Mary Shelley’s life

1. Describe Percy’s view of love and marriage when he started his relation with Mary. When and why did the relation change?

Percy has a view of love as a free relationship, and then he fell in love with Mary, a radical and an idealist like him. Due to his perspective about love he disliked the institution of marriage, stating that it was not necessary if two people loved each other. Although his opinion in 1814, Shelley fell in love with Mary Godwin, he showed up one with a pistol, threatening to commit suicide. Soon reconciled, Shelley and Mary later traveled around Europe with Claire. By the time they returned to London, Mary was pregnant

2. Why is death relevant in Mary Shelley’s life? Mention three events of this kind.

Death is very relevant for Mary Shelley since it was around her following her life. The first event was her mother’s death. The second one and one of the most relevant was the death of her first child. A daughter named Clara. The baby is two months premature and dies only a few weeks after birth. Then Mary Godwin's older half-sister Fanny Imlay Godwin commits suicide.

3. Why was Mary unable to print Frankenstein? What does this tell about the role of women at that time?

During the time Shelley was writing Frankenstein, females were considered to be lower class citizens in relation to their male counterparts. They were seen as possessions for men, protected by men, and only useful in order to carry out their duties of daughter, sister, mother, and wife that was the reason why Mary was unable to print Frankenstein. It was unheard of for them to complain or even act as if their lives were not perfect.

4. How many of Mary’s children die and how?

Three of their own children died soon after birth. Her first child was two months premature and dies only a few weeks after birth. Mary Shelley’s third child, a daughter named Clara Everina contracts dysentery and dies in Italy. William, her second child also died because of Malaria when he was three years old.

5. When and how did Percy die?

Percy Shelley died in Jul 8, 1822. He drowns in the Gulf of Spezia while sailing with a friend. A devastated Mary Shelley has his body cremated.

6. What did Mary try to do with Percy’s works after his dead?

Made a widow at age 24, Mary Shelley worked hard to support herself and her son. She wrote several more novels, including Valperga and the science fiction tale The Last Man (1826). She also devoted herself to promoting her husband's poetry and preserving his place in literary history. For several years, Shelley faced some opposition from her late husband's father who had always disapproved his son's bohemian lifestyle.

7. Was Frankenstein successful while Mary was alive?

In 1818, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus debuted as a new novel from an anonymous author. Many thought that Percy Bysshe Shelley had written it since he penned its introduction. The book proved to be a huge success.

8. Describe Byron’s relation with Claire.

Claire Clairmont had been Byron’s mistress in London and was pregnant with his child. At this point Byron had lost interes

t in Claire. Bryon, Claire and her sister Mary rented houses in close proximity on the shores of Lake Geneva and spent much time together, socializing together in the evenings and exploring local sites of interest during the day.

9. Mention three characteristics of the romantic period reflected in Frankenstein.

Romanticism is concerned with the individual more than with society. The romantic period was characterized by a marked departure from the ideas and techniques of the literary period that preceded it, which was more scientific and rational in nature. Three characteristics of the romantic period reflected in Frankenstein are:

• Love of Nature "...I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves, and fills me with delight." (Pg. 9)

• Belief in the power of the individual “…do I not deserve to accomplish some great purpose? My life might have been passed in ease and luxury; but I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path.” (Pg. 11)

• Desire to explore the unknown “This breeze, which has traveled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes. Inspirited by this wind of promise, my day dreams become more fervent and vivid.” (Pg. 9)