Frankenstein

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born in London, England on 30th August 1797. She is best known for her novel Frankenstein which was published in 1818, when Shelley was only twenty years of age. Shelley's interest in scientific fiction was influenced by her father, who was fascinated with developments in scientific thinking during the nineteenth century. This interest was followed by Shelley who would regularly attend scientific lectures in London. When she was sixteen years old, Shelley met and fell in love with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. They seemed to be the perfect match of literary pursuits, and Percy was pleased with their shared interest in poetry. Shelley's mother had died mere days after her birth, and Shelley later became distant from her father when he remarried to a woman that Shelley disliked. Her feelings of isolation made her become more attached to Percy, and they married in 1816. Percy influenced his wife's writing with his interest in radical science. Shelley's ideas for Frankenstein had the weight of personal interest and research into the subject of galvanism, and beliefs that a corpse could be brought back to life using electricity. It was this interest in science and a love of ghost stories that motivated Shelley to create her macabre tale. In the introduction to her novel, Shelley also admitted to a desire to frighten her readers. Frankenstein was a great success in its initial publication, and Shelley revised the story in its later printing. Despite the novel's success, Shelley would live in the shadow of her more husband. When Percy died in 1822, Shelley devoted herself to publicising her husband's work Shelley's later novels never gripped the public's attention as Frankenstein had; the novel continues to famous intrigue modern readers, and has been the subject of several books and films. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley died of a suspected brain tumour on 1st February 1851.