Mary Shelley’s story, and the origins of Frankenstein, is actually quite fantastic. Her father, William Godwin, was a popular intellectual and philosophical thinker, and her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was one of the premier forward-thinking and pro-feminine leaders of her day. Margaret Brantley, in her introductory essay to the novel, claims that Shelley “was born in 1797 into the most celebrated intellectual and literary marriage of the day.” Shelley’s life, however, was not without tragedy. She never met her mother, who had died days after giving birth to Mary, and was raised in a household that was less than harmonious. In 1814, she left home with Percy Bysshe Shelley to begin a new life. You can explore more about Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley using the links below.

Mary Shelley was involved in a bit of scandal during the time she wrote Frankenstein, and before and after. Affairs, illegitimate children, suicides, deaths–all of this starts to answer the question of where she found the inspiration to write her novel. After you read through the various biographies and information you find about Mary, take five minutes and answer the following questions on your handout: What aspects of Mary Shelley’s life do you connect with? What aspects do you question? Refer back to the biographies that you explored in your response.