers had practically no opportunity to be alone. And only very rarely in their common diary can one find such peaceful lines: “Mary and Shelley walked together for three hours.”

Mary and Shelley could talk by the fireplace until the morning about something mysterious and otherworldly. Tired of listening to the “terrible” things, Claire went to her room, but she couldn’t stay alone for long, she came back again and started pestering Shelley with stupid questions. And usually it all ended in a hysterical attack with rolling on the floor. Willy-nilly, I had to switch to the unfortunate relative and “babysit” her for the rest of the night.

During the days of the memorable journey, Mary began to write a story under the eloquent title “Hate”, which, however, remained unfinished, but, as noted in the diary, “gave Shelley great pleasure.”

Young Mary suffered considerable turmoil. Escape with married man, and even together with his sister, did not go unnoticed by the slanderous society. It was even rumored that the impoverished father simply... sold the girls to a depraved poet.

William Godwin

Shelley asked his legal wife, Harriet, who was also expecting their second child, to live next to him and be “friends”: read philosophers together, raise children... They say Mary supported this idea. “The man I once loved has died. And this is a vampire!” – Harriet admitted to her friend.

High London society still remained closed to Mary and her lover, and creditors did not leave them alone. While Shelley rushed around the city, hiding from arrest for debt and trying to make a new loan, pregnant Mary huddled in miserable furnished rooms, exchanging desperate notes with her husband. It’s no wonder that the girl, her first child, was born premature and soon died...

In December 1817, the drowned body of Harriet Shelley was found in London's Hyde Park. Mary was already preparing to take her orphaned children into her home, but the chancellor court denied Shelley’s petition, leaving the children with strangers. Shocked by this injustice and fearing that the children born to Mary would be taken away from him, Shelley finally moved with his family to Italy. However, here, one after another, their children died from disease. Mary's despair was boundless. She was saved only by the birth of her fourth child, a son, Percy Florence...

Mary became the legal wife of her loved one, but this did not make their life any easier. Young Mrs. Shelley was worried about the fate of her half-sister: back in 1816, Claire, in vain seeking admission to the Drury Lane Theater troupe, met Byron, who was a member of the Theater Committee. Having attacked the poet with passionate letters, she soon became his mistress. Their romance continued in Switzerland, where Claire arrived with the unsuspecting Shelley and Mary. Lord Byron “happened” to be in the neighborhood, and soon a rumor spread throughout London that the famous creator of “Childe Harold” and his friend Shelley were in a relationship with two Godwin sisters at once.

Soon Claire gave birth to a girl from Byron. The care of this child fell on Mary's shoulders. To protect Claire's reputation, the birth of Allegra Byron was surrounded by mystery. While waiting for help from the poet, Mary subsequently raised the girl with her young son.

Byron's relationship with Claire had a very tragic ending - however, like everything he touched in his life. Arrogantly deciding that he would raise the child himself, he took the girl from her mother and the caring Shelly couple and placed her in a cold, harsh monastery. The lovely girl, to whom Shelley and Mary became attached as if they were their own, became the subject of bitter contention between Byron and Claire. The mother’s pleas addressed to the poet remained unanswered and caused nothing but contempt for this “fallen woman” who gave birth to a child without marriage. The poor little girl died when she was five years old.

It was during the “Byronic” period that the idea of ​​“Frankenstein” arose in Mary’s head. “Is it any wonder that while working on Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, at the age of nineteen, could already find in her own life experience enough colors to depict the melancholy, horror, despair and sorrow that form the dark psychological coloring of this romantic story?” – literary critics emphasize.

The whole company was forced to stay at home - it was raining, and boat trips on the picturesque lake had to be postponed. Bored Lord Byron suggested that his friends have fun: let everyone make up a scary story and then tell it to others.

Lord Byron

One day, Mary heard her lover discussing with Byron the research of Dr. Darwin, the great-grandfather of the great scientist. This doctor allegedly conducted experiments to create artificial life. At night, a young woman had a terrible dream - a corpse revived with the help of science. Theme for scary story was found...

This is how the novel “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus” was born - her most famous work. The name of the main character in the novel does not belong to a monster who was brought to life by a man, but to a scientist who created a fantastic monster - a symbol of evil and destruction. The monster pursues its creator and gradually exterminates his family, filled with a vengeful feeling for the fact that, having breathed life into him, he was not endowed with a human soul...

Mary has been paying tribute to writing for a long time.

“I scribbled paper in my childhood,” she admitted, “and my favorite pastime was “writing different stories”... From the very beginning, my husband really wanted me to turn out to be a worthy daughter of my parents and write my name on the pages of literary fame. He constantly encouraged me to seek literary fame... Moving and family worries filled all my time; “Literary studies for me boiled down to reading and to my precious communication with his incomparably more developed mind.”

Shelley himself admitted: “How deeply I felt my own insignificance, with how readily I admitted that I was inferior to her in originality, in true nobility and greatness of mind.”

At the time when the book “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus” was published, Mary was barely twenty. (“I think this is an amazing work for a girl of nineteen,” Byron expressed his opinion.)

In the summer of 1822, fate dealt Mary its most cruel blow. The yacht in which Shelley and two companions were returning home from Livorno was caught in a sudden squall; the bodies of the dead were found only a few days later... Shelley's body was burned at the stake on the seashore in the presence of Byron and several friends. The poet's remains are buried in Rome.

“The eight years I spent with him,” Mary wrote a month after her husband’s death, “meant more than the usual full span of human existence.”

All her worries were now given to her son, little Percy Florence. Many years of conflicts began with Sir Timothy Shelley. The poet's stern father, who assigned his grandson a meager allowance, forbade the inconsolable Mary to write anything about her husband, publish his manuscripts, or generally use his name. Otherwise, he threatened to take away her son, the only thing she had left... When the writer risked violating this prohibition by publishing her husband’s “Posthumous Poems,” Sir Timothy immediately stopped paying money for the maintenance of his grandson; Most of the circulation had to be withdrawn from sale.

Desperate Mary was looking for a means of livelihood. “Until all the circumstances are clarified, I will be your banker,” Byron assured her, always generous in his intentions, but not in his actions. This good impulse, as one would expect, shared the fate of many like him.

To give her son a decent education, Mary Shelley tirelessly earned her living through literary work: she edited, compiled biographical sketches about foreign writers, translated, reviewed, most often anonymously. On title pages her novels were listed instead of her last name: “Author of Frankenstein.”

Theodore Von Holst

Little Percy grew up as a passive child, not showing the fatherly “genius” that Mary hoped for. After completing his studies, he rushed into politics, but soon realized that this was not his business. In 1844, Sir Timothy died, and Mary's family was freed from the oppression of financial worries. Twenty-five-year-old Percy, having married the young widow Jane St. John, decided to start organizing the ruined estates he had inherited. Mary and her daughter-in-law got along simply ideal relationship. The three of them went everywhere. And only sister Claire, who suddenly fell like a bolt from the blue, brought already slightly forgotten chaos and confusion into their measured life. After another visit, especially generous with hysterical antics, she was asked not to bother coming again. “She has been poisoning my existence since the age of two,” Mary confided to her daughter-in-law.

Shattered by paralysis, Mary Shelley passed away at the age of fifty-four. IN last period she was preparing a biography of her husband and his works for publication, simply enjoying a cozy, calm existence next to her son and daughter-in-law, who faithfully looked after her and were there until the end.

Engraving by George Stodart after a monument of Mary and Percy Shelley by Henry Weekes (1853)

The story of the "automatic man" Frankenstein, who has a huge and at the same time blind destructive force, became especially popular in the 20th century - the century of technical and other revolutions. Dozens of feature and animated films, performances, and rock operas have appeared on a topic that concerns humanity. Daredevils from literature rushed to “finish” the continuation of the famous novel. But the genius of the lady who created the monster remained unconquered for them...

Text by E.N.Oboimina and O.V.Tatkova

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Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft's family was typical of the time. Her father was a strict head of the family - now they would call him an alcoholic and an abuser. Either receiving an unexpected inheritance or squandering it, he moved his family from house to house, each time trying to settle closer to the pub. Calm and even caring when sober, under the influence he turned into an animal. At night he raped his wife, and once, while drunk, he hung a dog in the yard - Mary could not hear a dog howl without tears all her life. The girl defended herself and her mother from her cruel father and no less cruel older brother, but instead of gratitude she received reproach for this. Ironically, Mary inherited her main qualities - assertiveness, the desire to go her own way in everything - from her cruel father, and not from her weak-willed mother.

Mary was no more fortunate with her education than with her family, like all women in the 18th century. The older brother studied history, mathematics and Latin at school.

Mary couldn't wait to go to school, but found that education for girls was limited to addition and embroidery. Excessive knowledge according to the concepts of that enlightened age only harmed a woman.

She also failed to make friends at school: the wayward girl was harassed by both teachers and classmates. Mary's only friend was the girl Jane Arden, the daughter of the self-taught scientist John Arden. John supported the interests of his daughter and her friend, slipping them books and letting them look at the starry sky through a telescope.

Another friend of Mary's was Fanny Blood. Her father was also a drunkard and a gambler, but, however, he did not beat his children. However, he was not able to support his family, so Fanny, a talented illustrator, provided for everyone. Jane Arden taught Mary to “see failure as a blessing.” And Fanny showed that a woman can save herself from the tyranny of men - cruel or, on the contrary, weak.

The further she went, the more independent - at that time almost arrogant - Mary became. Tired of her family, she left for London, where she became a translator and writer - with the help of her friend, the liberal publisher Joseph Johnson.

A career as a writer was unthinkable for a woman, but Mary wrote that she was going to become “the first of a new kind.” She tried her hand at fiction, but it was her daring philosophical treatises that made Mary famous.

In 1790 she published A Vindication of the Rights of Man, which attacked conservative criticism French Revolution. And two years later, the scandalous treatise “Defense of Women’s Rights” was published.

Contemporaries considered “women’s rights” to be as absurd as “animal rights.” And even more absurd, because the first laws protecting horses and dogs from violence appeared twenty years before the laws protecting women. At the end of the 18th century, people staged revolutions, fought to abolish slavery, challenged religion, but few thought about women's rights.

Mary Shelley

Wollstonecraft stated as a matter of course: women should have the same rights as men; women must receive a decent education. To those who argued that women could not get an education because they were stupid, Wollstonecraft threw it in their faces: no, they are stupid because you have denied them access to good schools.

In 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft traveled to Paris, where the monarchy had just been overthrown. There she fell in love with a young American businessman and diplomat, Gilbert Imlay. Their relationship was short-lived. Mary, already an accomplished writer, helped Gilbert with his novel, and a year later gave birth to her first daughter, Fanny. “My little girl is beginning to suck so manfully that her father impudently claims that she will write the second part of Women's Rights,” Mary joked in a letter to a friend. But soon the father wound up his affairs and hurriedly fled to London to see some actress.

A single woman with a child born out of wedlock is an unenviable fate. Mary Wollstonecraft tried to commit suicide twice - fortunately, unsuccessfully, and soon regained her courage. Mary began to write again and returned to the circle of London intellectuals, where short-lived happiness finally awaited her.

Mary Wollstonecraft began a whirlwind romance with William Godwin, philosopher and forerunner of anarchism. In March 1797, it turned out that Mary was expecting a child, and the lovers decided to get married. Godwin, in his philosophical treatise “Political Justice,” advocated the abolition of the institution of marriage. “Marriage, as we understand it, is a monopoly, and the worst of monopolies,” he wrote, but in his own life he decided to make an exception. He did not want his daughter to grow up illegitimate and adjusted his anarchist views.

Marriage, of course, needs to be eradicated, but in our backward times this necessary evil must be tolerated.

A few months later, the daring feminist and young mother passed away.

In 1798, Godwin published Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, where he spoke about Mary Wollstonecraft with love and shocking frankness, without keeping silent about his wife’s extramarital affairs and her suicide attempts. Those around him said that Godwin “stripped his dead wife naked” and accused him of insensitivity. In a cruel irony, the memoirs that were supposed to perpetuate the memory of Mary became an indictment.

Until the end of the century, Wastoncraft retained the image of a vicious woman who did not know her place and paid for it. Some, like the sociologist Harriet Martineau, saw her not as a scoundrel but as a “hapless victim of passion.” Until the 20th century, people refused to accept her for who she was: a daring, desperate, not always happy, but a woman who knew her worth. But few were inspired and supported by her path. Among them are Elizabeth Browning, George Sand, Virginia Woolf and own daughter Mary Shelley.

Still from the film "Frankenstein" (1931)

My daughter was luckier in life. She grew up without a mother, but her father surrounded the girl with love. He taught her to sort out letters by walking around her mother’s tombstone, and to put them into words using her mother’s books. At night, her father read to her “Tales of Mother Goose” by Perrault and La Fontaine’s fables. The poet Samuel Coleridge often came to visit, and when visiting the Godwins he appeared not as a stern romantic poet, but as an inventor and wit.

My daughter also couldn’t sit still: at the age of 14 she went to independent travel to Scotland. On the way, the girl, who was suffering from seasickness, was robbed, but even this did not stop her.

Two years later, Mary Godwin met Percy Shelley, a handsome young blue-eyed rake and rebel. He was expelled from Oxford for an anti-religious pamphlet, he dreamed of leading a rebellion against the crown in Ireland and ran away from home with his sixteen-year-old bride, for which he was disinherited. Mary was bewitched, and the feeling turned out to be mutual. Shelley immediately abandoned his passion and again fled with his sixteen-year-old bride - this time to Paris.

In 1816, Mary (she had already taken the surname Shelley), Percy and their newborn son William, named after his grandfather, went on holiday to Geneva in the company of Lord Byron and the doctor John William Polidori.

This wet and cold summer became one of the most important in the history of science fiction. Gloomy weather, reading German ghost stories and conversations about Erasmus Darwin's galvanic experiments inspired Mary to write Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus.

“I stepped out of childhood into life for the first time,” Mary said about that summer. Later, Mary Shelley wrote several more short stories, good, but much less successful. However, even one “Frankenstein” was enough for her to go down in literary history forever.

The personal life of the younger Mary was - according to all the canons of romanticism - beautiful, short and tragic. Her first daughter lived only thirteen days. The second, Clara Everina, died a year later. Three year old son William did not survive the cholera epidemic. Of the four children, only one survived. And Percy's husband was caught in a storm off the coast of Italy in May 1822. There was no trace left of the schooner. The body of the poet with volumes of Sophocles in his pocket washed ashore only a few days later.

Percy Shelley

Mary Shelley outlived her husband by almost thirty years. She devoted her whole life to literature and the continuation of her mother's traditions. She helped women who were rejected by society. Women suffering from an unhappy marriage could not demand a divorce in the 19th century. But they could flee, and Shelley risked her reputation to provide them with protection. Even at the end of her life, dying of a brain tumor, she wrote with a trembling hand to the Royal Literary Fund, trying to get a pension for a woman she barely knew. When the foundation refused, Shelley herself bequeathed £50 to her for the rest of her life. Being the daughter of a feminist in the 19th century was not easy; living by its principles is even more difficult. Not everyone liked Mary Shelley. She was insulted in person and behind her eyes, blackmailed, and accused of plagiarism.

According to many enemies, the author of Frankenstein was not Mary, but Percy Shelley. The main argument in favor of this theory is that a woman cannot write a good novel.

In fact, the parallels in the work of the spouses are explained in an offensively simple way: they used the same notebook.

The problems did not end with accusations and threats. The father-in-law threatened to leave his grandson without an inheritance if Mary Shelley dared to publish her husband's manuscripts or memories of him. Translations and essays by Mary Shelley were published anonymously, and the covers of the novels were written “Author of Frankenstein.” Mary's name was an open secret, but releasing a book with female name the cover still had unheard of audacity.

And after her death, even well-wishers denied Mary Shelley’s merits.

The author of the obituary in The Literary Gazette reported that the writer's main merit was not Frankenstein, but the fact that she was the wife of her husband and the daughter of her father. Almost all of Mary Shelley's works were forgotten over time, and only the popularity of Frankenstein prevented them from completely sinking into oblivion.

Two Marys, mother and daughter, lived different lives, but in many ways they are similar. And it’s not just about the common name, it’s not about the fact that they both had illegitimate children, it’s not about how many trials they had to endure. Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley were united by the will to live and the desire to live it with their heads held high. This alone was a feat in an age when a woman was an almost powerless creature. But they wrote their names in the history of literature and philosophy, shaking the unjust foundations.

Still from the film "Frankenstein" (1931)

Everyone has probably heard of Frankenstein. But not many people know who invented it. We will talk about the British writer of the early nineteenth century - Mary Shelley (biography and interesting facts from her life are waiting for you below). It turns out that it was she who created this mystical, creepy image, which is now so mercilessly exploited by the creators of horror films.

What is Mary Shelley famous for?

This beautiful graceful woman became famous not only for her creativity and worldwide famous novel, but also interesting and complex turns of life’s path.

Young Mary, at the age of 18, created the world's first Gothic novel as a bet with George Byron and her husband. This is what made her famous, because, in fact, the girl introduced a new genre into literature.

Nowadays, many people associate the name Frankenstein with horror films. Few people know that the image of the creepy creature created by a mad scientist was not invented by “filmmakers”, but by this beautiful, spiritual lady - Mary Shelley. You will find photos of her portraits in the article materials.

But Shelley is known not only for her creativity. For connoisseurs of the poetry of romanticism, her surname will certainly remind you of the most famous British romantic poet, friend of George Byron - Percy Bysshe Shelley, with whom, according to all the canons of romanticism, young beauty ran away from her father's house.

Mary Shelley: biography, summary. Childhood

The writer was born in a suitable place for the future queen of the Gothic novel - in the capital of Foggy Albion, London.

Her full name- Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. Thanks to her husband and only beloved man, the poet Percy Shelley, she began to be called Mary Shelley. The years of the writer's life are 1797-1851.

The girl was born into the family of the then famous feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin, a journalist famous for his anarchist and atheistic views. The future writer's mother died after a difficult birth complicated by an infection, leaving her orphaned father with a newborn Mary and two-year-old Fanny (her daughter from a previous love affair).

Although the father grieved over the death of his beloved wife, he soon married again with his neighbor, the widow Mrs. Clermont, who had two children of his own. Eldest daughter- Claire Clermont - became Mary's friend and even ran away with her and her lover to France, and then Switzerland, where she began to annoy the couple with her exaltation and obsession.

Despite the fact that education for girls at that time was considered completely unnecessary, Mary’s father gave her a decent knowledge base at home and helped her daughter learn.

Shelley Mary. Love and Escape

When the girl was sixteen years old, she met the young poet Percy Shelley. According to biographers, he and his wife Harriet once came to Godwin’s family store. There he saw Mary and seemed to be fascinated by the girl from the first meeting, because he began to appear there more and more often, but without his wife. Shelley's marriage was already cracking at the seams, although three years ago he abandoned everything and ran away with Harriet to France. There he also took sixteen-year-old Mary, who was madly in love with him, from her home. A few weeks later, the lovers, but completely penniless romantics, returned to the father of the future founder of the Gothic novel. But, to the surprise and chagrin of both, he was very hurt by his daughter’s act and said that he did not want to see her anymore.

Now Shelley must completely provide for the family. Mary madly loved her named husband and did not grieve at all about life in her father’s house. Although she made attempts to improve relations with her father in the future.

At first, the romantic poet and the future writer perfectly understood and complemented each other. But over time, they began to have disagreements. Percy, while proclaiming pure, bright love in his poetry, was actually quite frivolous about marital fidelity, which shocked and offended Shelley Mary. Nevertheless, she retained love and devotion to her husband throughout her life.

Maturity and family

After romantic youth came the time of bitter maturity for the writer. Her named husband could not become her official husband, since he was not divorced from Harriet. The poet was forced to provide for children and ex-wife, plus myself and Mary Shelley. Children in their relationship were born and died, which incredibly hurt the young woman. Only the writer's fourth son, Percy Florence, survived and saved his mother from despair.

In 1817, Shelley's wife Harriet drowned in a pond. They wanted to shelter her children Mary and Percy, but the public did not allow the poet, covered in dirty rumors, to do this.

Mary's sister Fanny committed suicide. At 19, Shelley Mary had seen enough to know what despair, pain, detachment and spiritual loneliness were. It was these feelings that she instilled in her monster hero in the novel.

Creation

Mary Shelley, born into a family of talented and free-thinking parents, probably could not have chosen a different path. In her memoirs, she often admitted that since childhood she “smeared paper” different stories. Before the novel “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus” she wrote a lot. Among her early works, an unfinished novel called “Hate” should be highlighted.

Young Mary Shelley (her biography is briefly summarized above) entertained her husband with her essays, but many researchers believe that Percy was unfavorable towards his wife’s more serious steps in literature. Perhaps he was afraid that Mary might outshine him with her successes.

Friendship with Byron

As you know, Percy Shelley was a close friend

Mary, Claire, was madly in love with the young lord who was destined to become the founder of Romanticism, and literally pursued him. The poet, not distinguished by purity of morals, soon responded to the advances of the persistent girl, and they became lovers. Soon this couple had a girl, Allegra, whose fate turned out to be tragic due to the extravagance and frivolity of her parents.

The story of the creation of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and Percy’s early and unpredictable death (he died while ferrying George Byron’s yacht “Ariel”) at the age of 29 are also connected with Byron.

The history of the creation of the novel "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus"

When lovers Mary and Percy, looking for shelter, moved to Switzerland, their neighbor, by the will of fate, turned out to be Byron. On long rainy evenings by the fireplace, friends told each other scary stories. One day they decided to compete in writing creepy short stories. As a result of the dispute, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein appeared. The date of “birth” of the work is approximately 1818.

"Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus." What is the novel about?

Frankenstein has become a flagship in the genre of Gothic and fantasy novels. In 1818 the work was published anonymously. Only in 1831 did the creator give him her name.

So who is this Frankenstein, whose name has mistakenly become a common nickname? creepy monster, and the image inspired talented people to create many science fiction films?

In fact, Frankenstein is not the monster itself, but its creator.

Once a metaphysician scientist Victor with a surname already known to us performed a very complex and dangerous experiment. He strove to study the most hidden corners of science. One day he managed to discover the secret of life and death. Knowledge gave him the ability to revive a dead body. In anticipation of a brilliant discovery, he did this and got a result that horrified him. The creature he created seemed so creepy to the scientist that he fled from his laboratory and from the city.

The plot of the main work of Mary Shelley

The narrative begins from the moment when the explorer and gold miner Walton goes to North Pole. On the way, he finds a man exhausted and on the verge of madness. On the ship, he talks about his terrible experiment.

He was able to create and revive the giant, but was so scared that he abandoned it in the laboratory and fled. After some time, Victor learned about the death of his younger brother. William was brutally murdered. And although the maid Justine was declared his murderer, Frankenstein knew who was really to blame. His guesses were confirmed when, returning home, he found his monster there.

And then there was a meeting between the creator and the subject of his experiments. The creature said that for a long time lived in a man's barn and learned to speak there. The monster was incredibly lonely and wanted to make friends with the blind old man. But the old man's children beat him severely, mocking his terrible appearance. Tossing about in despair, the monster found Victor's diary, from where he learned about the history of his creation.

After a long conversation, the monster asked to make him a girlfriend. They left for a remote island, where Victor began work. When the new creation was almost created, he suddenly realized the danger of this union of two creatures and destroyed the “bride.” The enraged monster ran away and killed close friend Frankenstein - Henri.

Victor returned home and married his first love, Elizabeth. On her wedding night, a monster entered her bedroom and killed her. Victor's father died from the blow he received. So the entire family of the scientist died overnight. Frankenstein vowed to kill the monster and rushed after him to the North Pole. The monster disappeared, and Volton found Victor. Shocked by the story, the researcher turned his ship back. Along the way, Victor died, and on his ship the explorer found the monster itself. The monster admitted that he repents and wants to commit suicide. With this oath on his lips, he fled from the ship.

The place of the novel “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus” in world literature

As we have already said, the work was the first in its genre. Just as Edgar Allan Poe created the detective genre, so Mary Shelley wrote the first in the world. Her work created a sensation in the small company consisting of the poets Byron and Shelley. The novel, moreover, was a fairly serious success almost immediately after publication. And to this day it has not lost its literary and historical value.

Writing in a completely new vein, Mary Shelley, whose husband and children were her inspiration, created her novel on a dare. And as a result, he put her on a par with the great novelists of world literature.

“Frankenstein” owes its success to the masterfully depicted images of a brilliant scientist who was able to create something great, but did not find the strength to be responsible for his creation, and a monster who, despite his terrible appearance and bloody hands from murder, strives for people, wants to become friend and lover. The monster understands that humanity will not accept him, because he is completely different. His atrocities are an outpouring of pain and suffering, a silent reproach to the creator who treated him so cruelly.

The writer leaves the end of the work open, giving readers a chance to figure out for themselves what will happen to the creepy, useless creature. The Creator died, but his deeds will live in the monster, who also knows how to suffer and be sad and is looking for a place in the human world.

In conclusion

The English writer Mary Shelley lived a life full of sorrows and anxieties. But she managed to maintain a bright, pure soul and faith in love. It was love that was the goal of her life. In the name of her love of art, Mary created her amazing novel about Frankenstein and his monster, which is still read and studied with pleasure.

Mary was a worthy wife of a great writer and a talented author.