Frankenstein: An Author's Tragedy
From the very start of Mary Shelley's life, her experiences influenced the writing of her 1831 novel, Frankenstein. The book is born from a young woman's maternal anxieties (Mellor 50). These feelings presumably originated from the death of her mother during childbirth. This and other tragedies of Mary's life are continually portrayed through her most famous work, Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus.One of the most difficult aspects of Mary Shelley's life is the frequent death that seems to follow her. The main character Victor Frankenstein is faced with the loss of his younger brother, William, the accused, Justine Moritz, his best friend, Henry Clerval, and his wife, Elizabeth Lavenza. Like Victor, Mary loses her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, her first daughter, her half-sister, Fanny Imlay Godwin, her daughter, Clara, and her son, William. She is also fascinated with graveyards, specifically the site of her mother's grave at Saint Pancras Churchyard, "where she read her mother's works and sought solace from nature and her mother's spirit" (Mellor 20). In the novel, Victor spent a lot of his time in graveyards conducting research, "I was led to examine the cause and progress of th
Her novel and her life have been a part of the world's history for centuries, and will carry through for centuries to come. Despite Mary's admiration for her father, he sent her to live with William Baxter in Scotland (Mellor 15). There are several traits seen in the characters in Frankenstein that mirror the mannerisms of people in Mary's life. For example, Cologny, where Victor and Elizabeth spend their wedding night, was very close to the house the Shelley's rented in the summer of 1816 (Wolf 284). (Shelley 17)Mary Shelley had a great passion for literature and read the same pieces as her monster. He pointed out to me the shifting colours of the landscape and the appearances of the sky. Her respect for the beauty of the earth is shown through her vivid descriptions of the scenery and Henry Clerval's optimism in chapter eighteen. "This is what it is to live," he cried. Victor Frankenstein was captivated by the works of Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus (Shelley 26). Mary's many relocations and exotic excursions with her husband, Percy and sister, Claire Clairmont contributed to the excessive travels of Victor Frankenstein in the novel. William Godwin, Mary's father, "had deliberately distanced himself from his daughter" and felt that she "disrupted domestic harmony in the Godwin household" (Mellor 13). Eerily William died after the publication of Frankenstein (Mellor 47). Her difficult family life is also expressed through the words of her novel. (Shelley 139)Mary never forgot the excitement of hearing Coleridge theatrically recite "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" in her home as a child (Mellor 11).
Common topics in this essay:
Pancras Churchyard,
Mary Shelley's,
Henry Clerval's,
Paracelsus Shelley,
Alphonse Frankenstein,
Victor Frankenstein,
Scotland Mellor,
Shelley's Frankenstein,
Victor Elizabeth,
Godwin Mary's,
victor frankenstein,
mary shelley's,
william godwin,
shelley's life,
mary shelley's life,
character victor,
mother mary,
life husband,
mary's father,
son william,
mary's life,
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Acceptance Essays
