To understand her writing you must first know her background starting from her parent’s lives prior to her birth. Her mother, Mary Wollenstonecraft an early feminist, who, in1792, published A Vindication of the Rights of Man. This was an excellent book that showed Mary W. was way ahead of her time. Two years later she had an illegitimate child Fanny Imlay by the American industrialist Gilbert Imlay. After her failed relationship with Imlay, Wollenstonecraft met the political philosopher and novelist William Godwin in 1796. Five months

Mary Shelley’s father remarried in 1801 to his neighbor, the widowed Mary Jane Claremont, who brought two children to the Godwin household, Charles and Claire Claremont. A fifth sibling was added in 1803 with the birth of William Godwin, Jr. Like other girls, Mary was educated at home, in spite of her own mother’s persuasive arguments for the institutionalized education of girls in The Rights of Woman. So, she absorbed the intellectual atmosphere created by her father and many of England’s leading writers and thinkers, including the poet and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge, scientists like Humphry Davy, and her father’s dear friend William Nicholson. Importantly, Davy and Nicholson were the two foremost experimenters with galvanic electricity in the early nineteenth century who later had a noticeable impact on the writing of Frankenstein. Mary’s reading included popular gothic novels like William Beckford’s Vanthek (1786) as well as books by her own mother, whom she idolized. At the age of ten Mary had her first experience with publication, when the Juvenile Library printed her witty poem, Mounseer Nongtonpaw: or, The Discoveries of John Bull in a Trip to Paris. By 1812 it was in a fourth edition.

During the four years they spent in Italy Percy became established as one of the most prominent poets in the English language. This period likewise furthered the career of Mary Shelley as “The Author of Frankenstein,” the axiom, which she continued with her anonymous publication with a second novel, Valpegra: or, The Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca (1823). Three of Mary and Percy’s children died in infancy, and Mary fell into a deep depression that was barely dispelled by the birth in 1819 of Percy Florence, her only surviving child. During this time, her marriage suffered greatly, nevertheless, Mary and Percy continued their rigorous studies and ambitious writing. The two also enjoyed a clique of stimulating friends, notably Lord Byron and Leigh Hunt. On July 16, 1822, Percy sailing in the “Don Juan” to meet Leigh and Marianne Hunt got caught in a storm and drowned. Suddenly Mary found herself without sufficient means to remain in Italy and after a year returned permanently to England with her son.

After Percy’s death, melancholy and hardship marked Mary Shelley’s life as she struggled to support herself and her son. Sir Timothy Shelley (Percy’s father) offered some money, but demanded that she keep the Shelley name out of print. In addition to producing four novels after Percy’s death, Mary contributed a series of biographical and critical sketches to Chamber’s Cabinet Cyclopedia, as well as occasional short stories to the litera

Some common words found in the essay are:
Italy Shelley’s, Looking Mary, Percy Mary, Modern Prometheus, Mary Wollenstonecraft, London Mary’s, June November, Godwin Shelley, Trip Paris, Perkin Warbeck, mary shelley’s, mary wollenstonecraft, william godwin, lord byron, percy mary, sir timothy, percy bysshe shelley, leigh hunt, mary percy, wife harriet, november 1812,
Approximate Word count = 1878
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)