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Mary Shelley's |
FRANKENSTEIN | |
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Mary Shelley was born Mary Wollstoncraft in 1797 to William Godwin and Mary Woostoncraft -- both very prominent and liberal writers. Her mother had written A Vindication on the Rights of Woman, which was a very popular feminist work. Mary spent much of her teen hears writing stories in Scotland until she returned to London at age sixteen. She met and fell in love with Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and became pregnant. The two continued their affair until his estranged wife committed suicide, at which point they married. They lost all three of their children, and in 1822 Percy drowned inh the Gulf of Spezia in Italy. At the age of 24, she was an impoverished widow, and she supported herself with her writing. Frankenstein was published in 1818 when she was only twenty years old. It is considered a huge feminist feat because it was written by the female child of a world-renowned early feminist. However, there are very few female characters, and other than Safie (the wife of one of "the cottagers") they are not particularly strong female roles. Want to know more about Mary Shelley?
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