Mary Shelley: The Gothic Queen (B+ paper)

Shelley's writings were influenced by her parents, as well as the nineteenth century into which she was born. Several critical and influential people in Shelley's life had achieved fame. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was a famous feminist writer. Her father, William Godwin, was a famous philosopher and novelist. Shelley's own husband, Percey Bysshe Shelley, was also a successful writer. These people became her inspiration to write.

Through the merging of her life experiences and her inspirations, Shelley formulated many of the plots, characters, and story lines in her novels. There is a direct relationship between Mary Shelley's works and her childhood, environment, and close experiences with death and tragedy.

Like many other authors, Mary Shelley's childhood years had a major effect and influence upon her literary works. Mary Shelley had a very lonely and detached childhood. "Her childhood was hardly unha

. . .
(Ty, Dictionary of Literary Biography 313)

The Plague or "The Black Death," which took place in England in the nineteenth century, also played a major role in Mary Shelley's works. Most of Mary Shelley's works were all based in her native country of England.

As well as being influenced by the events in her childhood, Shelley was also influenced by her surrounding environment. The environment that Shelley lived in dramatically influenced t!

he novels that she wrote. Mary Shelley destroys the entire population of the world in The Last Man. Justine Mortiz, the adopted daughter of Victor Frankenstein, is killed during her early childhood as well (Shelley, Frankenstein 73). The novel Frankenstein as well as the novel The Last Man both took place in England. Suicide also shows up in Shelley's novel Mathilda. Shelley had to face the harsh realities of death much sooner than she was able to comprehend it. She read all of these novels and had the monster in Frankenstein read them as well (Shelley, Frankenstein 104). In the novel Frankenstein, many children die at a young age. Mathilda's need for love from her father runs so deeply that she engages in sexual intercourse with him in hopes that after this incestuous act he will love her (Shelley, Mathilda 201). Shelley also has the monster say "Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other human beings.

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Approximate Word count = 2137
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

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