By Madhavi Pothukuchi
September 29, 2022
The word 'monster' brings to mind the images of a huge, green-coloured, scary monster with arms out and growling incessantly. Mary Shelley gave meaning to this word in her novel, Frankenstein, one of the world's first science-fiction books. Let's celebrate her 225th birth anniversary by discovering a little about one of the greatest female authors.
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Mary Shelley was born on 30 August 1797 in London. Her father was philosopher and writer William Godwin, and her mother was a feminist writer and educator Mary Wollstonecraft. Mary grew up with proper education, rare for women then. She met Percy Bysshe Shelley, a young poet, in 1814 and married him in 1816.
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Mary and Percy spent the first summer of their marriage with their friends – literary giants Lord Byron, John William Polidori and others. The group decided to play a game where each narrated a horror story. Mary couldn’t come up with a story until she had a dream about bringing a dead body back to life – thus, creating the legendary Frankenstein at only 18 years of age.
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Mary spent the next two years writing Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, a story about a scientist, Dr Frankenstein, who creates a human being that turns rogue. The novel comes under Gothic literature, a literary style that focuses on dark themes of fear, death and horror. The book used all these themes and is considered one of the earliest sci-fi and horror writings.
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The novel also explores humanity’s relationship with science and technology. While science is a boon that helps us improve our lives every day, it can also cause destruction if we aren’t careful. This view would go on to inspire a whole sub-section of science-fiction and post-apocalyptic books.
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Frankenstein was criticised for being too gruesome after it was first published, but nobody could deny the appeal of this radically new way of horror storytelling. However, Mary did not receive worldwide recognition until years later, when the world became obsessed with Frankenstein’s monster, thanks to a growing appreciation for horror. She wrote many more novels, some historical, while others focused on relationships and romance.
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Mary was also known for editing and overseeing the publishing of her husband’s poems and books. In 1822, Percy Shelley died in an unfortunate drowning incident, leaving Mary with his literary works and a young son. She continued to publish Percy’s work even after his death and also spent time writing more books.
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Mary died from a brain tumour on 1 February 1851 in London. Frankenstein and his monster was a simple idea by the young author that changed the world, and Mary will always be remembered for it. Scholars have shown an increasing interest in her other works in the past few years, and she is finally getting the recognition she deserves.
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