Writer Mary Shelley fought many of her own demons to create a monster

WHEN poet Percy Shelley fell in love with Mary Godwin the daughter of his philosophical hero it would transform his life and create a monster.

Douglas Walton (Percy Shelley), Elsa Lanchester (Mary Shelley) and Gavin Gordon (Lord Byron) in the 1935 film The Bride of Frankenstein.

YOUNG, aspiring poet Percy Shelley was an admirer of the work of philosopher and author William Godwin. After corresponding with his hero, Shelley was invited to Godwin’s home, where he also became an admirer of his 16-year-old daughter Mary.

After meeting Shelley, Mary soon fell in love. It was not an easy romance, but it was a relationship that would transform both their lives.

Mary was already a formidable intellect who had grown up on a diet of the feminist writings of her late mother Mary Wollstonecraft. Though she was only 16, Godwin’s daughter was already bold, hungry for knowledge and “her perseverance in everything she undertakes almost invincible”.

Their story is at the heart of the new film Mary Shelley, opening in cinemas today.

Born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin in London in 1797, her mother died of puerperal fever 11 days after Mary’s birth, leaving Godwin with an infant daughter and Wollstonecraft’s first child Fanny, the illegitimate daughter of American businessman and diplomat Gilbert Imlay with whom Wollstonecraft had an affair, but who rejected her (leading her to attempt suicide twice).

Godwin married again in 1801, to Mary Jane Clairmont. Clairmont already had two children — son Charles and daughter Mary Jane (known as Claire), the illegitimate child of an affair with politician Sir John Lethbridge.

Mother and daughter authors Mary Shelley (left) and her mother Mary Wollstonecraft (right).

Mary grew to despise her stepmother, but became close to Claire. Godwin made sure Mary was educated according to Wollstonecraft’s feminist principles, getting her a private tutor and sending her to stay with Scottish radical thinker William Baxter.

Mary first met Percy Shelley in 1812 while he was on one of his many visits to see Godwin. Shelley was from a wealthy family and offered to pay Godwin’s debts. The poet was already known as a radical, having been expelled from Oxford in 1811 for refusing to deny writing a pamphlet on atheism, the same year he eloped with and married 16-year-old Harriet Westbrook.

Shelley was still married to Harriet, with whom he had two children, but was estranged from her when romance blossomed with Mary.

Shelley and Mary met secretly at Wollstonecraft’s grave. When her father found out he tried to discourage the relationship. Shelley, Mary and Claire (who spoke fluent French) ran away to France in July 1814. They later made their way to Switzerland but returned to England when the money ran out.

William Powell Frith's 1877 painting The lover's seat: Percy Shelley and Mary Godwin in Old St Pancras Churchyard.

In February 1815 Mary gave birth to a premature daughter, who later died. It was a terrible time for Mary. Shelley often left home to avoid creditors. He also had an affair with Claire, but Claire later fell for Shelley’s friend, the poet Lord Byron.

In January 1816, Mary gave birth to a second child, William, and in May the couple went to Geneva, Switzerland, with Claire at the invitation of Byron, to whom Claire had become pregnant. The weather was dismal that summer, a result of the eruption of Mt Tambora in the Dutch East Indies in 1815, the ash from which had lowered temperatures around the world. One evening while staying at Villa Diodati, rented by Byron, Mary conceived the idea for her novel Frankenstein prompted by a competition among Byron and his guests, which also included young physician Dr John Polidori, to write a “ghost” story.

Since her birth Mary had been surrounded by death and, drawing inspiration from stories of dead bodies twitching after being jolted with electricity, she created a story about a doctor who brings to life a creature made up of dead body parts.

Mary Shelley portrait by Richard Rothwell, circa 1840.

Mary and Shelley returned to England and on December 10, 1816, Harriet committed suicide, leaving the couple free to marry. They were married on December 30, which led to reconciliation with her father. However, a court refused to give Shelley custody of his children by Harriet because he was an atheist.

Claire gave birth to Byron’s child, a daughter originally named Alba but later renamed Allegra, in January 1817, and Mary gave birth to a daughter Clara in September. At the time she was preparing Frankenstein for publication. It was published in January 1818.

The book was well received but the couple ran away to Italy in March 1818 to avoid creditors and for Shelley’s health. But it was a disastrous decision, Clara died in September 1818, William died from malaria in June 1819 and Shelley drowned in July 1822.

The one bright spot was the birth of their son Percy Florence in November 1822. Mary returned to England in 1823. She wrote other novels, but none with the influence or fame of Frankenstein. She devoted much of the rest of her life looking after her son and her husband’s poetic legacy. She died in 1851 from what may have been a brain tumour.

Originally published as Writer Mary Shelley fought many of her own demons to create a monster