Returning to London in 1823 Mary found that Frankenstein had become a stage production, complete with a frightening monster which sprang from a concealed laboratory at the top of a staircase! In her novel the scientist who re-animates the corpse is called Frankenstein; yet ironically by 1830 his creation was being referred to by this name. Mary’s original creature is not evil; he is an innocent victim, who develops and yearns to be integrated into society. He becomes malign after being rejected by his creator and by society, declaring: ‘I am malicious because I am miserable.’ Nevertheless the word ‘Frankenstein’ gradually became associated with things that were monstrous and threatening.

Mary’s financial situation was precarious, so she continued to write. Valperga (1823) is a historical romance about fourteenth century Italy. The Last Man (1826) is a novel set in the future, in which the human race is being destroyed by plague. Perkin Warbeck came out in 1830, and the semi-autobiographical Lodore and Falkner in 1835 and 1837 respectively. From 1824-40 Mary also produced articles for journals, tales for literary annuals and five volumes of literary biography.

She needed to rehabilitate herself in society, for young Percy’s sake. Her correspondence and journals of the 1830s show her attending the opera and Royal Ascot. Percy was sent to Harrow, before going to Cambridge. Mary seemed unaware that the boys at Harrow spent their time beagling, boozing and ‘toozling’ (stoning birds)…

In 1833 she anticipated a marriage proposal from a man called Aubrey Beauclerk; however he married someone else. Later, when he was a widower, she again hoped for happiness with him; but this, too, came to nothing. Fortunately her last years were relatively contented ones, because Percy was a fine and affectionate son, and his wife, Jane, thought the world of her. After Mary’s death in 1851, Jane commissioned a monument, modelled after Michelangelo’s Pièta, and created a ‘shrine’ for Mary, Shelley and their circle at Boscombe Lodge, near Bournemouth.

To get to grips with Mary Shelley, it is worth looking at her journals, letters and fiction together. They reveal a remarkable woman, who overcame tragic circumstances. She also gave us Frankenstein - an amazing, complex work that defies classification. Rewriting the ancient Greek myth of Prometheus, and linking her ideas to Milton’s Paradise Lost and to Genesis, Mary Shelley successfully blended realist, Gothic and Romantic elements to produce an influential and enduring literary masterpiece.

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Content last updated: 07/10/2004

About our expert

Stephanie Forward is Senior Tutor in Open Studies in the Centre for Lifelong Learning at the University of Warwick, and is an Associate Lecturer with The Open University. Her publications include Dreams, Visions and Realities; Sex, Social Purity and Sarah Grand (with Ann Heilmann), and the CD script for Blenheim Palace: The Churchills and their Palace.

Stephanie has been involved in two significant OU/BBC projects: The Big Read (2003) and the television series The Romantics (2006). She also leads the Open2 bookclub.

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