"What terrified me will terrify others; and I need only describe the spectre which had haunted my midnight pillow."
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (née Godwin; August 30th, 1797 - February 1st, 1851), was an English novelist, who is best remembered as the author of Frankenstein, widely considered to be the first science fiction novel.
She was also married to Percy Bysshe Shelley, a famous Romantic poet and philosopher, whose works she edited and promoted. She wrote other books, such as history and travel books, but Frankenstein is her only known work, which has also become a classic in Gothic literature.
Biography[]
Early Life/Education[]
Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was born on August 30th, 1797, in Somers Town, London, England. She was the daughter of William Godwin, a philosopher and political writer, and Mary Wollstonecraft, a feminist who wrote The Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). Wollstonecraft died from complications of puerperal fever on September 10th, 1797, so Mary was raised by her father Godwin, along with her older half-sister Fanny Imlay, who was Wollstonecraft’s daughter from a previous relationship with American army officer, Gilbert Imlay. A year after his wife’s death, Godwin published Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman as a heartfelt tribute.
The first few years of Mary’s life were idyllic. She was a mischievous, lively child who her father adored and offered her a rich education through his philosophical teachings, such as taking her and Fanny out on educational outings. In addition, she would form a strong attachment to her father.
In 1801, when Mary was four years old, Godwin remarried his neighbour Mary Jane Clairmont, a well-educated widow with two young children from her previous marriage, Charles and Claire Clairmont. They have one son together, William Godwin Jr., who was born in 1803. Mary’s relationship with her stepmother was estranged, as she resented her of her affections over her father, and that she loved her children more than her.
Godwin was part of elite social circles and he often hosted famous guests, such as artists, writers and philosophers, at his home. During these visits, Mary frequently rubbed elbows with well-known guests such as English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge and former American vice president Aaron Burr.
Mary never went to school, so she was educated at home. Godwin encouraged his daughter to use her imagination to learn, and he allowed her access to his library filled with books by famous English authors. Mary enjoyed reading, and she would read aloud books to her father and his guests, and would even read aloud to her mother at her mother’s grave at St. Peters Churchyard in Bournemouth. The Godwins even opened their own publishing firm, M.J. Godwin, and a shop selling children’s books.