Mary Shelley: A Study of Her Work and Writing Advice

Did you know that Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein before the word “scientist” had even been invented? Shelley was a true marvel of her time. She began writing Frankenstein in 1816 at just eighteen years old, publishing her work anonymously at twenty years old, and from the very beginning, there have been those who have sought to discount the genius of her work. Some have gone as far as to maintain that her husband, the poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley, is the true author of Frankenstein, which demonstrates the lengths many will go to overlook a young woman with incredibly rare talent.

Shelley’s writing transformed the literary world, prompting many who fell in love with her classic gothic horror to continue exploring the genre afterward or to write something of their own. Her pioneer work has inspired countless others, with critics admiring Shelley’s work from the very beginning and authors like Sarah Maria Griffin, Roger Corman, and Peter Ackroyd going on to write their own versions of Frankenstein after reading the infamous story. It’s clear that Shelley’s influence is vast and untamed.

In this article, we will discuss Shelley’s work, influence, advice, and the life experiences that have made her the writer we’ve come to know and admire today.

The Daughter of Two Feminists

Shelley lived a life of tragedy from an early age. Shelley’s mother, the writer, philosopher, and activist Mary Wollstonecraft, suffered from complications while giving birth to Shelley and died just ten days later. Shelley was raised by her father, the journalist, political philosopher, and writer William Godwin, and while her brother began his extensive education at a young age, Shelley remained at home to be educated by Godwin. Later, Shelley would write, “My education was neglected, yet I was passionately fond of reading.” This would not be the first time her gender stood in her way, but it would also not be the last time she would persevere through the inequality she would experience throughout her lifetime. Shelley has said that, “I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves," and she maintained these beliefs on female empowerment throughout her life.

Wollstonecraft has been called the first modern feminist by many. In 1792, at just thirty-three years old, she published The Vindication of the Rights of Woman, with the novel immediately garnering a positive response from the public. The work advocated for female equality in marriage, policies, and other areas of life, and most notably argued for female education to be considered a universal human right, making Wollstonecraft the first female writer to have campaigned for such a concept. Wollstonecraft clearly had a great impact on her daughter, with Shelley writing that, “The memory of my mother has always been the pride and delight of my life." In an era where women were not able to get an education, initiate divorce, retain the rights to their children after divorce, or protect themselves from domestic violence, William Godwin was a feminist in his own regard, having expressed his support for feminist ideas in his numerous love letters to Wollstonecraft. This makes Shelley the daughter of two individuals who believed in gender equality and who left her well-equipped to forge a path of her own.

The Power of Journaling

Journaling can offer us unique insights about ourselves that we may otherwise have never uncovered. Many can attest to the ways journaling has allowed them to see problems from a different perspective, come up with new solutions to their challenges, or simply find comfort in writing about the pain they are experiencing. Journaling can also be a wonderful way to log our most joyful memories, keep track of our goals, and enhance our writing capabilities. Shelley’s early attempts at writing came in the form of journaling. Although she never explicitly discussed its many benefits, it’s likely that Shelley valued much of what journaling provided for her. She often wrote short stories about life at her father’s estate and about the philosophical ideas she learned from his homeschooling, but she very rarely divulged the powerful emotions she was most certainly experiencing during the more challenging moments of her life. Shelley benefited from a journaling style that was somewhat restrictive in terms of expression, but it may also be beneficial to experiment with a free-form, stream-of-consciousness style of journaling. Journaling can allow you to free yourself from a self-proclaimed writing style that you’ve honed from your professional writing pursuits and to relish in the freedom to experiment with new ways of allowing your ideas to freely flow from the mind to the page.

Just weeks after giving birth to her first child with Percy Shelley, their daughter tragically died. Shelley went on to write about the dreams she experienced following the loss of their child in her journal, detailing that she had a “...dream that my little baby had come to life again—and it had only been cold and that we had rubbed it by the fire and it had lived—I awake and find no baby—I think about that little thing all day.” This would not be the only child of hers who would die prematurely, with Shelley going on to suffer from the deaths of two more children, with only one child outliving her. Many believe the horrific experiences Shelley underwent helped her formulate the early ideas that would later grow into Frankenstein. Shelley has gone on to write that, “Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of the void but out of chaos.” Shelley has most certainly experienced great chaos, but she has also created greatness from her horror. It's clear that Shelley advocates for the writers of today to create their stories not from pure imagination, but from what they themselves have endured.

More Than Frankenstein

Many know the infamous story of how the idea for Frankenstein was born, but let's remind ourselves! In 1816, Shelley, along with Percy Shelley, their young baby, and Claire Clairmont, Shelley’s stepsister, arrived at Lake Geneva for a vacation. Later, the poet Lord Byron, who had a relationship with Clairmont, arrived as well. They would spend their evenings inside, away from the horrid weather, and it was Byron who would challenge the group to write a ghost story better than any of them had heard before. Shelley, much to her distress, could not come up with a story of her own until one night when she had a vision while trying to fall asleep. She wrote, “I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half vital motion." The seed of Frankenstein had been born.

While she is most known for this incredible piece of work, there is still much to be admired in the other novels she wrote during her short lifetime. Her 1817 travel book, History of a Six Weeks’ Tour, was co-authored by Shelley and her husband and delves into the European tour that they embarked on in 1814. The narrative, which was largely authored by Shelley, consists of her journal, four letters, and a poem that Percy Shelley wrote.

After the publication of Frankenstein, Shelley went on to publish several more notable works, one of which being the 1923 novel Valperga, also known as The Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca, which is set in fourteenth-century Italy and tells the love story of two people who must choose between their love and their opposing political loyalties. Shortly after the publication of this work came her 1826 novel The Last Man, a tragedy set in a world where a devastating plague has killed off humanity and there remains only sole known survivor. At the time of its publication, there had been several other works with a similar theme, so The Last Man was not received in the same way the groundbreaking story of Frankenstein had been, but with time, The Last Man became a highly praised novel itself.

Let’s Wrap it Up…

In Thomas Hager’s nonfiction book The Alchemy of Air, which delves into the lives of scientists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, he writes that the "... interplay between human aspiration and natural bonds has its own literature (from the myth of Prometheus and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to superhero comic books and mad-doctor movies) and its own field of play….the place in which humans test their natural limits and often break them…” Hager could not have conceptualized the natural state of intrigue that has propelled Frankenstein forward since its first publication any better. Shelley’s Frankenstein achieved such massive success, both in the literary community and in popular culture, because the story of the monster she created was the very first of its kind. In the early 18th century, no one had read their nightmares in quite the same way as Shelley presented them in Frankenstein, which resulted in a completely novel work. Nothing has been quite the same ever since.

Are you feeling inspired to write? After learning so much about the prowess of young Mary Shelley, it’s no wonder! Thankfully, you’re in luck—our blog has everything you need to get started, from how to start researching and drafting your next big success to the common pitfalls every writer should avoid. Check out our blog post, “Seven Methods for Outlining Novels: Which One is Right for You?” to make sure you’re starting your next novel on the right note. Happy writing, everyone!