Ten Things You Didn't Know About Mary Shelley and Frankenstein

October 19, 2023

Literature

History

Nesha Ruther

Writer at Bond & Grace

What do you think of when you hear the name, Frankenstein? A green-faced monster? An eccentric scientist and his hunchback assistant? Does lightning strike the table in a shattering burst of light?

What if we told you none of those images are from Mary Shelley’s original novel, that the story has become as misunderstood as the monster? In 1818, Frankenstein broke ground by creating space for its readers to interrogate the morals of the day’s emerging sciences. In celebration of this seminal work of fiction and the brilliant, vibrant, brave young woman who wrote it, here are 10 things you didn’t know about Mary Shelley and Frankenstein.

1. Frankenstein is the first known work of science fiction

While Frankenstein has gothic elements and draws from the ideals of romanticism, neither completely encompasses this extraordinary book. Part of what makes Frankenstein so unique is that rather than using the supernatural as the basis of the story’s horror, it relies on the day’s emerging science to imagine what could be possible. Victor Frankenstein’s Monster doesn’t gain life through mystical powers, but through scientific ideas that many people at the time truly believed in!

This genre is now very familiar to us and can be attributed to authors of books like The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Foundation, and The Left Hand of Darkness. However, they all follow the literary footsteps of the original science fiction writer, Mary Shelley.

2. Mary Shelley’s mother was one of the first feminist writers

Mary Shelley was the only child of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, both respected authors and political thinkers in their own right. Wollstonecraft was one of the bravest and boldest voices of her time. She wrote early examples of what we now know as travel narratives and stayed in Paris to document the French Revolution, even when her friends were being sent to the guillotine. Her greatest legacy, however, comes in the form of her groundbreaking feminist work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

‍Vindication fought against the popular belief that women shouldn’t be educated. Wollstonecraft made the controversial argument that women were pillars of society and had more to offer than being just wives. While Wollstonecraft died when Mary was only ten days old, her work would be an inspiration for Mary Shelley throughout her own literary career.

3. Mary’s family gave refuge to a murderer!

Mary Shelley’s family had many influential friends who made appearances throughout her childhood, the unlikeliest of whom was the American politician, Aaron Burr. Burr was a huge admirer of Wollstonecraft and maintained a close friendship with Godwin. When Burr fled the United States after killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, he even stayed with the Godwin family in England! After his own daughter Theodosia passed away, he grew especially attached to Mary and her half-sisters, who affectionately referred to Burr as “Gamp.”

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4. Mary had a secret love affair with a married man

Another visitor of the Godwin household was the young Romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Despite him being five years older and already married, Mary and Percy quickly fell in love. They bonded over a shared love of Wollstonecraft’s writing and are even believed to have–um–consummated the relationship on her grave!

The fallout of their relationship was only just beginning, however. They ran off to Europe with Mary’s half-sister in 1814. Mary’s father was furious, as was Percy’s first wife, Harriet Westbrook. Harriet later committed suicide in 1817, something that would cause Mary deep guilt for the rest of her life.

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5. Frankenstein was born out of a ghost story competition

One dark and stormy night, Mary, Percy, and Mary’s half-sister Claire Clairmont, along with their friends Lord Byron and John Polidori sat nestled in the historic Villa Diodati overlooking Lake Geneva. Poor weather had the group stuck indoors, so Byron suggested they compete to write the best ghost story. The dramatic weather, the old house, and the group of friends with their complex relationships and points of tension, all served as a perfect recipe for Mary’s monstrous tale.

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‍6. A man in love with Mary Shelley wrote a story about vampires that inspired future novels like Dracula and Twilight.

One particular dynamic at play that night in Villa Diodati was John Polidori’s unrequited infatuation with Mary. Poor Polidori was teased mercilessly and egged on by Byron, who even convinced him to jump off the balcony of the villa to get Mary’s attention.

Perhaps to impress Mary, perhaps to get back at Byron for his mean-spirited games, Polidori wrote his own ghost story, The Vampyre. His story was the first text to imagine vampires as charming and handsome rather than grotesque monsters (all you Twilight fans have him to thank!) The Vampyre would also go on to influence the most famous vampire text of all time, Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

7. Critics dismissed Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein saying her husband wrote the novel

Despite wisdom beyond her years, Mary Shelley was only 18 years old that night in Villa Diodati when Frankenstein was conceived. Her youth and gender were plenty of fodder for critics, who dismissed and degraded her work, even going so far as to say Percy had written it.

One small-minded reviewer wrote: “The writer of it is, we understand, a female; this is an aggravation of that which is the prevailing fault of the novel; but if our authoress can forget the gentleness of her sex, it is no reason why we should; and we shall therefore dismiss the novel without further comment.”

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8. In her own life, Mary experienced even more tragedy than Victor Frankenstein

Having lost her mother at only ten days old, Mary drew on that wellspring of grief to inspire the tragedy that befalls Victor Frankenstein, who is forced to watch his loved ones die one by one. Unfortunately, Mary herself would suffer a similar fate. In 1815, Mary and Percy’s first baby was born prematurely and died. A year later, Mary’s beloved half-sister Fanny Imlay committed suicide. Mary and Percy were able to find joy in the birth of their children William and Clara, only for the toddlers to both pass months apart in 1818. In 1822, Mary would encounter her greatest loss yet, Percy’s death in a boating accident.

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9. Film adaptations misinterpreted and misrepresented her story

Mary Shelley’s goal in writing Frankenstein was not to condemn science or terrify children but to prompt readers to investigate the ethics of new technology and to ask ourselves challenging questions about our own capacity for inclusion. Sadly, this is not what we often remember of the story.

In 1910 Thomas Edison produced the silent film Frankenstein, which was described as a “liberal adaptation” of Mary’s novel. In 1931, Director James Whale directed the now-famous movie in which Doctor Henry Frankenstein and his hunchback assistant create a monster and shout “it’s aliveeee”. Boris Karloff’s performance as the monster, while a classic, is a far cry from Mary’s thoughtful, sensitive creature. That film would go on to spur sequels The Bride of Frankenstein, The Son of Frankenstein, and House of Frankenstein, getting further and further from Mary Shelley’s original vision and message.

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10. Over 200 years later, Frankenstein remains a powerful cautionary tale for our time

Mary Shelley was the child of revolutionaries, the wife of an atheist, and an innovative thinker far ahead of her time. Her work was always going to be radically imaginative and completely unique. A cautionary tale and a troubling reflection of our most power-hungry selves, Frankenstein asks…

Should we fear the creature or the morals of his maker? What do we owe to the things we create? What values do we preach but fail to uphold? What is the true meaning of monstrosity, and furthermore, who has the power versus the right to assign that label?

Thank you Mary Shelley for over 200 years of Frankenstein. Here’s to many more.