Mary Shelley

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Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley was born on August 30, 1797 Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin. The mother, Mary Wollstonecraft was an eighteenth century feminist and author of the renowned essay “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” (“Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) (1797-1851)”). The father, William Godwin, was a novelist and a political philosopher (“Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley”). Even though both parents objected to the institution of marriage, the married while Wollstonecraft was five months pregnant with Mary only to make their child be accepted in society (“Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) (1797-1851)”). Mary Wollstonecraft died due to childbirth complications ten days after Mary Shelley was born. Mary Wollstonecraft also had a child named Fanny Imlay from a previous relationship (“Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) (1797-1851)”).

Four years after Wollstonecraft’s death, William Godwin married a new wife. The Mrs. Godwin brought along her two children from a previous relationship into the newly formed marriage. Mrs. Godwin favored her children over Mary and Fanny. The lack of attention Mrs. Godwin gave to Mary made Mary discontented with her step mother (“Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) (1797-1851)”). Also Mary did not receive an education as prestigious as Mrs. Godwin’s daughters received. One of Mrs. Godwin’s daughters even was sent to boarding school to learn French, while Mary stayed home and received no encouragement from her stepmother to learn. Although Mary didn’t receive help from her stepmother, “she learned to read from … Godwin and his wife, and followed Godwin’s advice that the proper way to study was to read two to three books simultaneously” (“Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwi...

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..., and “in 1848 she began to suffer what were apparently her first symptoms of a brain tumor that would eventually killed her” (“Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley”). She died on February 1, 1851 in London. She was buried with her mother and father.

Works Cited

“ ‘Frankenstein: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.” DISCovering Authors. Online Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center – Junior. Gale. St. Francis High School – GA. 17 Feb. 2011
“Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.” DISCovering Authors. Online Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center – Junior. Gale. St. Francis High School – GA. 17 Feb. 2011
“Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) (1797-1851).” DISCovering Authors. Online Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center – Junior. Gale. St. Francis High School – GA. 17 Feb. 2011

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