Mary Shelley's life

1. Mary
Shelley
1797-1851

2. Contents
01
Early years and
education
03
Married life and work
1816-1844
02
Life and career
(Writing Frankenstein)
1812-1816
04
Final years and
reputation 1844- 1851

3. Early life
1812-1816
01

4. Who is Mary Shelley?
• Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin
• English writer known for her novel
“Frankenstein”.
• She was born on August 30, 1797, in
London, England.
• The daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and
William Godwin
• Married to Percy Bysshe Shelley

5. Chlid Mary
● The mother’s death after her birth
● Godwin took care of Mary and her sisters “Fanny Imlay” and
“Claire Clairmont”.
● Her life with her step-mother
● Mary’s passion for writing

6. Mary’s Education
● Mary did not have formal education.
● She spent most of the time in her father’s library.
● She was educated by those who visited her father:
 Charles Lamb
 Wiliam Hazlit
 Samuel Toylor Coleridge
 Wiliam Wordsworth

7. Life and career
“Frankenstain 1816”
02

8. Life and career, 1812-1816
● Her first meeting with Percy.
● Their elopement together with Claire
Clairmont.

9. —Journals of Mary Shelley
“The soul only enjoys serenity in passing but it
constrains the imagination too much, so that it
always comes back to the state it finds more
suitable, a state of agitation”.

10. ● In September 1814, they returned to
England.
● 1815, Percy’s grandfather died.
● 1816, Mary gave birth to her son William.

11. The writing of
Frankenstein
• 1816, Mary traveled with
Percy, her son and her sister
to Geneva.
• Lord Byron’s house: the
contest.
• The birth of Frankenstein.

12. Married life
03

13. Married life
● Percy Shelley the author of 2 gothic romances.
● He was married to Harriet.
● Percy and Mary married in 1816.
● In 1818 Frankenstein was published.
● All their children died except Percy Florence.

14. Mary’s life after her husband’s lost
● In July 1822, her husband Percy was lost while sailing.
● She was overcome with grief, and she never married again.
● She had the ability to write and raise her son.
● “I have always felt certain that I should never again change my
name” Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.

15. Work from 1826-1837
• The last Man was published in
1826.
• Lodore her fifth novel in 1835.
• Falkner her sixth and final novel
in 1837.

16. Final years
04

17. Mary’s final years
● She wrote her last work “Rambles in
Germany and Italy”.
● She got blackmailed.
● Timothy Shelley’s death.

18. ● She returned to work on her husband’s
biography.
● The illness ended her plans.
● Her death in 1851.

19. Her reputation
• She was best known for her novel
“Frankeinstein”.
• She got critized for her works.
• The woman’s movement.
• Frankenstein became very
popular.

20. Her reputation
• There were comedic versions
of Frankenstein.
• The distoration of the original
work.

21. Thanks