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Analysis Of Mary Shelley 's ' Frankenstein '

Decent Essays

Evelyn Park

Mrs. Dudley

AP English

August 25, 2014

Frankenstein

Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, was born on August 30, 1797 to William

Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. Sadly, after giving birth, Mary’s mother died shortly after.

Shelley learned many things about her mother through writings her mother left behind. Shelley’s

mother was a feminist who encouraged woman to think and act for themselves, eventually

writing A Vindication of the Rights of Women. As she grew up, she became a passionate reader

and a scholar and through her father, knew about many important men of the time. Although

there were many complications, on November of 1816, Mary got married to a poet named

Percy Bysshe Shelley. In the summer of 1816, Shelley decided to travel to the Swiss Alps with

Percy. The couple stayed inside a lodge with a friend and a neighbor, Lord Byron, entertaining

themselves with ghost stories. Within themselves, they decided to compete to see who can write

the best ghost story, hence, the start of Frankenstein. The relationship between the Mary and

Percy was very literary; Percy helped edit Mary’s manuscripts for Frankenstein. Unfortunately,

three of her four children died in infancy and in 1822, Percy drowned off the shore of Tuscany,

leaving Mary a widow and a single mother. On February 1851, Mary died in London by a

serious illness.

Frankenstein was published in 1818 during the Romantic Period. There were other events

going on at this

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