Mary Shelley wrote one of the most famous pieces of Gothic fiction in history. A superstitious person might think she paid for her immortal literary name with the grief she carried in her life.
Your article suggest that the loss of so many young children did have an influence on Mary’s work. The quote you gave regarding her dreams of her dead baby presages the monster created by Frankenstein. That it was a man, not woman, who gives life to the flawed creature is significant and could reflect Mary’s assessment of parenting by fathers of her time. I would have a kinder assessment of why Mary travelled with her children. She couldn’t bear to be separated from them, particularly when infant mortality was rampant and their household did not likely lend itself to comfortable nurseries attended by loving caregivers. Her life was likely one of trying to balance the demands of her unconventional marriage and family with her abilities and ambitions as a very young writer. The behavior of Mary and her step or half sisters is not so dissimilar to groupies of the sixties who gave up conventional behavior to pursue their idols of rock. Are these earlier women exercising a choice that allows them to enter an otherwise unavailable milieu, using their sexuality as the ticket for entrance? Certainly this 19th century group of men were chaotic, creative but also careless of the women and children in their orbit, exhibiting indifference to the subsequent ruin of these women Mary likely observed this male failure to nurture that lives at the core of her work.
I agree with the parallel to the groupies and that’s another matter I plan to look into further in the future.
i suppose by nature I’m a sentimental person; I am only glad that Percy Florence lived to an old age and cared for his mother with great devotion. Her daughter in law, Jane, loved her as well. And I have no doubt that Mary as a human would have regretted some of the choices she made when she was older, even though her love for Percy was endless - she had his heart stored away in a drawer! We all make choices we reflect on later with a chagrin.
Theirs is quite a love story. It is tragic. I wish Percy had lived; I’d have liked to know what kind of a man he’d have grown up to be when he was older and “settled” a bit.
Thank you for your thoughtful comments, Pamela. I am new to Substack, and you motivate me to keep writing. :)
Excellent writing again, Mariella! I loved the pace of the writing and wanted to ask you if you have ever thought about creating a podcast for your Literary Ladies’ Tearoom. While I love reading it, I believe many would enjoy listening as well!
Thank you for the feedback and for reading my rookie articles! 🤍
As a matter of fact, I am planning to attempt a podcast next year. I have the microphone for it and now I have material for it. I was just waiting to gain some traction here; also, I want to listen to a few other podcasts so I can figure out what makes them successful/how they work. I’ve always been so quiet haha, it would be a fun way of stepping out of my comfort zone!
Dysentery and cholera/typhoid were unfortunately common, no matter where you were in the world at that time. (Hmm, maybe I should write than in a book?) Prince Albert died of cholera, at home, in a palace, as an adult.
Thank you so much Mariella for the articles that you have written about Mary Shelley and Harriet. I knew very little about these two women apart from Mary Shelley's authorship of Frankenstein. You have such a great gift for imparting information so readably and I love your empathy with both Harriet and Mary. If only history text books in schools were written by you!
Your writing is absolutely fantastic, it was gut wrenching to read, but I've read this story before: it was the way you communicated the narrative that made for such a compelling read.
This was quite an emotional journey. And wow, byron was weird. Also, a three year old can write a letter like that???
I imagine that some kind tutor or nanny wrote it for her; poor kid </3
Oh yeah that makes sense 😂
Your article suggest that the loss of so many young children did have an influence on Mary’s work. The quote you gave regarding her dreams of her dead baby presages the monster created by Frankenstein. That it was a man, not woman, who gives life to the flawed creature is significant and could reflect Mary’s assessment of parenting by fathers of her time. I would have a kinder assessment of why Mary travelled with her children. She couldn’t bear to be separated from them, particularly when infant mortality was rampant and their household did not likely lend itself to comfortable nurseries attended by loving caregivers. Her life was likely one of trying to balance the demands of her unconventional marriage and family with her abilities and ambitions as a very young writer. The behavior of Mary and her step or half sisters is not so dissimilar to groupies of the sixties who gave up conventional behavior to pursue their idols of rock. Are these earlier women exercising a choice that allows them to enter an otherwise unavailable milieu, using their sexuality as the ticket for entrance? Certainly this 19th century group of men were chaotic, creative but also careless of the women and children in their orbit, exhibiting indifference to the subsequent ruin of these women Mary likely observed this male failure to nurture that lives at the core of her work.
I agree with the parallel to the groupies and that’s another matter I plan to look into further in the future.
i suppose by nature I’m a sentimental person; I am only glad that Percy Florence lived to an old age and cared for his mother with great devotion. Her daughter in law, Jane, loved her as well. And I have no doubt that Mary as a human would have regretted some of the choices she made when she was older, even though her love for Percy was endless - she had his heart stored away in a drawer! We all make choices we reflect on later with a chagrin.
Theirs is quite a love story. It is tragic. I wish Percy had lived; I’d have liked to know what kind of a man he’d have grown up to be when he was older and “settled” a bit.
Thank you for your thoughtful comments, Pamela. I am new to Substack, and you motivate me to keep writing. :)
Excellent writing again, Mariella! I loved the pace of the writing and wanted to ask you if you have ever thought about creating a podcast for your Literary Ladies’ Tearoom. While I love reading it, I believe many would enjoy listening as well!
Thank you for the feedback and for reading my rookie articles! 🤍
As a matter of fact, I am planning to attempt a podcast next year. I have the microphone for it and now I have material for it. I was just waiting to gain some traction here; also, I want to listen to a few other podcasts so I can figure out what makes them successful/how they work. I’ve always been so quiet haha, it would be a fun way of stepping out of my comfort zone!
This is awesome! So glad you’ve considered creating a podcast and are working your way towards it. I can’t wait to listen!
Eee! It’s so encouraging to hear that someone would be interested in it! Thank you!!
Dysentery and cholera/typhoid were unfortunately common, no matter where you were in the world at that time. (Hmm, maybe I should write than in a book?) Prince Albert died of cholera, at home, in a palace, as an adult.
How tragic! (I would read that book :D)
I was thinking more along the lines of getting one of my characters sick…
What a terribly sad story! Like you, I only knew the basics of Mary Shelley’s life, and there’s a lot more there!
There is definitely a lot more. She was a strong woman.
Thank you so much Mariella for the articles that you have written about Mary Shelley and Harriet. I knew very little about these two women apart from Mary Shelley's authorship of Frankenstein. You have such a great gift for imparting information so readably and I love your empathy with both Harriet and Mary. If only history text books in schools were written by you!
Your comment is beautiful and I really needed to read it today. Thank you. Thank you so much, Yvonne 🤍 I do my best to tell the stories well!
Well written! Quite concise. I look forward to each of your articles.
Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Your writing is absolutely fantastic, it was gut wrenching to read, but I've read this story before: it was the way you communicated the narrative that made for such a compelling read.
Thank you so much for your kind words. I try to tell these stories in a way that does them justice:)